3 POINT NIGHT FOR AVERY FIRES UP BULLDOGS IN 7-2 WIN OVER PETES
BRANTFORD, ONTARIO. Closing out a three game week on home ice, the Brantford Bulldogs hosted the Peterborough Petes on Sunday afternoon in the last meeting of the season between the East division rivals.
The Bulldogs got off to a brilliant start infront of a raucous crowd with Adrian Rebelo buzzing in the left corner laying the puck back to the left point for Owen Protz who shuttled it over to the right point for Daniil Sobolev. Quickly catching the puck, Sobolev hammered a slap shot through a crowd infront of the Peterborough net and past Liam Sztuska for his 6th of the season, giving the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. Though outshot 20-6 in the first period by the Bulldogs, the Petes were opportunistic on their only odd-man rush of the opening period. Ryder McIntyre carried the puck into the Brantford zone on the right side, flipping it left for Caden Taylor who worked across the front of the Bulldogs net flipping it on the backhand inside the post to tie the game 1-1 on his 12th of the season. The hosts answered back off the rush at 17:07, staring from the defensive zone Owen Protz bombed the puck forward to Marek Vanacker at the Peterborough blueline. Vanacker tossed the puck right to Patrick Thomas who worked through two Petes defenders and found Vanacker off the left circle, in stride where the Bulldogs leading scorer went bar down with a flick of his wrists to record his 33rd of the season giving the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead through 20 minutes of play.
The second period was a quieter frame on the scoreboard with just a single marker. At 8:12, the Bulldogs extended the lead on the power-play. Circling in neutral ice, Patrick Thomas hit Marek Vanacker with speed on the left wing side. Attacking through the circle, Vanacker fired a hard pass middle where Zakary Lavoie reached out and defelcted it past Sztuska to give the Bulldogs a 3-1 lead on Lavoie’s 30th of the season, establishing a new career high in goals for the Bulldogs winger. The physicality amped up by the end of the middle frame, after Daniil Sobolev threw a reverse hit on Quinton Page, Braydon McCallum engaged the Bulldogs defenseman. With the linsemen separating the pair, McCallum threw a punch to the chin of Sobolev which brought the rest of the Bulldogs on the ice into the pile and sent the Bulldogs back to the power-play to close the period. As 40 minutes came to a close the Bulldogs held a 3-1 lead heading to the final frame along with a 29-11 advantage in shots on goal.
The hosts caught a bit of fire to match their Superstore jerseys in the third period, beginning just 2:09 in. After the Petes were unable to clear the puck up the right wing boards, Lucas Moore collected the puck at the right point and fired a laser beam through a crowd infront of the Peterborough goal to record his 4th of the season to give the Bulldogs a 4-1 lead. Momentarily halting the momentum for the Bulldogs, at 9:06 a Nico Addy left wing drive was tipped by Chase Lefebvre at the left of Matteo Drobac’s goal to score his 13th of the year and cut the Brantford to 4-2. From that point it was a rookie who took control of the game. At 9:43, Dylan Tsherna poked the puck out of the Bulldogs zone where captain Lawson Sherk directed it right for Josh Avery. Carrying into the Petes zone, the rookie forward looked off Sherk on the 2-on-1 and rifled a shot past Sztuska for his 1st OHL goal, giving the Bulldogs a 5-2 lead. Building on the lead, Cole Brown barreled up the left wing side, tossing low to Avery who faked taking it around the back of the Petes net and delivered it onto Vanacker who hammered his 2nd of the game and 34th of the season to make it 6-2 lead at 12:56. Josh Avery had a little more magic up his sleeve before the night was out. Luca Testa moved the puck along the end board to Avery who was quickly tied up but the rookie managed to move the puck to his stick, directing it to Cole Brown in stride down the slot where Brown ripped his 13th of the season finishing off a 7-2 Bulldogs win.
The Brantford Bulldogs return to action on Thursday, March 14th, paying a visit to the Memorial Gardens in North Bay for their last meeting of the season with the Battalion.
