2006/2007 Season Wrap Up

The 2006 2007 Boston Bulldog season was scheduled to be a rebuilding year. Sending 20 players off to college was a great accomplishment for the 2005 - 06 team but it left the returning player ranks a little short.

When the roster for the 2006 – 07 Bulldog team was finally finished, it consisted of 5 returning players and 18 first year junior players and 2 new players who had played a year of juniors before. This array of players would in many coaches’ eyes mean a rebuilding year. However the Boston Bulldogs have a diligent and determined coaching staff that recognized a wonderful opportunity for these chosen young men to prove people wrong, especially the other teams of the competitive Atlantic Junior Hockey League.

The team broke training camp in Waterville Valley NH just before Labor Day with high spirits, new friends and a determination to be successful.

The first opportunity to prove themselves would come quickly as the Woodstock Slammers had invited the Bulldogs back for the New Brunswick Potato Challenge, in Woodstock, New Brunswick. The team set off for New Brunswick to defend last year’s victory over the Slammers. The challenge last year was a big success for the Slammers in the community. So that this year they invited 3 teams from the Atlantic Junior Hockey League (Boston Bulldogs, Northern Cyclones and Hudson Valley Eagles) and had three Canadian teams (Woodstock Slammers, Yarmouth Mariners and New Brunswick U-17 team) participate.

The Bulldogs opened the series with the New Brunswick U-17 team and won 7–1. Day 1 ended with a shopping trip to the local grocery store and waves of people asking about the team and telling the players “how the Slammers were going to get even on Sunday for last years loss”. This is an atmosphere and a new experience for the new Bulldogs players. Day 2 brought last year’s playoff finalist the New Brunswick Junior hockey league, Yarmouth Mainers, to the Bulldogs doorstep and a 5-2 loss was handed to them. Day 3 was the rematch between the Bulldogs and the defending champions of the New Brunswick Junior League, the Woodstock Slammers. This time there was more on the line. Going into day three of this American-Canadian challenge. The Americans needed to win all three to take the title back to the USA. The other AJHL teams did there part and won both of the games in the morning. That left the host Woodstock Slammers and the Boston Bulldogs playing not only for the series title but the best record in the challenge series. A very competitive game began with the Bulldogs jumping out in front but the Slammers answered minutes later. The game seesawed back and forth until late in the 3rd period when the Bulldogs pulled ahead. The Slammers knowing that Canadian pride was on the line threw everything they had at the Bulldogs. Andrew Ross was outstanding throughout the game but saved his best for the end with constant pressure and big saves. The Bulldogs prevailed 6-5 in an outstanding hockey game. The fans commented to the coaches after the game on what a well-played game it was and how they have enjoyed our trips to New Brunswick. The Bulldogs were off to a solid start.

The start of the season soon lost its luster as the team struggled to find itself in September, and October. With some tough losses and overtime losses, the season was starting to look average at best. The Boston Bulldogs found themselves 16 points behind the Cyclones in the Northern Division.

In October, the AJHL league sent a league all-star team to compete in Blaine MN against the other Tier III Jr. A league. The two leagues would send all-star teams to the First Annual National Junior Jamboree. The Bulldogs had three players selected to compete for the AJHL team. They were Defenseman Jake Gaffey, Forward Jack Nolin and Goalie Andrew Ross. Head coach Mike Addesa was the general manager for the team. The AJHL team won the first game of the 2 game series with Jack Nolin getting the game-winning goal, a shorthanded tally, and Andrew Ross was the winning goalie. Game 2 went to the other league the series ended with 1 win and 1 loss for each league.

By the Northeast Showcase at Thanksgiving, the team was 17–7-0-2 record. However the team played well at the Showcase and there were signs of improvement. A big win over the Cyclones, right after the showcase, closed the gap a little, and was this the start of something. Into December the team improved and more wins followed. Just as things started to get rolling it was Holiday Break, would the wins continue after the break?

Canisius College contacted the Bulldogs to see if the team would be interest in competing in their first junior showcase. The coaching staff concluded that it would be a solid way to get everyone back and ready for the second half of the season. So the decision was made to go off to Buffalo, NY and play 3 more Canadian Junior Hockey teams; it had worked earlier in the season.

The team was to play three Canadian League teams in a showcase format. The first game December 28^th was against the Thorold Blackhawks a 4-1 win. The Wheatfield Blades were next and brought another win for the bulldogs 6-4 and the final game on Saturday December 30 against the Buffalo Jr Sabers, a loss 2-1. However the showcase format was the team with the best record would win, 5 teams ended with 2-1 records. The tiebreakers were goal differential and total goals against which gave the title to the Boston Bulldogs. At the time the coaches and players did not realize how big a showcase this was or what it would lead to for the team.

The annual AJHL all-star game was held at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, in late January. The Bulldogs had 7 players on the Northern Division roster; Forwards Dan Rautenberg, Jack Nolin and Ian Flanagan – Defensemen Ryan Guerin, Jake Gaffey and Kevin Miller – Goaltender Andrew Ross. The Northern Division team won the game and Andrew Ross was the winning goalie.

At the all-star break, the bulldogs trailed the division leading Northern Cyclones by 10 points in the Northern Division standings. The team then began a stunning 17–1 league winning streak showing that the growing pains of those early months were starting to pay dividends down the stretch. As the season closed out the bulldogs had erased the earlier 16 point deficit and moved into a tie with the Cyclones for the Northern Division title. Based on goals against, the Bulldogs were the second best team in the league. The Bulldogs and Cyclones finished 2 and 2 versus each other but the Cyclones scored 2 more goals and were awarded the Northern Division crown and a bye in the first round of the playoffs.

The bulldogs moved into the playoffs as the second seed and played the Hartford Wolfpack in the Northern Division preliminary round. After a hard fought physical game the Bulldogs moved on with a 5–2 win. Next up was the cross over game with the Southern Division preliminary winners, the Washington Jr. Nationals who had won their game 6-2.

This game was a fast paced game with lots of action for both goaltenders but with 1:30 remaining a nice saucer pass from the left board to a streaking right wing from the Nationals ended the Bulldogs season. The 3-2 loss was hard on all the players and coaches, but the hockey game was excellent.

In Conclusion:

The league record was

35 wins – 9 losses – 0 Ties and 2 overtime losses (including playoffs)

Overall record was

45 wins 12 losses - 1 tie and 2 overtime losses

(including playoffs)

In the end of the season league awards had a number of Bulldogs on the final lists. Ian Flanagan - Rookie of the year. Matt Buchan - Goalie of the year. Jack Nolin - Defensive forward of the year. Ryan Guerin - Defensive Defenseman of the year. Kevin Miller for Offensive defenseman of the year. Mike Addesa - Coach of the year.

After the voting of the league general managers and head coaches; the Boston Bulldogs had two league winners Jack Nolin as Best Defensive Forward of the year and Ryan Guerin as Best Defensive Defenseman of the year. Congratulations to both players.

The 2006 2007 Boston Bulldogs will best be remembered as the group that worked as a team. They cared about and for each other and that lead to solid play and an impressive winning streak, as all players contributed to the success of the team. Individual awards are nice but the team will have 14 returning players for next season and a bitter taste in their mouths from that playoff loss. 10 players will head off to various college campuses for the 2007 season and we wish all of them the best. Be sure to check out the roster page to see where the players will be playing next year.