Hamilton Bulldogs
City	Hamilton, Ontario
League	American Hockey League
Conference	Western Conference
Division	North Division
Founded	1984 (first franchise) 1996 (second franchise)
Operated	1996–2015
Home arena	FirstOntario Centre
Colours	Blue, red, copper, tan, white
Media	The Hamilton Spectator AM900 CHML[1] TVA Sports
Affiliates	Edmonton Oilers (NHL) Montreal Canadiens (NHL)
Franchise history
First franchise
1984–1988 1988–1996	Nova Scotia Oilers Cape Breton Oilers
1996–2003 2003–2004	Hamilton Bulldogs Toronto Roadrunners
2004–2005 2010–2015	Edmonton Road Runners Oklahoma City Barons
2015–present	Bakersfield Condors
Second franchise
1969–1971 1971–1984	Montreal Voyageurs Nova Scotia Voyageurs
1984–1990 1990–1999	Sherbrooke Canadiens Fredericton Canadiens
1999–2002 2002–2015	Quebec Citadelles Hamilton Bulldogs
2015–2017	St. John's IceCaps
2017–present	Laval Rocket
Championships
Regular season titles	1 (2002–03)
Division titles	4 (2002–03,2003–04,2009–10,2010–11)
Conference titles	3 (1996–97,2002–03,2006–07)
Calder Cups	1 (2006–07)

TheHamilton Bulldogs were a professionalice hockey team in theAmerican Hockey League. They played inHamilton, Ontario, atFirstOntario Centre (formerly known as Copps Coliseum), nicknamed 'The Dog Pound'. They were the AHL affiliate of the NHL'sEdmonton Oilers andMontreal Canadiens as two separate franchises over 19 seasons of continuous participation in the AHL. The team won theCalder Cup once in its history, in 2007.

The Hamilton Bulldogs Hockey Club was first established in 1996 following the relocation of theCape Breton Oilers. The team was nicknamed the "Bulldogs" as it was determined to best suit the City of Hamilton. The name "Hamilton Havoc" was runner-up.

On the ice, the club reached theCalder Cup Finals three times. Firstly in 1997, the club's first year, and again in 2003 only to lose in both cases. The 2003 game 7 final was played June 12, 2003, vs theHouston Aeros. The attendance at Copps Coliseum was 17,428, making it the largest playoff crowd in the history of the AHL (the record was later broken in 2005 in Philadelphia). Houston won the game 3–0 and the series 4–3. The Bulldogs finally won the Calder Cup Final in 2007 against theHershey Bears. This series was a rematch of the 1997 Calder Cup Final which Hershey won 4 games to 1. The Bulldogs reversed that in 2007 – Hamilton 4 games to Hershey's 1.

Off the ice, the club faced turmoil in 2000 resulting in a "Stay Dogs Stay" campaign spearheaded by Don Robertson, Ron Burnstein, Nick Javor, and club PresidentCary Kaplan, aimed at keeping the franchise in Hamilton. The campaign was a financial success and resulted in the club remaining in the Steel City with a bolstered fan base and an improved lease with the City ofHamilton.

In spite of a franchise high in attendance in 2001, theEdmonton Oilers announced plans to move their AHL franchise to Toronto. The same "Stay Dogs Stay" committee went back to work for the second consecutive year, and secured local interests who made a multimillion-dollar investment to secure ownership of theQuebec Citadelles franchise from theMontreal Canadiens and merged them with Hamilton, thus keeping the Bulldogs in town.^[2] The achievement to preserve the team was a unique joint venture between theMontreal Canadiens, theEdmonton Oilers, theAmerican Hockey League, and a local consortium of Hamilton owners, which allowed for a joint affiliation in2002–03 between Montreal and Edmonton as ownership changed hands. After the 2002–03 season, the Oilers officially relocated their franchise to Toronto and became theToronto Roadrunners. As part of the merger agreement, the Bulldogs were able to retain much of their team and staff that had been affiliated with the Canadiens to keep team continuity for the following season. Fans voted to keep the Bulldogs name which won over the Hamilton Canadiens and Hamilton Habs.

In the summer of 2004, Burlington businessmanMichael Andlauer bought out much of the minority shares of the franchise to become majority owner, governor, and chairman of the Hamilton Bulldogs. Andlauer was part of the initial group of local businesspeople who purchased the Bulldogs team from the Edmonton Oilers and the Citadelles franchise from the Montreal Canadiens in 2002. By 2011, Andlauer owned 100% of the franchise.

