By Jen Sharpe
www.moosehockey.com
Fresh from a 4-2 loss, the Moose were looking to rebound vs. the Bulldogs Saturday night at the MTS Centre. Tied at two after regulation time, Moose defenceman Nathan McIver ended the overtime battle with only 22 seconds left on the clock, receiving first star honours for the goal.
>> Click to view photos of tonight's game.
>> Click here to see official scorer's sheet
First Period
After nearly three minutes of back-and-forth play following the opening face-off, Manitoba's Alexandre Bolduc was called for hooking and the visiting Bulldogs benefited from the game's first powerplay. A couple of shorthanded surges into the Hamilton zone kept pressure off Drew MacIntyre during the man-advantage, and the Bulldogs had tallied one shot to Manitoba's three by the five-minute mark.
With the exception of near Moose goal, in which the slow-moving puck slid from post to post along Jaroslav Halak's goal-line, quality scoring chances were hard to come by for both clubs through the midway point of the opening frame. But the Bulldogs picked up the pace in the latter half of the first, and on the visitor's seventh shot of the game, Duncan Milroy fooled MacIntyre and netted the first goal of the game.
The Moose went on the powerplay for most of the final four minutes of the game but managed to register only one shot on Halak and headed to the first intermission down 1-0.
Second Period
As the second period started and the second Hamilton powerplay ticked down, the Moose set themselves up in the Bulldogs zone. Poised at the corner of the crease, Milan Gajic tipped in Jimmy Sharrow's blue-line slapshot to tie the game at one. 1:24 later, Zack FitzGerald tallied his third of the season, snapping the puck through Halak's five-hole to give the home team their first lead of the game.
Hamilton received their first powerplay chance to tie it back up when Nathan McIver was called for holding at 6:48, but Manitoba killed that man-advantage and maintained their one-goal lead.
Two Bulldogs penalties failed to result in more Moose scoring, and Hamilton took advantage of the tight game once back at five skaters. Stickhandling his way towards the Moose net, Daniel Corso slipped his first of the season under MacIntyre's left pad to tie the game at two.
At the end of the second, Manitoba and Hamilton had tallied two goals each but the Bulldogs led the shot-count 16-10.
Third Period
With Hamilton's Jonathan Ferland in the box to start the third, Manitoba tested Halak but were unable to regain their lead. Near the midway point of the frame, the Bulldogs countered with their fourth powerplay of the game and also failed to break the stalemate, thanks largely to a handful of acrobatic saves by MacIntyre.
As the Bulldogs reached the 30-shot mark, the buzzer sounded to close out regulation time and the game headed to overtime.
Overtime
A turnaround in the neutral zone resulted in Manitoba's first good overtime scoring chance, but Joel Bouchard tied up Bolduc's breakaway and took a holding penalty as a result. Though a second powerplay goal wasn't in the cards for the Moose, Nathan McIver made it happen during four-on-four play, scoring from the near face-off circle with 22 seconds left on the clock to secure an overtime win for Manitoba.
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| SCORING |
1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| Hamilton |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
| Manitoba |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
Dec 22, 2007 - MTS Centre FIRST PERIOD:1. Hamilton, D. Milroy (7) (J. Cote) 14:12 Penalties - A. Bolduc Mtb (hooking) 2:41, M. Biron Ham (tripping) 16:36, M. Carle Ham (holding) 19:27 SECOND PERIOD:2. Manitoba, M. Gajic (1) (J. Sharrow, M. Fortunus) 1:26 PP 3. Manitoba, Z. FitzGerald (3) (R. Shannon, A. Bolduc) 2:50 4. Hamilton, D. Corso (1) (F. Lemieux) 16:18 Penalties - N. McIver Mtb (holding) 6:48, A. Baines Ham (holding) 9:22, J. Bouchard Ham (holding) 11:25, S. Heshka Mtb (holding) 17:14, J. Ferland Ham (tripping) 19:50 THIRD PERIOD:No Scoring Penalties - A. Bolduc Mtb (high-sticking) 10:41 OT PERIOD:5. Manitoba, N. McIver (2) (G. Classen, R. Shannon) 4:37 Penalties - J. Bouchard Ham (holding) 1:32
| SHOTS |
1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| Hamilton |
8 |
8 |
14 |
2 |
32 |
| Manitoba |
4 |
6 |
7 |
5 |
22 |
POWER PLAYS:Hamilton Bulldogs 0-4. Manitoba Moose 1-6. GOALTENDERS:Hamilton Bulldogs Halak 15-10-2 Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 64:16 SV: 19 GA: 3 [L] Manitoba Moose MacIntyre 25-18-2 Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 64:18 SV: 30 GA: 2 [W]
Attendance:
7,333
- MTB - Nathan McIver
- HAM - Duncan Milroy
- MTB - Zack FitzGerald
- The Moose take a few days off over the holidays before flying to Hamilton to play the Bulldogs on Thursday, Dec. 27th. The club wishes its fans and sponsors a very merry Christmas!
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Updated: Dec. 22, 2007 at 10:00 PM CST
