The playoffs have finally arrived for the Blackfalds Bulldogs.
Beginning this Friday they’ll face off against the Sherwood Park Crusaders in the British Columbia Hockey League Alberta Division Semifinals.
The first two games of the seven-game series will take place in Sherwood Park this Friday and Saturday but will shift to Blackfalds for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday, April 23, and Wednesday. All games begin at 7 p.m.
The series winner will move to the Alberta Division Finals to take on the Brooks Bandits or the Okotoks Oilers. The winner of the Alberta division will then face the winner of the B.C. division in the 2024 Rocky Mountain Challenge in a best-of-three series from May 31 to June 2nd.
Bulldogs head coach Doug Quinn said the team is well prepared and ready to go.
“It was a tough long regular season but we worked hard to get that third seed and that first-round bye. For the most part, the time off has given us a chance to get healthy and energize,” he said.
“Some of our guys played a lot of minutes coming down the stretch and we’ve got some reinforcements that will give us some depth moving forward.”
The Bulldogs are more healthy heading into the postseason but unfortunately will be without defenceman Carter Patterson who was one of their top defencemen this year.
“He’s probably going to be out the rest of the year but some of the other guys who missed games down the stretch are going to be back playing,” he said.
The Bulldogs finished the season with a 39-22-6-1-0 record, which was good enough for third place in the Alberta standings. The Crusaders finished just ahead of them posting a 49-16-2-0-0 record in second place.
The Bulldogs were led offensively this season by Brendan Ross who averaged over a point per game with 14 goals and nine assists in 20 games.
Forward Dakota MacIntosh also made an impact after he returned to the Bulldogs after a brief stint with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors. He recorded 10 goals and 11 assists for 21 points in 20 games.
Bulldogs goaltender Wilson Maxfield was also one of the top netminders posting a .895 save percentage and a 3.63 GAA.
On the Crusaders side, Noah Wills who scored 12 goals and 18 assists for 30 points in 20 games led the BCHL Alberta Division.
Crusaders forward Hunter Price also finished third in the league with 15 goals and 10 assists for 25 points.
Quinn explained the Crusaders pose all sorts of challenges including their skill throughout the lineup.
“They have really good goaltending… Their defence is very mobile and likes to jump up in the offence. They’re really fast in transition and they play with a lot of speed,” he said.
“It’s going to be a challenge for us. We’re going to have to play good defence and cut some of their speed. We’re at our best when we get our forecheck going, create turnovers and kind of wear their team down. Most of our games against them have been pretty close.”
This season the Bulldogs have experienced plenty of ups and downs. They even switched leagues mid-season from the Alberta Junior Hockey League to the BCHL.
The AJHL prevented players from playing scheduled games after it was leaked that five of their teams would be making the move to the BCHL in the offseason. That sparked an early move from the five clubs and the BCHL made room for them to finish out the season.
“For the BCHL to step up and give us a place to play it’s been exciting to be playing against the top teams,” he said. “The winner of the Alberta division will playoff against the winner of the B.C. division so I guess it’ll truly be the top team in Canada whoever wins that.”