HAMILTON, Ont. -- The effort was there, but the energy was not for the Hamilton Bulldogs on Sunday. Playing their third game in as many days, the Bulldogs were
a step behind from the opening faceoff and fell 4-1 to the Chicago Wolves in
American Hockey League action. Despite the result, Hamilton head coach Sylvain
Lefebvre had only praise for his players, who he believed had left everything on
the ice over the course of a marathon weekend. "I think we ran out of gas," said
Lefebvre. "We had a very tough, physical game last night, and the guys gave
everything they had. "Im proud of that group. They emptied the tank, and theyve
given us some pretty good hockey so far and battled right to the end." Dimitrij
Jaskin and Mark Cundari both had a goal and an assist for the Wolves (23-15-4),
who won their second game in as many days while Tyler Shattock and Joel
Edmundson also scored. Matt Climie made 21 saves for the win. Christian Thomas
had the lone goal for the Bulldogs (20-18-4) while Robert Mayer stopped 40 shots
in defeat. Hamiltons offence sputtered for much of the first period, but
manufactured the games first threat 11 minute in when Jordan Owens gathered the
puck along the boards and found Jarred Tinordi with a centring pass in the high
slot. The defenceman drew a move from Climie as he glided to his left, but
snapped his shot just over the crossbar. The Wolves produced the games opening
goal after Hamiltons Gabriel Dumont was penalized for interference. Chicago
peppered the Bulldogs with point shots on the power play and the final one,
courtesy of Brent Regner, took a deflection onto the stick of Jaskin, who easily
chipped a shot over the near shoulder of Mayer at 14:25. A costly misplay by
Mayer allowed the Wolves to double their lead a minute and a half later.
Shattock carried the puck along the right boards and fired a weak wrist shot
toward the net with teammates headed to the crease. Mayer stopped the effort,
but deflected a rebound into the air, where it clipped a defender and slid past
him. Chicagos lead swelled to three goals just 1:28 into the second period, with
the two teams playing 4-on-4. A giveaway in the neutral zone sprung Alexandre
Bolduc, Adam Cracknell and Edmundson on a three-man break, and Edmundson took
the final touch on the right wing and fired a rising wrist shot past Mayer at
the far post. Less than two minutes later, the Bulldogs responded on what seemed
to be a harmless rush. Thomas carried the puck into the offensive zone on the
left wing with his linemates alongside him, and launched a long-range wrist shot
from the top of the circle that beat Climie over the shoulder at 3:24 of the
second period. Hamilton appeared to make it 3-2 when a bizarre bounce off of the
glass behind the net had the puck bounce off the back of Climie and into his
goal. But Bulldog centreman Maxime Macenauer was judged to have touched the puck
with a high stick, and the goal was disallowed. Macenauer sought a review of the
play by officials, and argued that the incident could have been pivotal for his
team. "It was a really close call," he said. "I felt that (the referees) should
have reviewed it. Its probably a high stick, but you never know, because I felt
that I might have touched it right below the cross bar. "It would have been 3-2
at that point, and it would have changed the game." A potential turning point
avoided, the Wolves increased their lead with a fourth goal at 12:02. Nathan
Longpre took possession of the puck below the goal line and found an unmarked
Cundari with a centring pass. He reacted quickly to snap a wrist shot over the
far shoulder of Mayer. Hamilton defenceman Morgan Ellis fell awkwardly into the
boards midway through the period and was slow to return to the bench with an
upper-body injury. He stayed on the bench for the remainder of the period, but
did not return for the third. Lefebvre had not been briefed on the severity of
the injury at the time of writing, but indicated that it would likely hold Ellis
out of the lineup for some time. The most promising scoring chance of the third
fell to Macenauer, who weaved through Chicagos defence pairing before firing a
wrist shot off Climies far post. Still pressing for consolation, the Bulldogs
were denied by a highlight-reel worthy save by Climie with six and a half
minutes to play. Martin St. Pierre protected the puck on the left wing and
threaded a pass cross-ice to Owens, whose one-time shot was snared by the
sliding Climie. Chicago went 1 for 6 on the power play while Hamilton failed to
score on four chances with the man advantage. RECIFE, Brazil -- Germanys Thomas
Mueller stayed on track to retain his Golden Boot title at the World Cup by
scoring his fourth goal of the tournament in the 1-0 victory over the United
States. U.S. coach Juergen Klinsmann wasnt too upset. His team also qualified
for the knockout stage after Portugal beat Ghana 2-1 in the other final match in
Group G, which saw both teams eliminated. Mueller scored five times in South
Africa in 2010 and scored his fourth on Friday in a rain-soaked Recife. With two
wins and a draw, Germany topped the group with seven points, while the U.S.