In the 2006–07 season, the Bulldogs won their first Calder Cup after defeating theHershey Bears in the Calder Cup finals in five games. However, they failed to qualify for the playoffs in the 2007–08 season, making them the first defending Calder Cup champion to miss the playoffs in the following season since the Calder Cup playoff bracket expanded from 12 teams to 16 teams in 1996.

In 2010, fans saw the Bulldogs under coachGuy Boucher advance to the Western Conference finals against theTexas Stars, only to lose a hard-fought series in game seven.

On March 12, 2015, Michael Andlauer announced that he had sold the Hamilton Bulldogs' AHL franchise back to the Canadiens, and that the team would move toSt. John's, Newfoundland for the2015–16 season as theSt. John's IceCaps.^[2] The existingTrue North Sports and Entertainment-owned IceCaps, which are affiliated with theWinnipeg Jets, moved back to Winnipeg as theManitoba Moose. Concurrently, Andlauer announced his acquisition of theOntario Hockey League'sBelleville Bulls, and that the team would be moved to Hamilton and adopt the Bulldogs name.^[3]

List of timelines for the two separate franchises known as the Hamilton Bulldogs.

Edmonton Oilers AHL franchise

• Nova Scotia Oilers (1984–1988)
• Cape Breton Oilers (1988–1996)
• Hamilton Bulldogs (1996–2003)
• Toronto Roadrunners (2003–2004)
• Edmonton Road Runners (2004–2005)
• Franchise dormant from 2005–2010
• Oklahoma City Barons (2010–2015) – Edmonton Oilers franchise resurrected.
• Bakersfield Condors (2015–present)

Montreal Canadiens AHL franchise

• Montreal Voyageurs (1969–1971)
• Nova Scotia Voyageurs (1971–1984)
• Sherbrooke Canadiens (1984–1990)
• Fredericton Canadiens (1990–1999)
• Quebec Citadelles (1999–2002)
• Hamilton Bulldogs (2002–2015) – Affiliation only; franchise purchased by the ownership group of Hamilton Bulldogs and fully owned by Michael Andlauer in 2004.
• St. John's IceCaps (2015–2017) – Canadiens ownership group repurchased franchise license from Michael Andlauer.
• Laval Rocket (2017– )

List of Hamilton Bulldogs alumni who played more than 100 games in Hamilton and 100 or more games in theNational Hockey League.

Goals:Paul Healey, 39 (2000–01)

Assists:Daniel Cleary, 52 (1999–2000)

Points:David Desharnais, 78 (2009–10)

Penalty minutes:Dennis Bonvie, 522 (1996–97)

GAA:Cedrick Desjardins, 2.00 (2009–10)

SV%:Steve Passmore (1998–99) &Jaroslav Halak (2007–08), .929

Points: 115 (2009–10)

Most wins overall: 52 (2009–10)

Most wins at home: 25

Most wins on the road: 27

Playoff goaltending wins (1 season):Carey Price, 15 (2006–2007)

Career goals:Corey Locke, 85

Career assists: Corey Locke, 144

Career points: Corey Locke, 229

Career penalty minutes:Dennis Bonvie, 817

Career goaltending wins:Yann Danis, 81

Career shutouts:Jaroslav Halak, 11

Career games:Alex Henry, 486

• Glen Sather, president, 1996–2000
• Scott Howson, general manager, 1996–2002
• Cary Kaplan, president, 2000–2002 (with club from 1996)
• Steve Katzman, president, 2002–2003
• Brian Lewis, 2003–2006
• Glenn Stanford, president, 2006–2010
• Bob McNamara, president, 2010–2011
• Stephen Ostaszewicz, president, 2012–2015
• Marc Bergevin, general manager, 2012–2015

• List of ice hockey teams in Ontario

• Official website

• Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL)
• Edmonton Oilers minor league affiliates
• Ice hockey clubs established in 1996
• Montreal Canadiens minor league affiliates
• Tampa Bay Lightning minor league affiliates
• Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2015
• 1996 establishments in Ontario
• 2015 disestablishments in Ontario
• Defunct ice hockey teams in Hamilton, Ontario

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata