It was a night for hat-tricks at the Powell River Recreational Complex on Monday night, as David Dziurzynski of the Bulldogs and the Kings’ hometown hero Daniel Carr went goal-for-goal offensively in a thrilling 5-4 victory for the visiting Alberni Valley.
The Bulldogs now leads the series 2-1 heading into Game 4 tonight on the Sunshine Coast, despite being heavily outshot for the second time in the Coastal Conference Finals.
But the visitors used their 24 shots wisely. Three of the Alberni Valley’s 24 shots came off the stick of Dziurzynski who potted a hat-trick and added an assist in the Game 3 victory. The Bulldogs forward is one of the hottest players in the BCHL playoffs with nine points in the series.
Dziurzynski was involved in the game from the opening face-off. He assisted on Mark MacMillan’s icebreaker that opened the scoring on the power play and put Alberni Valley in front 1-0 after 20 minutes.
In the second, Dziurzynski and Kings’ top gun Daniel Carr traded power-play goals throughout the middle frame. Carr evened the score 1:17 into period on a pass from Mat Bodie with the man advantage. Dziurzynski then answered no more than a minute later on a Bulldogs power-play opportunity, beating Josh Watson at the 2:06 mark with a feed from Kevin Ross. Carr tied the game again at 2-2 midway through the second period before Alberni Valley’s sniper put the Bulldogs back ahead.
Nineteen seconds later, Johnny Rogic increased the visitors’ advantage to 4-2 at the end of two periods after Dziurzynski re-established the lead. It closed out an entertaining five-goal second period.
Carr then wrapped up his hat-trick performance on Monday evening with a goal 18 seconds into the third period, closing the gap to 4-3. Jordan Grant tied the hockey game at 4-4 with another power-play marker for the Kings. But it was the Bulldogs’ hero, Dziurzynski, who scored the game-winning goal with 5:56 remaining in the game to give Alberni Valley a 2-1 series advantage.
The road team allowed Powell River 40 shots on Frank Slubowski, who stood tall in net with 36 saves to preserve the Game 3 victory. With the road win, the Bulldogs have regained home-ice advantage entering the fourth game of the Coastal Conference Finals tonight.