progressed with four. Portugal also finished with four points but the U.S. had a
better goal difference. "We controlled the match and did not allow any chances
until late in the match," Germany coach Joachim Loew said. "We failed to score a
second goal that would have settled the issue earlier." Mueller scored in the
55th minute with a side-footed shot from the edge of the area as tropical
downpours drenched the Arena Pernambuco. He now has nine goals in nine World Cup
games. "We clearly dominated the match and we played not a bad game against a
top-fit American team," Mueller said. "I finally scored a pretty goal. I manage
it every now and then. We still have big targets ahead of us." Germany, a
three-time champion, now travels to Porto Alegre to play the runner-up in Group
H on June 30. Both teams knew before kickoff that a draw would see them through,
but neither held back. The game pitted Loew against his good friend and
predecessor Juergen Klinsmann, now in charge of the U.S. team. The two coaches
smiled as they shook hands and patted each other on the shoulder after the
match. Klinsmann warmly embraced the German players/ Germanys goal came after a
corner by Mesut Ozil. U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard did well to punch out a header
by Per Mertesacker but pushed the ball into the path of Mueller who rifled a
shot inside the far post from the edge of the penalty area. Mueller played
despite needing five stiches to close a cut above his right eye sustained in the
2-2 draw with Ghana on Saturday and still visible five days later. TThe United
States had a chance to level the match in stoppage time, but Alejandro Bedoyas
low shot inside the box was swept away by the sliding Mario Goetze, a late
substitute.dddddddddddd The Americans won a corner but Clint Dempseys header at
the far post went high. Loew reshuffled his lineup by bringing in forward Lukas
Podolski for Goetze and midfielder Sebastian Schweinsteiger for Sami Khedira.
Center back Geoff Cameron was replaced in the U.S. lineup by Omar Gonzalez.
There were many empty seats in the Arena Pernambuco when the match kicked off
but fans streamed in during the first half, apparently delayed by traffic jams
as torrential rain flooded parts of this northeastern Brazilian city. Germany
was quicker off the mark and Howard intercepted a low cross from Podolski before
Michael Bradley made a good clearance and Gonzalez defended well to deny Mueller
a shot from close range. Howards 103th cap was a record for a U.S. goalkeeper
and he did well to stop Ozils shot in the 35th minute. Graham Zusi had the first
good shot for the U.S. but his effort in the 22nd went high. Referee Ravshan
Irmatov of Uzbekistan collided accidentally with Jermaine Jones in the 28th and
the American midfielder went down hard but got up. The referee shrugged off the
challenge. Miroslav Klose came on for Podolski at the start of the second half
but failed to score and grab sole possession of the World Cup scoring record
that he now shares with Brazils Ronaldo at 15. Ozil beat Gonzalez to a cross at
the start of the second half but sent his header high, while Klose connected
with a cross from Schweinsteiger but was off balance and did not get off a clean
header. Lineups: United States: Tim Howard; Fabian Johnson, Omar Gonzalez, Matt
Besler, DaMarcus Beasley; Jermaine Jones, Kyle Beckerman, Graham Zusi (DeAndre
Yedlin, 84th), Michael Bradley, Brad Davis (Alejandro Bedoya, 59th); Clint
Dempsey. Germany: Manuel Neuer; Jerome Boateng, Per Mertesacker, Mats Hummels,
Benedikt Hoewedes; Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger (Mario Goetze, 76th),
Mesut Ozil (Andre Schuerrle, 89th), Toni Kroos; Lukas Podolski (Miroslav Klose,
46th), Thomas Mueller.
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