# 2016–17 Odense Bulldogs season

The 2016–17 Odense Bulldogs season was the 26th season in the Danish Hockey League since the team was promoted in 1990.
There has been a lot of redeployments during the summer. Bulldogs did not extend the contract with coach Brad Gratton, and signed Frederikshavn coach Peter Johansson on a two-year contract.
Furthermore, a number of players have left the club, including stars such as Ryan McDonough, Sean Wiles and John Armstrong. However, Bulldogs has signed a lot of new players, such as the former Bulldogs-player Michael Eskesen.
Bulldogs finished as second in the regular season, for the first time since the 2011–12 season. They knocked out Rungsted 4–0 in the quarter-finals. They could not handle Gentofte in the semi-finals and lost 1–4. Then they were forced into a bronze medal-game against Frederikshavn, where they lost both games, 2–6 and 0–3.

## Regular season
### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Aalborg Pirates | 45 | 27 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 133 | 94 | +39 | 91 | Qualification to Metal Ligaen Play-offs |
| 2 | Odense Bulldogs | 45 | 22 | 9 | 4 | 10 | 143 | 96 | +47 | 88 | Qualification to Metal Ligaen Play-offs |
| 3 | Frederikshavn White Hawks | 45 | 23 | 7 | 1 | 14 | 133 | 92 | +41 | 84 | Qualification to Metal Ligaen Play-offs |
| 4 | Esbjerg Energy | 45 | 18 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 140 | 106 | +34 | 75 | Qualification to Metal Ligaen Play-offs |
| 5 | SønderjyskE | 45 | 20 | 5 | 5 | 15 | 130 | 117 | +13 | 75 | Qualification to Metal Ligaen Play-offs |

### Schedule and results

2016–17 Game Log: 31–10–4, 88 Points (home: 15–6–0; road: 16–4–4) :

### Playoffs

2016 Metal Ligaen Play-offs :

### Bronze medal-game
## Player statistics

Updated 31 March 2017

### Skaters

Regular Season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Dale Mitchell | 44 | 27 | 40 | 67 | +33 | 124 |
| Tony Romano | 42 | 28 | 26 | 54 | +36 | 47 |
| Sebastian Strandberg | 40 | 13 | 32 | 45 | +22 | 16 |
| Rasmus Bjerrum | 45 | 13 | 13 | 26 | +15 | 12 |
| Simon Grønvaldt | 44 | 7 | 16 | 23 | +20 | 20 |
| Robin Sterner | 43 | 7 | 13 | 20 | +8 | 56 |
| Martin Larsen | 40 | 9 | 10 | 19 | +23 | 45 |
| Mathias Thinnesen | 44 | 6 | 12 | 18 | +8 | 14 |
| Michael Eskesen | 46 | 5 | 10 | 15 | +33 | 22 |
| Rasmus Lyø | 40 | 4 | 10 | 14 | +13 | 14 |
| Mikkel Ankjær Nielsen | 39 | 5 | 5 | 10 | −2 | 52 |
| Henrik Nielsen | 43 | 3 | 7 | 10 | +6 | 32 |
| Jonas René Hansen | 43 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 8 |
| Frederik Høeg | 37 | 3 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 2 |
| Oliver Larsen | 31 | 1 | 6 | 7 | +11 | 64 |
| Asger Petersen | 41 | 3 | 3 | 6 | +5 | 22 |
| Andreas Pedersen | 45 | 2 | 4 | 6 | +5 | 28 |
| Mads Schaarup | 39 | 1 | 4 | 6 | +1 | 37 |
| Frederik Sørensen | 31 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −4 | 18 |
| Søren Pedersen | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −2 | 2 |
| Daniel Lundvald Nielsen | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Matej Polata | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 0 |
| Christian Larsen | 33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +3 | 0 |
Play-offs :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Dale Mitchell | 9 | 4 | 4 | 8 | +3 | 14 |
| Tony Romano | 4 | 4 | 2 | 6 | +7 | 12 |
| Robin Sterner | 9 | 3 | 3 | 6 | +2 | 16 |
| Henrik Nielsen | 9 | 3 | 2 | 5 | +3 | 6 |
| Rasmus Bjerrum | 9 | 2 | 2 | 4 | +7 | 4 |
| Mathias Thinnesen | 9 | 0 | 3 | 3 | +1 | 6 |
| Rasmus Lyø | 9 | 0 | 3 | 3 | +3 | 0 |
| Simon Grønvaldt | 9 | 1 | 1 | 2 | +2 | 2 |
| Martin Larsen | 9 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +6 | 10 |
| Michael Eskesen | 9 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +2 | 8 |
| Oliver Larsen | 9 | 1 | 1 | 2 | +3 | 2 |
| Andreas Pedersen | 9 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +3 | 6 |
| Sebastian Strandberg | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –4 | 14 |
| Mikkel Ankjær Nielsen | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –1 | 4 |
| Jonas René Hansen | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Frederik Høeg | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –1 | 4 |
| Asger Petersen | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –1 | 2 |
| Mads Schaarup | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 2 |
| Frederik Sørensen | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Søren Pedersen | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –2 | 0 |

### Goaltenders

Regular Season :
| Player | GP | GAA | SV% |
| Tadeas Galansky | 45 | 2.07 | .924 |
Play-offs :
| Player | GP | GAA | SV% |
| Tadeas Galansky | 9 | 1.46 | .938 |

## Continental Cup
### Group stage

The Group D tournament was played in Odense, Denmark from 18 to 20 November 2016.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | NOT | ODE | ANG | DON |
| 1 | Nottingham Panthers | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 6 | Qualification to Super Final | — | 5–4 | 4–3 | 1–3 |
| 2 | Odense Bulldogs | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 8 | +1 | 6 | Qualification to Super Final | 4–5 | — | 3–2 | 2–1 |
| 3 | Ducs d'Angers | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 9 | −1 | 3 | | 3–4 | 2–3 | — | 3–2 |
| 4 | HC Donbass | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 3 | | 3–1 | 1–2 | 2–3 | — |

#### Matches
### Final

Continental Cup Final tournament will be played from 13 to 15 January 2017. The host will be determined later.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Nottingham Panthers | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 8 | Qualification to Champions Hockey League |
| 2 | Odense Bulldogs | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 4 | |
| 3 | Beibarys Atyrau | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 8 | −1 | 4 | |
| 4 | Ritten Sport | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 10 | −5 | 2 | |