Will Bulldogs make it to the playoffs?

The Hamilton Bulldogs have an uphill battle to make the American Hockey League playoffs.

With 23 games remaining, the Bulldogs are the 13th seeds in the Western Conference, seven points out of a playoff spot. To make things even more difficult, only nine of their remaining games will be at home.

Going into Saturday night’s game in Rochester, the Hamilton Bulldogs were carrying a three-game losing streak on their backs, and their playoff hopes were fading fast, which is why Captain Martin St Pierre called a meeting.

“It was a players’ meeting and we kind of laid it all our on the line and a lot of guys spoke. There’s less than 25 games left and we’re not gonna be satisfied being just a mediocre team. Obviously we’ve dug ourselves a hole and we’ve got to get ourselves out of it.”

The Dogs snapped their losing skid on Sunday with a 3-1 victory over San Antonio, and St Pierre — who leads the team in scoring — netted a pair of goals in the victory. The team’s motto these days is “take it one game at a time”, and from what Dustin Tokarski has to say, that one game seems to have given their morale quite a boost.

“It’s gonna be tough to make the playoffs, but we fully believe we can do it. 7 points out, it’s definitely an uphill battle, but I think we’ve got the character in the room and the guys believe, so it should be a fun 23 games.”

Head coach Sylvain Lefebvre says Tokarski and Robert Mayer will continue to share the net-minding duties, even though Tokarski has statistically proven to be the stronger goalie, winning a dozen more games this season.

“Tokarski’s had more wins, but having said that, to go with just one goalie isn’t fair for any of them.”

…Which means Mayer will be the likely starter on Friday, when Lake Erie travels to Hamilton.

“We’re 7 points back and we do have to be consistent now, there’s no more excuses or else May/April we’ll be packing our bags.”