'Dogs Grads Help Habs Advance
April 22, 2008 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hamilton Bulldogs News Release
MONTREAL, QC - With nine former Hamilton Bulldogs in their line-up, the Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins by a final score of 5-0 in the seventh and deciding game of their Eastern Conference Quarter-Final Series in front of 21,273 at Bell Centre on Monday night.
April 21st turned out to be quite the night for 'Dogs grads who found the scoresheet on all five Habs goals.
Former Hamilton defenceman Mike Komisarek opened scoring with his first-career Stanley Cup Playoff goal 3:31 into the first period. Komisarek's point shot, which deflected off the stick of Boston forward Petteri Nokelainen and bounced past former Bulldogs goaltender and current Bruins netminder Tim Thomas, turned out to be the game and series-winning goal and gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead.
Mark Streit doubled the Habs lead to 2-0 at the 10:45 mark of the second period. Ex-'Dog Maxim Lapierre picked up the first assist.
Former Hamilton forward Andrei Kostitsyn added to Montreal's advantage with back-to-back goals 15:13 into the middle stanza and 17:58 into the third period. Andrei's younger brother Sergei Kostitsyn, another Bulldogs graduate, was awarded the first assist on the first of those two Canadiens tallies.
The Montreal Canadiens closed out scoring with eight seconds remaining in the final frame when Sergei Kostitsyn one-timed a pass from ex-Hamilton Bulldog Tomas Plekanec into the Bruins net to make it 5-0. Andrei Kostitsyn was given the second assist on the game's final goal.
Carey Price, last season's winner of the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as Calder Cup Playoff Most Valuable Player, stopped all 25 shots that he faced in game seven for his league-leading second shutout win of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
With the win, the top-seeded Montreal Canadiens advance to the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals where they will face either the sixth-seeded Philadelphia Flyers or the fifth-seeded New York Rangers.
In total, there were 38 Hamilton Bulldogs graduates on the rosters of the 16 clubs that qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 31 of those 38 players continue to compete for the Cup. Below is a list of those players (statistics updated Tuesday, April 22).
ANAHEIM DUCKS (2 Hamilton Bulldogs graduates) Eliminated by the Dallas Stars 4-1 in Western Conference Quarter Final Francois Beauchemin - D (6 GP - 0 G, 0 A, 0 P, +2, 26 PIM) Marc-Andre Bergeron - D (0 GP - 0 G, 0 A, 0 P, E, 0 PIM)
BOSTON BRUINS (2 Hamilton Bulldogs graduates) Eliminated by Montreal Canadiens 4-2 in Eastern Conference Quarter Final Bobby Allen - D (0 GP - 0 G, 0 A, 0 P, E, 0 PIM) Tim Thomas - G (7 GP - 3-4-0, 2.65 GAA, .914 SV%, 0 SO)
DALLAS STARS (6 Hamilton Bulldogs graduates) Eliminated Anaheim Ducks 4-2 in Western Conference Quarter Final Trevor Daley - D (6 GP - 0 G, 0 A, 0 P, E, 10 PIM) Dan Jancevski - D (0 GP - 0 G, 0 A, 0 P, E, 0 PIM) Antti Miettinen - RW (3 GP - 0 G, 0 A, 0 P, -2, 0 PIM) Steve Ott - C (6 GP - 2 G, 0 A, 2 P, E, 4 PIM)
