The Hamilton Bulldogs are going to their first OHL Eastern Conference Final in franchise history after beating the Niagara IceDogs 4-2 Thursday night to win their series in five games.
Robert Thomas opened the scoring for Hamilton 12:59 into the game when he beat Niagara goalie Stephen Dhillon with a low wrist shot on a 2-on-1.
“Anytime a team is down like that and fighting for their lives, they are going to come out strong, so us getting that first one is definitely huge,” said Thomas, who also added an assist in the win.
The game, in front of 3,369 fans at FirstOntario Centre, remained scoreless until the 10:20 mark of the third period when Matthew Strome doubled the Bulldogs’ lead after burying a give-and-go between him and Thomas.
64 seconds later, Dhillon stopped Hamilton’s Ryan Moore on a breakaway but teammate Nicholas Caamano slotted in the rebound for a 3-0 lead.
But just 17 seconds after Caamano’s marker, the IceDogs broke through when Johnny Corneil beat Hamilton netminder Kaden Fulcher.
Captain Justin Lemcke praised the IceDogs, “They’re a good team, but I think they were tired by the time Game 4, Game 5 rolled around. I think we were able to handle them quite well and I think we’re just going to keep on going.”
Lemcke is also looking ahead to Hamilton’s third-round opponent. “We’re excited. We know it’s going to be a tough competitor coming up for the next series, but we’ll enjoy this one while we can and jump back on the horse next week.”
Ben Jones pulled Niagara to within one goal with 2:26 to play in regulation.
But that is as close as the IceDogs would get as MacKenzie Entwhistle fired the puck into an empty net with 23 seconds left.
Hamilton will meet Kingston or Barrie in the East Final.
The Frontenacs lead the Colts 3-2 heading into Game Six of their series on Friday night in Kingston.