BROWN DOUBLES UP BUT TROOPS MARCH PAST DOGS 4-2
NORTH BAY, ONTARIO. Making their last visit of the regular season to the Memorial Gardens in North Bay, the Brantford Bulldogs closed out their season series with the Battalion on Thursday night.
Florian Xhekaj was a welcome sight back for the Bulldogs who entered the game still missing the a quartet of regulars and with a trio of defensemen unavailable for callup, Patrick Thomas made the move back to the blueline, partnering with Lucas Moore, for the Thursday matchup. Matteo Drobac started the night strong, denying an early Owen Van Steensel break chance and another for Liam Arnsby who was sent in alone by Justin Ertel, only to be denied by the blocker of the Bulldogs netminder. The Bulldogs earned the first two power-plays of the game in the opening frame but came away empty thanks to Dom DiVincentiis who denied 15 shots in the opening period. The hosts got on the board against the run of play at 12:50 as Owen Protz, just inside his blueline, had the puck hop on his stick as he went to make a D to D pass to partner Daniil Sobolev and land right on Owen Van Steensel’s tape. Walking through the left circle, Van Steensel let loose a wrister off the bar behind Drobac and in for his 37th of the season, giving the Battalion a 1-0 lead. A bad bounce victimized the Bulldogs again at 17:02 as an Adrian Rebelo pass deflected back over the Bulldogs blueline to Van Steensel whose initial shot was turned aside by Drobac but the rebound landed for Anthony Romani to shovel into an open goal to collect his 50th goal & 100th point of the season, giving the Battalion a 2-0, after the goal was held up on an offside review, through 20 minutes.
Just 35-seconds into the second period, Liam Arnsby sent Sandis Vilmanis away down the right wing, driving through the bottom of the circle to the net, the Latvian powerhouse was able to push the puck under Drobac’s pads for his 33rd of the season giving the Battalion a 3-0 lead. Special teams and goaltending became the stories of the middle frame from there as both the Bulldogs and Battalion had a pair of power-play opportunities with Matteo Drobac and Dom DiVincentiis each helping their penalty killers to keep a clean slate. The Bulldogs best opportunity came on a net front shovel from the point by Patrick Thomas for Marek Vanacker who twirled it for Jake O’Brien in the right circle but the attempted pass got stuck in the rookie pivot’s skates and denied him a clean opportunity on goal. With DiVincentiis stopping all 21 he faced through 40 minutes, the Bulldogs headed to the final frame down by a 3-0 count.
The Bulldogs opened the third period with some fire in their stride and showed their heart and determination bringing the puck right to the Battalion goal and it paid off at 1:49. Daniil Sobolev launched Cole Brown away down the right side, driving through the right circle with a North Bay defender on his back, Brown made a nifty move right at the goal mouth to tuck the puck through DiVincentiis for his 14th of the season pulling the Bulldogs to within a pair at 3-1. The Battalion appeared to find the dagger at 10:38 off a faceoff win from Dalyn Wakely back to Wyatt Kennedy. Though the puck got stuck in the skates of the towering defender, Kennedy was able to kick it to his stick and toss it into the right circle for Van Steensel who rifled his 2nd of the game and 38th of the season, off both posts and in, to give the Battalion a 4-1 lead. The Bulldogs refused to quit and continued to press, outshooting the Battalion by a 17-6 margin in the final frame. After Ethan Procyszyn was given a double-minor for his 2nd headshot of the period on Luca Testa, the Bulldogs clawed closer. At 14:03 Daniil Sobolev held the puck onside at the left point and kicked it down the wall for Cole Brown who tore through a stick check to the front of the Battalion goal, roofing a backhand over DiVincentiis for his 2nd of the game & 15th of the season but it was as close as the Dogs would come with North Bay taking a 4-2 decision.
The Brantford Bulldogs return to action on Saturday, March 16th opening a back to back home weekend against the Ottawa 67’s with a 4:00pm puck drop at the Brantford Civic Centre.
