As he entered the meeting room prior to the team’s pregame video session on Sunday, Hamilton Bulldogs coach Jay McKee started chucking sponge pucks at the seated players. Then did it again at the same meeting on Tuesday.
It was hilarious, the guys said. It totally lightened the mood.
“Maybe it’s a tradition,” thought forward Sahil Panwar, who only arrived here at the trade deadline.
That would be a fun one. But nope, wrong answer. Anyone else want to take a stab at it?
“We gotta block some shots,” Nick Lardis says.
Bingo. McKee once held the NHL record for blocked shots in a single game. He got in the way of 11 one night in 2006. He understands the value of making it tough on opposing shooters. And sacrificing the body to win games.
“It’s to hammer home the point that this has got to be a focus of our games moving forward,” the coach says.
His simple reminder has turned out to be rather effective.
The Bulldogs blocked a bunch Sunday when they won their first game of the series after losing the first two rather badly. Then on Tuesday, they turned into a collective brick wall en route to a 5-3 win. And shockingly perhaps, a tied series.
Hamilton ‘s Patrick Thomas battles Colts Josh Kavanagh behind the Barrie net.
Barry Gray
Shockingly because the first two games were so ugly it would’ve been fair to think this would be over in four and the team would be packing the moving vans for Brantford on Wednesday morning. A 10-2 obliteration and a lopsided 6-3 decision didn’t suggest great things were to come.
Yet this group has seemingly figured out what it takes to win in the playoffs when you’re the younger and less-explosive team. You grind. You play really hard. And you absorb vulcanized rubber no matter where it hits or how much it hurts.
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“Right now, I’d block a shot in the face to save a goal,” Panwar says.
Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. But the intent behind it is admirable. And it’s going to have to continue. Because even though Hamilton has clawed back to tie this series with two gutsy efforts, things are about to get harder.
Hamilton’s Lucas Moore is chased by Barrie’s Zach Wigle.
Barry Gray
Barrie’s superstar defenceman, Brandt Clarke, missed a chunk of Game 3 after delivering a nasty knee that earned him a game misconduct and a seat in the stands for all of Game 4 while serving a suspension. He’ll be back on Thursday, though. And that’s a problem.
“He’s a world-class player at this level,” McKee says. “We’ve been fortunate that he was out for a game and a half or so.”
It’s abundantly clear the Colts aren’t the same team without the guy who collected 10 points in the first two games and spent those nights looking like someone who’d been created in a lab through the grafting of DNA from Bobby Orr, Paul Coffey and Ray Bourque.
The fact that Barrie could get nothing going on an extended 5-on-3 powerplay on Tuesday was all the evidence of his worth and the reason Hamilton has to be concerned going forward. Had he been there, there’s no guarantee things would’ve looked different. But here’s betting they might’ve.
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That said, a big part of the reason that penalty kill was so good was — yup — shot blocks. Unlike scoring or goaltending, this skill shouldn’t go into a slump and should be something that can be carried into the next game and the one after that. No matter who’s doing the shooting.
“I don’t try to make every player a shot blocker,” McKee says. “I want these players to develop into who they are. But there comes a time, especially in playoffs, where you’ve got to focus on it.”
Right now the Bulldogs bear no resemblance to the team that looked as overmatched as an overripe tomato in a food processor the first two games. Can what they’re doing continue to work on the road? Against a team that has its best player back? And a side that should be increasingly desperate and motivated?
It either will, and the black and gold will be back at FirstOntario Centre on Easter Monday (7 p.m. opening faceoff) with a chance to complete the miracle upset nobody saw coming. Or it won’t and they’ll be here that night trying to delay the move to Brantford by one more game.
Hamilton’s Artem Grushnikov checks Barrie’s Jacob Frasca.
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