Hamburg’s weekend couldn’t have started out any worse.
And it couldn’t have ended any better.
The Bulldogs played Canisius on Saturday afternoon and Lancaster on Sunday. Both are Division 1 teams, and the Bulldogs hoped to earn a point or two over the weekend. They fell behind early on Saturday to Canisius but came back for a 4-4 tie before defeating Lancaster 2-1 on Sunday.
Their last game was the Friday before Christmas, and the Bulldogs took the week off from practice between Christmas and New Years. Just six minutes into Saturday’s game, the Bulldogs found themselves down 3-0 to Canisius.
“I gave the kids the whole week off after Christmas, and I think they still took off the first six minutes yesterday,” coach John McFall said on Sunday. “We didn’t hit a body, just played very lethargic and gave Canisius a quick three-nothing lead. Called a timeout, pretty much read them the riot act and told them that they’re a better hockey team and better hockey players than what they showed in that six minutes.”
“We went down three-nothing six minutes in, and it was probably our worst start of the season,” said Jason Delmont, one of Hamburg’s captains. “So Coach took a timeout and just drilled into us, and then after that we just really picked up the intensity. Got a couple goals at the end of the second going into the third, and we just kept momentum up, kept getting pucks to the net.”
“We were just playing soft,” said Neil Dake. “And obviously a lot of these Division 1 teams have a lot more talent than we do, so after that timeout we knew we had to be physical, be gritty, and that’s what we took into today, just knowing that we had to have that attitude.”
Dake, who played goaltender up until this season, scored his first career hat trick in Saturday’s tie. His third goal was Hamburg’s fourth of the game to tie it late and give the Bulldogs a point.
“I was just really excited,” Dake said. “I was really pumped up when I scored my third one. It was to tie the game at four, and I was just happy that we got the tie, coming down from three-nothing.”
“A lot of our logos have ‘Bulldog pride’ on it,” McFall said. “We take a lot of pride in how we play, and our top players played like top players after that. We nibbled away, nibbled away, nibbled away, gave up another goal but nibbled away again to get that big tie.”
In addition to Dake’s three goals Saturday, defenseman Owen Gonter scored one goal, and Delmont assisted all three of Dake’s goals.
The Bulldogs had one point and a whole lot of momentum to carry into Sunday’s game against Lancaster. With Gonter moved up to play forward and Elliott Szabala between the pipes, Hamburg dared to hope for another point or two.
“We just wanted to play smart simple hockey, not give them any chances, because we know they can bury chances when they can, so we just wanted to play simple, and it worked out for us,” said Delmont.
But again, Hamburg fell behind when Ryan Voight scored for Lancaster just over halfway through the second period. Comebacks were nothing new to the Bulldogs though, and they refused to give up.
With 1:29 left in the second, Lancaster took a slashing penalty, and the Bulldogs had a power play. Just five seconds into the man advantage, Gonter capitalized for his second goal of the weekend to tie the game at one. Delmont and Dake were credited with the assists.
“Our plan was just to be able to pick up a couple points here and there,” Delmont said. “So we came into the third tied with one, thought we had a good opportunity to get a point or two in this game, so we just wanted to play smart defensively. No breakdowns, get the puck, dump it out, dump and chase, try to just limit the amount of opportunities they have because they’re a fast team, skilled team. They can bury the puck.”
The Bulldogs did more than that. With 7:05 to play, Dake buried another for a 2-1 Hamburg lead.
“All I do is, Dake plants himself in front of the net, I just give him the puck, and he just buries it every single time,” Delmont said in amazement. “He just buries everything.”
“Hangen took the faceoff, won it to Delmont, so I went to the net, and he shot it, and I tipped it in,” Dake said.
Dake now has six goals and five assists in eight league games, plus three goals and one assist in two non-league games. McFall wasn’t sure what to expect from the career goalie; now he isn’t sure how to describe him.
“Dake’s amazing,” McFall said. “I’m losing adjectives for any of the Dake players. Neil just amazes me with his athletic ability. I didn’t see the goal he got today, but I guess it was an athlete’s tip. It was out of the air, waist-high to the net, and he just had the right angle, the right position on his stick to tip that thing in. I was just talking to someone who was raving about it, and he’s just an amazing athlete … Just out of the blue, he’s playing. And even a bigger factor with him is seeing how much fun he’s having. It makes our job even better. It’s the best job anyways, to coach this group of kids, but to see someone having that much fun and everybody else just going along with it.”
Delmont had five assists over the course of the weekend; he now has nine in eight league games.
“He’s a competitor from start to finish,” McFall said. “If he’s on that puck and his mouth is moving, his feet are moving, his hands are moving, he’s a top player, and then when he gets all three things going, yeah the mouth might get him in trouble a little bit, but that shows me that he’s in the game.”
And then there’s Elliott Szabala, who finished Sunday’s game with 25 saves for his first Fed win. He found out at Wednesday morning’s practice that he would be starting on Sunday instead of Griffin Coppola.
“I was just kinda like, ‘Alright, whatever,’ but it worked out for the best, I guess,” Szabala said.
His coach’s description of Szabala’s emotions as “level” fit Szabala’s reaction perfectly. And although Szabala almost missed his chance on Sunday, McFall and the team knew that the goalie they call “Cheesy” was an integral part of Sunday’s win.
“Amazing,” McFall said. “That kid, he’s so level with his emotions. He kept the bus 10 minutes late, 15 minutes late today, and I had the thought of teaching a lesson here, but I know he’s a player, he’s a gamer. Gave him the opportunity. To take the puck away from Griff is difficult, but looking at this schedule, I need to give him a breather, and I thought this would be a good one, and to come up and make some of the saves that he made were amazing. It shows well for our future of this season and next.”
“I was so pumped ’cause I mean, you look at the shots and it was like 26 to 14, but I think we had a better team,” Szabala said. “We outworked them most of the game, and I mean, I just think we played one hell of a game as a team.”
Hamburg’s schedule doesn’t get any easier the next couple weeks, but McFall has seen what his team is capable of, and he’s hopeful at the very least.
“Down a goal and just kept battling back, and these guys believe that even though they’re down by one, two, or three, they can battle back even against these top level teams,” McFall said. “We’re up against Niagara Wheatfield next on Friday, and then we’re back with Frontier and then we have a weekend with St. Joe’s and Orchard Park. Our schedule is a killer, and we’re learning what kind of team we are, that we can win these games, that we can be, number one, competitive in these games, and that we can battle in these games and we can win these games too. This is the kind of game we need to play at the end of the season, in February, March.”
“Wow,” said Delmont after Sunday’s win. “We just beat another Division 1 team. We just do really well against them every year, it seems like. It’s just really good to get those two points, move up in the standings. Cheesy played a hell of a game today, and we deserved to get that win.”
The win put Hamburg in first place in Division 2, ahead of rival Williamsville East.
“We are?” said Delmont. “Sweet.”