Thursday, October 30, 2008

Sometimes the Bear gets you...


...and sometimes the Bulldog gets the Bear.

It was a case of 1-2-3, as in, one goal in the first, two in the second, and three in the third as the Hamilton Bulldogs treated the Bears like Pooh in a 6-0 win last night.

The Bulldogs had a pair of shorthanded goals and a power play marker to add to the three even strength goals they had.

One might not have seen this one coming, as the Bulldogs were 0-2-1 in their previous three games going into last night's contest. But it was one of those nights, apparently, when whatever could go wrong, did, for the visitors.

Sami Lepisto seemed to have an especially difficult evening. Going into the game with a league-leading +10, he was a -4 on the night. His turnover led to the Bulldog's shortie, and he was on the ice for the three even-up goals. But he certainly wasn't alone. That oh-for-seven power play stands out, too.

But even with this stinker, consider...

- The Bears still have four of the top ten in the AHL in plus-minus (ten players are tied for ninth)

- They still have five players in the top ten in goals (although there is a real train wreck of players tied for ninth at five goals)

- They have three in the top ten in assists (again, a large group tied at ninth)

- They have two of the top-ten rookie scorers

- They still have those 44 goals scored, while no other AHL team has yet cracked the 30-goal mark

- They are still on a pace for 391 goals, which would be 91 more than last year's league leader (Chicago: 300)

- They're still on a pace for 124 points (the franchise record is 114 set two years ago; the league record is 124, set by Binghamton in 1992-1993)

Perhaps it was a serving of humble pie or a bad night in what has been, and what still looks like it could be, an otherwise remarkable season up in Hershey.

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