Hamilton Bulldogs Game Thread: Bulldogs @ Crunch

The Hamilton Bulldogs (7-9-1-1) travel to Syracuse to take on the AHL Eastern Conference leading Crunch (13-5-1-1). The Crunch come into tonight's game after losing 5-2 to the Binghamton Senators on Sunday. The Bulldogs come into the tilt after shutting out the AHL Best Abbotsford Heat 3-0 on Saturday night. You can read about that game in our recap.

Some keys to tonight's game for the Bulldogs, Cedrick Desjardins will need to continue his current level of play, as he was outstanding in both of his wins. Louis Leblanc will need to build on his last performance. On defense, the Bulldogs will need to shut down a trio of Crunch scorers. Tyler Johnson (15g, 8a), Richard Panik (11g, 9a), and Cory Conacher (9g, 10a) are all near the top of the league in scoring.

Projected Bulldogs Lineup

Forwards

Michael Blunden - Gabriel Dumont - Brendan Gallagher

Stefan Chaput - Joonas Nattinen - Darryl Boyce

Louis Leblanc - Steven Quailer- Aaron Palushaj

Kyle Hagel - Zack Stortini - Patrick Holland

Defenseman

Frederic St-Denis - Morgan Ellis

Jarred Tinordi - Mike Commodore

Nathan Beaulieu - Brendon Nash

Goaltenders

Cédrick Desjardins

Robert Mayer

Notes:

MIchael Bournival missed the last game with food poisoning and is ready to go tonight, but since the Bulldogs won against the Heat, Sylvain Lefebvre has decided to keep him out. It's a bewildering decision when Bournival has been the team's #1 center since Blake Geoffrion went down.

The game starts at 7:30PM EST and you can watch it live on AHLLive ($), or listen to it here.