How the Bulldogs have started to ‘cut the cord’ from Belleville

REGINA – Every so often, veteran defenceman Jack Hanley likes to go retro when it comes to his hockey attire.

That means rocking apparel from the Belleville Bulls, the previous incarnation of the Hamilton Bulldogs.

“I still have my sweatshirts and all my gitch (underwear) and shirts. I wear them to the rink sometimes,” Hanley said. “Coach always gives me the gears and says, ‘Cut the cord.’

“But once you play somewhere you’re not gonna just let it go. You’re gonna remember it for the rest of your life.”

The Bulldogs, who moved from Belleville in 2015, faceoff in their second game of the Memorial Cup with three former Bulls still on their roster. They will battle the likewise 0-1 Swift Current Broncos on Monday.

Joining Hanley as in the Bulldogs-Bulls group are blueliner Justin Lemcke – the over-age captain who also played minor hockey in Whitby, Ont. with him – and 19-year-old winger Brandon Saigeon.

They received congratulatory messages from former Belleville teammates Adam Bignell, Jake Marchment, and Brett Gustavsen when the Bulldogs won the OHL championship earlier this month.

“We always joke around and say we’re the last Bulls standing around,” Hanley said.

But the ties to Belleville represent mixed feelings to those in the organization.

For the players, they’re enjoying their new surrounding – especially Saigeon, who grew up in nearby Grimsby, Ont. They’re also enjoying the winning, something that didn’t happen much at the end of the Belleville era.

But they do think back fondly to the final game at Yardman Arena. It ended with Bignell, whose father Greg Bignell and uncle Todd Hawkins were Bulls teammates in the late 1980s, taking his sweater off at centre ice and placing it there like a wreath.

“It brought almost closure with the team leaving,” Saigeon said. “That’s the story that sticks out to me.”

Hamilton Bulldogs captain Justin Lemcke, right, is one of three players remaining from when the team played in Belleville as the Bulls. (Jonathan Hayward/CP)

Equipment manager Kasey LaMorre remembers Michael Andlauer calling to tell him he was buying the Bulls, and moving them to Hamilton. As part of the shuffle, the AHL Hamilton Bulldogs would relocate to Laval, Que., after a two-year stint in St. John’s, N.L.

Born and raised in Belleville, LaMorre was the team’s waterboy and became the equipment manager for the Bulls by the time he turned 17. He left for another OHL team, the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors, in 2001 because their position was paid.

LaMorre eventually joined the AHL Bulldogs in 2007, but was fired by the parent team, the Montreal Canadiens in 2013. He was in Alberta driving gravel trucks when he got the call.

It was a bittersweet moment.

“I was shocked and I was sort of upset because the Belleville Bulls were leaving Belleville,” said LaMorre, who was with the team for its 1999 OHL championship.

“But getting an opportunity to be back in junior hockey with Mr. Andlauer has been awesome. But I think the whole city was upset for a very long time, not having hockey. Wednesday and Saturday nights in Belleville that’s all we did. We went to watch the Belleville Bulls.”

As the team transitioned to Hamilton, one of Andlauer’s first moves was to convince local product and former NHL defenceman Steve Staios to leave his player development position with the Toronto Maple Leafs and run the Bulldogs.

“Junior hockey’s had a bit of a checkered past (in the city),” Staios said. “This was an opportunity and challenge – but a challenge to make junior hockey relevant and stable and alive and well in Hamilton forever.”

Staios was named president and tried to focus his attention on the business side of the operation in the first half of the 2015-16 season. But as the year went on, he started taking a more active role on the hockey side.

He didn’t like what he saw – and he wanted to change it. The Bulldogs finished 25-35-8 and missed the playoffs in their first season in Hamilton.

“We wanted to create our own identity,” Staios said. “I wasn’t pleased with what the identity was in Year 1.

“I don’t think there was a ton of accountability.”

Longtime Bulls coach-GM George Burnett was fired. Staios became the GM.

Staios hired John Gruden to take over behind in part because he liked how Gruden handled a “tumultuous” season as coach of the Flint Firebirds. He also knew Gruden could find the right balance between being a players’ coach and ruffling some feathers.

Lemcke, who was first named captain when the Bulls moved to Hamilton, was Gruden’s first target.

“Right when he got here, he told me my leadership sucks,” Lemcke said. “I thought about it and he really challenged me to work harder in the gym and make sure I’m the guy everyone can look to.”

Added Gruden: “I told Justin there were going to be some growing pains for him. I told him the captaincy is not for ‘cool;’ it’s for captain.

“It took some time, but as he kept growing as captain, our team started getting better. He’s a big reason. I told the guys that were with us (in Belleville), ‘You guys are going to be the pioneers of doing something special.’”

Gruden’s prophecy was correct. The Bulldogs – in only their third year in Hamilton and second year under he and Staios – won the OHL title this season.

While Staios augmented his roster with Canadian world junior centre Robert Thomas at the deadline, he sensed there was something special about this team within the first 10 games of the season.

“Guys that were part of that Belleville group really raised their game and showed a great deal of leadership,” he said. “I was thinking, ‘OK; this is moving along faster than I thought it might.’”

With Hamilton winning an OHL championship and hockey returning to Belleville in the form of the Ottawa Senators’ AHL affiliate last fall, the link between the Bulldogs and Bulls is fading fast.

Lemcke will exhaust his junior hockey eligibility once the Memorial Cup ends. Hanley and Saigeon can return as overagers next season.

“It’s sad in a way, but we have a really good thing going in Hamilton now,” Saigeon said.

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