Dogs Down Griffins
April 4, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hamilton Bulldogs News Release
HAMILTON, ON - Forward Antti Miettinen had a goal and an assist, leading the Hamilton Bulldogs to a 4-1 win over the Grand Rapids Griffins on Sunday afternoon at Copps Coliseum. The Bulldogs increase their lead to five points over the Syracuse Crunch for the fourth and final playoff spot in the North Division. Syracuse (72 games) now has two games-in-hand over Hamilton (74 games).
The Bulldogs opened the scoring in the second period when Jason Ward posted his 19th goal of the season. Ron Hainsey let a hard shot go from the point that was stopped by Griffins' netminder Joey MacDonald. Ward then picked up the rebound, patiently stickhandled around MacDonald and buried his 50th career goal as a Hamilton Bulldog.
With one goal each in the second period, Tomas Plekanec and Antti Miettinen gave the Bulldogs a 3-0 lead. At 11:40, Plekanec notched his 25th goal of the season when he chipped in a rebound from the side of the net. Then Miettinen took a nice pass from Marc-Andre Thinel and made no mistake to give the Bulldogs a three-goal lead at the 18:57 mark.
Grand Rapids would get on the scoreboard only 40 seconds later and with just 21 seconds left in the second period when Eric Himelfarb beat a screened Dan Ellis with a high shot. Jiri Hudler and Bryan Helmer recorded assists on the goal that made the score 3-1.
Goaltender Drew MacIntyre replaced MacDonald between the pipes for the Griffins at the start of the third period. MacDonald left the game after stopping 22 of the 25 shots he faced.
Hamilton added an insurance marker at 13:39 of the third period when Chris Higgins tallied his team-leading 27th goal of the season on the power play. The goal made the score 4-1 and sealed the Bulldogs' 34th win of the season.
Ellis was solid in net for Hamilton, making 19 saves on 20 shots while earning his ninth win of the season. In relief of MacDonald, MacIntyre turned aside four of the five shots he faced for the Griffins.
The Bulldogs return to action on Wednesday, April 6th when they host the Milwaukee Admirals at Copps Coliseum. Game time is 7:00 p.m. and tickets are available for purchase at the Copps Coliseum Box Office, at all Ticketmaster outlets, by calling Ticketmaster at (905) 527-7666 or online at www.ticketmaster.ca.
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