IIHL
Dublin Wolves 1 – 23 Dundalk Bulls
The Dundalk Bulls took on the Dublin Wolves in the Irish Ice Hockey League on Saturday afternoon, and as I said in the preview report, head coach for the Bulls, Kenny Redmond wanted to claim the game in the 1st period, and that’s just what the Bulls did.
It wasn’t long before the Bulls opened their scoring account at 1:19, with Eric Hogberg netting his first of the game. Sean Dooley quickly followed, scoring a nice goal at 1:35. The highlight goal of the 1st period came at 8:03 as #7 Paul Gagnon scored a shorthanded goal, assisted by Dooley, as #11 Vytas Luckosevicius was serving a 2 minute penalty for High Sticking. The Bulls continued with three superb goals, with #9 Alex Hudspeth scoring 2 goals, Gagnon and Vladimir Zak also scoring a goal between them. One of the Bulls newest and youngest players #18 Aidan Morris then got his 1st goal with the Bulls, as he shot the puck from the blue line and into the net. Adam Pepper, in net for the Bulls stopped all 10 shots he faced in the period while Sean Pepper stopped 15 of the 26 he faced. The score was 11-0 in favour of the Bulls after the 1st period.
The start of the 2nd period went the Wolves way, as #37 Roman Brocko scored the Wolves 1st goal of the game unassisted, as the Bulls defenseman, Jan Pursa slipped and didn’t see his opponent. The Bulls scored their 1st goal of the 2nd period a few minutes later when # 6 Adam Larabee scored his first of the game. It wasn’t long until #7 Paul Gagnon completed his hat trick at 25:35 on the powerplay assisted by Dooley. Emil Kacir got a 2 minute penalty for elbowing at 34:07, and the Bulls did extremely well to defend their zone, as the Wolves were putting more pressure on them in this period. The Bulls’ last goal of the period came from Hogberg at 31:09. The period went a lot better for the Wolves, as Sean Pepper conceded only 3 goals in this period. The score at the end of the 2nd period was 14-1 to the Bulls. Adam Pepper saved 7 of the 8 shots he faced in this period while brother Sean stopped 11 of the 14 he faced.
The 3rd period started fast, but it was the Bulls that charged their way into the net first, with #23 Vlad Zack. The Bulls Sean Dooley was then penalised for Roughing at 45:16. The Wolves also received a penalty for Roughing as Ajiptal Dhaliwal was ejected from the game. The Bulls #24 Emil Kacir scored at 46:22. Lukosevicius got his 2nd of the game at 50:58, followed by Eric Hogberg’s hat trick at 53:13. Colin Port from the Bulls netted his first goal of the game at 55:07. Team Ireland captain David Morrison then scored his first at 55:30. Vlad Zak put the cherry on the cake at 58:56 for the Bulls. Adam Pepper stopped all 8 shots he faced in the 3rd period with Sean Pepper stopping 15 of 24.
Coach for the Bulls, Kenny Redmond was, as you can imagine pleased with the game.
Final Score – Wolves 1 – 23 Bulls
SOG – Wolves 26 – 64 Bulls
PIM – Wolves 46 – 28 Bulls