Mike Ribeiro - C (6 GP - 2 G, 6 A, 8 P, E, 4 PIM) Brad Winchester - LW (0 GP - 0 G, 0 A, 0 P, E, 0 PIM)
DETROIT RED WINGS (1 Hamilton Bulldogs graduates) Eliminated Nashville Predators 4-2 in Western Conference Quarter Final Dan Cleary - RW (6 GP - 0 G, 1 A, 1 P, +2, 0 PIM)
MINNESOTA WILD (1 Hamilton Bulldogs graduates) Eliminated by Colorado Avalanche 4-2 in Western Conference Quarter Final Steve Kelly - C (0 GP - 0 G, 0 A, 0 P, E, 0 PIM)
MONTREAL CANADIENS (16 Hamilton Bulldogs graduates) Eliminated Boston Bruins 4-3 in Eastern Conference Quarter Final Steve Begin - LW (7 GP - 0 G, 3 A, 3 P, +3 , 6 PIM) Francis Bouillon - D (2 GP - 1 G, 0 A, 1 P, +2, 2 PIM) Kyle Chipchura - C (0 GP - 0 G, 0 A, 0 P, E, 0 PIM) Matt D'Agostini - RW (0 GP - 0 G, 0 A, 0 P, E, 0 PIM) Mikhail Grabovski - C (0 GP - 0 G, 0 A, 0 P, E, 0 PIM) Jaroslav Halak - G (0 GP - 0-0-0, 0.00 GAA, 1.000 SV%, 0 SO) Christopher Higgins - LW (7 GP - 2 G, 0 A, 2 P, +4, 2 PIM) Mike Komisarek - D (7 GP - 1 G, 1 A, 2 P, +4, 10 PIM) Andrei Kostitsyn - LW (7 GP - 3 G, 2 A, 5 P, -2, 2 PIM) Sergei Kostitsyn - LW (7 GP - 3 G, 3 A, 6 P, +4, 12 PIM) Maxim Lapierre - C (7 GP - 0 G, 2 A, 2 P, -1, 2 PIM) Ryan O'Byrne - D (2 GP - 0 G, 0 A, 0 P, -1, 0 PIM) Tomas Plekanec - C (7 GP - 1 G, 3 A, 4 P, E, 2 PIM) Carey Price - G (7 GP, 4-3-0, 2.09 GAA, .925 SV%, 2 SO) Michael Ryder - RW (4 GP - 0 G, 0 A, 0 P, +1, 2 PIM) Gregory Stewart - RW (0 GP - 0 G, 0 A, 0 P, E, 0 PIM)
NASHVILLE PREDATORS (2 Hamilton Bulldogs graduates) Eliminated by Detroit Red Wings 4-2 in Western Conference Quarter Final Greg De Vries - D (6 GP - 1 G, 0 A, 1 P, -1, 2 PIM) Dan Ellis - G (6 GP - 2-4-0, 2.52 GAA, .938 SV%, 0 SO)
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS (1 Hamilton Bulldogs graduates) Tied with Washington Capitals 3-3 in Eastern Conference Quarter Final Jim Dowd - C (6 GP - 0 G, 1 A, 1 P, -1, 0 PIM)
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS (3 Hamilton Bulldogs graduates) Eliminated Ottawa Senators 4-0 in Eastern Conference Quarter Final Ty Conklin - G (0 GP - 0-0-0, 0.00 GAA, 1.000 SV%, 0 SO) Georges Laraque - RW (4 GP - 0 G, 1 A, 1 P, -1, 0 PIM) Alain Nasreddine - D (0 GP - 0 G, 0 A, 0 P, E, 0 PIM)
SAN JOSE SHARKS (2 Hamilton Bulldogs graduates) Tied with Calgary Flames 3-3 in Western Conference Quarter Final Brad Norton - D (0 GP - 0 G, 0 A, 0 P, E, 0 PIM) Alexei Semenov - D (1 GP - 0 G, 0 A, 0 P, E, 0 PIM )
WASHINGTON CAPITALS (2 Hamilton Bulldogs graduates) Tied with Philadelphia Flyers 3-3 in Eastern Conference Quarter Final Christobal Huet - G (6 GP - 3-3-0, 2.96 GAA, .909 SV%, 0 SO) Jason Morgan - C (0 GP - 0 G, 0 A, 0 P, E, 0 PIM)
Currently in its 72nd season of play, the AHL continues to serve as the top development league for all 30 National Hockey League teams. More than 83 percent of today's NHL players are American Hockey League graduates, and more than 6 million fans have attended AHL games across North America in each of the past six seasons.
2008-2009 Hamilton Bulldogs season tickets are now available! For more information, call 905-529-8500 or visit www.hamiltonbulldogs.com.
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