Nathan Beaulieu earns our player of the week honours for this week, posting 3 points in 2 games over the weekend and 4 points in 3 games this week, after posting only 2 points in his previous 16 games. Beaulieu recorded an assist on Aaron Palushaj’s lone goal versus the Crunch on Friday night. On Saturday night, he assisted on Michael Blunden’s opening tally, as well as Joonas Nattinen’s game winner. Beaulieu was an even +/-, and now has a 3 game point streak, and 5 points in his last 6 games.
The Montreal Canadiens first rounder has had some rough patches trying to adjust to the pro ranks on a poor Hamilton Bulldogs squad. Early in November, Beaulieu was on the ice for 7 of 8 goals in back to back games against the league best Syracuse Crunch. Marc Bergevin was in attendance for those games, but when asked he said he was not worried about Nathan because he is still adjusting to the speed of pro hockey.
Since then, it seems Beaulieu has found his game. He is showing confidence with the puck, perfectly displayed when he carried the puck past a Crunch player along the boards, drove down towards the net, and centered a pass to Aaron Palushaj who one-timed it by the Crunch goaltender. On Saturday, he fired a puck on net, with the rebound squeaking out to Joonas Nattinen who beat the Bears goalie for the game winner. We’ll have to see if he can continue his impressive play as of late.
Tonight, Bulldogs defensemen Nathan Beaulieu and Jarred Tinordi will be guests on “Hamilton Bulldogs Hockey Hour”, which is a 1 hour radio show hosted by Derek Wills and Al Craig. You can listen to that here starting at 7pm EST.
