"We were going at them hard all game," Reimer said. "We had a couple of mistakes in the first period, but I thought we played a heck of a game from start to finish." Those mistakes in the opening frame led to Hamilton goals by defenceman Chad Anderson and rookie forward Hunter Bishop, who both had two points on the day. Bishop, playing just his ninth professional game after completing his season at Ohio State University, was shifty all afternoon. "Absolutely, I know what you mean," Reimer said when Bishops dangerous play was mentioned. "He looks like a pretty good player." Bishop made it 2-0 for the Bulldogs at 18:01 of the first when he picked up a puck at the Marlies blue-line and skated down the right side 2-on-1 with Dany Masse. Bishop kept the puck and made a slick deke to get around a sprawling Toronto defenceman in close before roofing the puck over Reimers blocker to the top part of the net for his second of the year. "Its hard to come out stomping when the game doesnt mean anything," said Toronto head coach Dallas Eakins, whose team was eliminated from the playoff race a week earlier. "We had a little talk about it after the first period and I thought that we were better in the second and third." The Marlies (33-34-6) out-shot the Bulldogs (52-17-11 ) 13-3 in the second period, but were unable to beat Hamilton goalie Robert Mayer, who was making his AHL debut. Mayer stopped 25 shots in regulation and overtime. At the other end, Reimer made 16 saves. In the third period, the shots began going in for the Marlies. Richard Greenops second goal of the season broke Mayers shutout bid 3:52 into the third period. Some good work along the boards ended with the puck on defenceman Phil Oreskovics stick at the right point. He let a low, hard shot go that Greenop tipped from the high slot past Mayers outstretched pad. Then at the 18:31 mark, Foster picked up the puck in the Hamilton zone 1-on-3 and scorred his ninth of the year to tie the game. Saints Colston Jersey He created some space for himself with a nifty change of direction then let a low wrist shot go that caught Mayer napping. The puck just squeezed through the rookies pads and dribbled over the goal-line, thrilling the home fans. A heated overtime included a spirited fight between Torontos Andre Deveaux and Hamiltons Alex Henry, but solved nothing on the scoreboard. The shootout saw more posts hit (two) than goals scored (one). "I felt it graze my blocker," said a smiling Reimer of the shot that went off his post in the shootout. "I heard the ping and looked around saw it squirting out. There was a sight of relief." Marlies rookie Phillippe Paradis beat Mayer with a wrist shot through the five-hole for the lone goal. Reimer made five saves to Mayers four. Its been an up-and-down season for Reimer. The 22-year-old Winnipeg, Man., native suffered a high ankle sprain earlier in the year that cost him weeks of playing time. But he had posted excellent numbers heading into the contest against Hamilton, a 13-8-2 record, 2.27 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage in 25 games. "Hes an excellent kid, an excellent person," Eakins said of Reimer, the 99th overall pick by the Maple Leafs in 2006. "His development was stunted this year, he was out for a long time. This will be a big summer for him, for his conditioning and working on the things that (Maple Leafs goalie coach) Francois Allaire is trying to teach him. "But hes a diligent kid, so I have no worries about him." The Marlies play their third game in three days Sunday versus the Abbotsford Heat to close out their regular season. The Bulldogs are off until Thursday when they open the playoffs at Copps Coliseum against either the Heat or the Manitoba Moose. Notes: It was Bring Your Dog to the Game Day at Ricoh Coliseum, 60 pooches watched from the stands. . . Saturdays game was the 12th meeting between the two teams this season, Hamilton won the series 6-4-2. . . QMJHL player Olivier Fortier, 20, made his professional debut with Hamilton; OHLer Jamie Devane, 19, debuted for the Marlies. . . With the point, Hamilton set an AHL record for road points in a season with 60. ' ' '