Hamilton welcomes the Bulldogs back home with a ceremony at Gore Park after the Memorial Cup – Hamilton | Globalnews.ca

Hamilton Bulldogs fans helped the team celebrate a fantastic season with a ceremony at Gore Park on Thursday afternoon.

The Ontario Hockey League (OHL) champions arrived downtown on their tour bus touting the Bobby Orr Trophy and J. Ross Robertson Cup, less than a full day after their 6-3 loss to the St. John Sea Dogs in the Memorial Cup Final.

Steve Staios, the team’s president and general manager, said he couldn’t be more proud of each player for what they accomplished all season.

“This is the most special team I’ve ever been on in hockey,” he said during the ceremony. “The only word that comes to mind is courage. Each and every night, they continued to put pressure on each other and made us all very proud every night.”

While the last two Memorial Cups have been canceled due to the pandemic, it was Hamilton’s second time at the tournament after advancing to the 2018 semifinals where they fell to the Regina Pats.

Bulldogs owner Michael Andlauer said the team has been an ambassador for the city of Hamilton for the past few weeks.

“Hamilton has been showcased from coast to coast over the last month and epitomizes what this city is all about: hard work, resilience, dedication, passion and character. They showed it by not only beating Windsor and becoming Ontario Hockey League champions, but also beating the Western Hockey League champion, eliminating them in the Memorial Cup. And for that, I’m very proud of these guys.”

Despite not being able to bring the Memorial Cup back to Ontario, Andlauer said the team still has the OHL championship victory to be extremely proud of.

“We eliminated the WHL champion and eliminated the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champion. And we fell a little short with the host city, who had taken 39 days off before playing us… so we won a championship and lost a tournament.”

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He also expressed his gratitude for the fans, who have supported the team throughout the season and cheered very loudly during these last crucial games.

“Game seven against Windsor, there was a seventh man in the stands and it was you fans. You supported our team. We love it, we saw it at the outdoor game, we saw it all season long. Thank you very much for your support. That’s why hockey is in Hamilton, because of you.”