Bulldogs Game Thread: Hamilton @ Rockford

The Bulldogs are back at it tonight, they'll be facing off against the Rockford IceHogs (13-11-1-1), and while their loss to the Wolves was disappointing they did play one of their better games of the season, and they have been noticeably better their past three games. Currently the Bulldogs are 9-11-1-1 on the season but if they keep up their play they'll be back to .500 hockey soon.

The IceHogs have a balanced scoring roster, Martin St. Pierre (10 goals 12 assists) , Ben Smith (10 goals 11 assists) and Brandon Pirri (9 goals 11 assists) each have 20 points or more in 26 games. On Defence AHL rookie Adam Clendening has 4 goals and 15 assists in 19 games.

To compare those stats to the Bulldogs, their two leading scorers Brendan Gallagher (6 goals 7 assists) and the injured Aaron Palushaj (7 goals 3 assists) have 13 and 10 points respectively, in 22 games.

Against Chicago the Bulldogs fell in a 3-0 hole and had to work to climb back the rest of the game. Tonight the Bulldogs will need to jump out early and take control of the game, especially since they are on the road. As I've mentioned before, the Bulldogs are 4-0 when they score the first goal, they need it badly tonight.

Projected Bulldogs Lineup

Forwards

Michael Blunden - Patrick Holland - Brendan Gallagher
Stephane Chaput - Michael Bournival - Louis Leblanc
Gabriel Dumont - Steven Quailer - Darryl Boyce
Kyle Hagel - Joonas Nattinen - Zack Stortini

Defenseman

Frederic St-Denis - Brendon Nash
Jarred Tinordi - Mike Commodore
Nathan Beaulieu - Morgan Ellis

Goaltenders

Cedrick Desjardins
Robert Mayer