Rochester wins the best-of-seven series 4-0

April 27, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hamilton Bulldogs News Release


HAMILTON, ON - The Rochester Americans defeated the Hamilton Bulldogs 5-4 at Copps Coliseum on Tuesday night. With the victory, Rochester won the North Division Semifinal 4-0 over the Bulldogs and will advance to the next round of the playoffs to face either the Manitoba Moose or the St. John's Maple Leafs.

The Amerks opened the scoring on the power play at 9:23 of the first period when Derek Roy tallied his first goal of the postseason. Chris Taylor and David Cullen recorded assists on the goal.

Jeff Jillson gave Rochester a 2-0 lead at 2:39 of the second period on the power play. Jillson took a cross-ice pass from Chris Taylor and one-timed a shot that beat a sprawling Yann Danis on the stick-side.

Hamilton forward Tomas Plekanec scored two goals in the second period to tie the game 2-2. Plekanec got the Bulldogs on the scoreboard with their first power-play goal of the playoffs at the 11:24 mark. Then at 15:54, Plekanec evened the score when he tipped home a Chris Higgins' shot past goaltender Ryan Miller.

The Bulldogs took their first lead of the game at 4:31 of the third period when Captain Jason Ward scored his second goal of the playoffs. Steve Begin won the face-off back to Raitis Ivanans who let a quick shot go on net. Miller made the initial save but the rebound went right to Ward who made no mistake.

The lead was short-lived as Chris Taylor evened the score 3-3 just 1:15 later for the Americans. Taylor was left alone at the side of the Bulldogs net and beat Danis with a shot through the five-hole.

With two goals in 1:54, including an empty-net goal, the Rochester Americans took a lead that they wouldn't relinquish. Roy netted the eventual game-winner at the 16:59 mark. Then Thomas Vanek scored into an empty-net with Yann Danis on the bench in favour of the extra-attacker.

With the extra-attacker still on the ice for the Bulldogs, Defenceman Ron Hainsey added a late goal with 29 seconds left in the game to make the score 5-4.

Ironically, the loss marks the first time this season the Hamilton Bulldogs scored four-or-more goals in a game and did not come away with a victory. Heading into the game, Hamilton was 25-0-0-0 when scoring at least four goals in a contest.

Earning a goal and an assist in the game, Jason Ward became the All-time Bulldogs postseason scoring leader with 24 points (14g, 10a) passing Joe Hulbig who picked up 23 career playoff points (10g, 13a) as a Bulldog.



American Hockey League Stories from April 27, 2005


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