By contributor Reid Eccles
The Alberni Valley Bulldogs were in Frank Crane Arena Friday, November 13 to retaliate against the Clippers, who beat them 3-1 in front of their home crowd at Weyerhaeuser Arena on Tuesday, November 10.
The Clippers came out firing, and Matt Hoover opened the scoring two minutes into the first period. A Bulldog power play goal from Chris Schutz tied the score at one before the end of the period, but the Clippers were skating well.
The back-and-forth continued through the first half of the second period, but then the Bulldogs increased the pressure. The Clippers’ passing plays were moving the puck, but they couldn’t escape the physical presence of the Bulldogs. The Clippers’ game began to fall apart.
The Bulldogs took the lead when Schutz scored his second power play goal of the game off a hard rebound that Clipper goaltender Evan Johnson nearly got a stick on.
Two minutes later, Bulldog leading scorer Josh Adkins connected a beautiful saucer pass to an unimpeded Scott Clark out front, who put the puck past Johnson, to make it 3-1 for the Bulldogs.
Johnson’s night only got worse from there. Bulldogs’ Eric Margo put the puck into an open net off of another rebound, and then Margo scored again a minute later on the power play. Another 40 seconds later, Schutz completed his hat trick by deflecting a pass off a Clipper defenseman and through Johnson’s five-hole. With a total of five Bulldog goals in only five and a half minutes, the second period ended with a score of 6-1.
A Clipper goalie change to start the third period, and two late Clipper goals from Will Reilly and Corey Renwick wasn’t enough to change the outcome. The game ended with a final score of 7-3 for the Bulldogs.