BROWN DRIVES BULLDOGS TO BACK-TO-BACK WINS OVER NIAGARA  

BROWN DRIVES BULLDOGS TO BACK-TO-BACK WINS OVER NIAGARA  

ST. CATHARINES, ONTARIO. Despite the snow and ice, the Brantford Bulldogs made the trip to the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines to finish off their home & home, and season series with the Niagara IceDogs. Coming off the 10-1 victory on Friday night, the Bulldogs entered Sunday afternoon with the opportunity to win the season series and move another step closer to clinching the team’s 7^th straight playoff berth.

The Bulldogs picked up where they left off on Friday night, opening the scoring at 4:41 of the first period. Patrick Thomas bolted to the end boards, stealing the puck away from a trio of Niagara IceDogs and feeding Cole Brown at the front of the net to fire in his 25^th of the season to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. It appeared the Bulldogs had moved the lead to a pair in the latter stages of the frame with Noah Nelson tipping down an Owen Protz point drive. The play was immediately ruled a high stick, though with Nelson appearing to make contact with the puck at elbow level and below the crossbar with the stick in a downward trajectory, the play was not able to be conclusively determined, and the call remained, leading the Bulldogs to exit the opening period up 1-0.

The Niagara IceDogs came out for the middle frame with a jump in their stride and knotted the game in a 4-on-4 sequence at 0:48. Kevin He entered the zone on the right side dropping the puck for Andrei Loshko. The IceDogs import center allowed a moving screen to take away Ryerson Leenders’ eyes at the net and sent through a shot before the Bulldogs goaltender could re-set for his 30^th of the season, tying the game 1-1. The IceDogs took the lead at 11:36 with Ethan Czata’s zone entry leading to confusion in the defensive zone for the Bulldogs and the ability to find a wide-open Noah Van Vliet skating down from the blueline. With just Aiden O’Donnell in the path, the veteran defenseman used the rookie forward as a screen to best Leenders and take a 2-1 lead on his 6^th of the season. The hosts’ lead lasted less than a minute, Cole Brown raced to the end boards, stealing the puck from Andrew Wysick and delivering it to the front of the net for Patrick Thomas who flattened it out just inside the left circle and delivered it for Nick Lardis streaking in on the right side where the CHL’s leading goal-scorer hammered it past Owen Flores for his 56^th of the season at 12:30 knotting the game 2-2. Just two minutes later, the Bulldogs took the lead back with Owen Protz holding the puck at the blueline and laying it down the left boards for an accelerating Marek Vanacker who carried it around back of the Niagara goal before finding Jake O’Brien going right to the front of the net where he squeezed a shot through Owen Flores for his 28^th of the season at 14:30 and 3-2 Brantford lead. The top line for the Bulldogs wasn’t done in the middle frame with Patrick Thomas off the rush being denied a pass to Nick Lardis but re-collecting for Cole Brown who took his initial shot from the slot being denied by Flores but catching back behind the net and banking it off a fallen Flores’ blocker and in for his 2^nd of the game and 26^th of the season at 17:26. On the play, Flores, in a bit of a collision with Noah Van Vliet appeared to injure his right leg, resulting in his exit from the game and Matthew Humphries taking over between the IceDogs pipes. With 5-seconds left in the period, the Bulldogs nabbed a buzzer beater to welcome the rookie goaltender to the game. Aiden O’Donnell forced a turnover up the left-wing half boards that got on to Tomas Hamara at the left point who looped a shot to the front of the net that Noah Nelson knocked past Humphries for his 5^th of the season, giving the Bulldogs a 5-2 lead through 40-minutes.

Though the Bulldogs carried the play through the final frame, the IceDogs managed to fight back into the game late. After Calvin Crombie & Owen Protz got crossed up deep in the Bulldogs zone, Mike Levin pounced on the puck and was able to best Leenders all alone in front for his 11^th of the season at 14:21 to get the IceDogs back into the game at 5-3. With Humphries out of the Niagara goal, the Bulldogs had multiple opportunities at the open net that just wouldn’t hit the empty goal to ice the game and Niagara took advantage at 19:25. Matthew Virgillio set Andrei Loshko in the right circle to fire through a screen for his 2^nd of the game & 31^st of the season but it’s as close at the IceDogs would get with Tomas Hamara and Thomas Budnick killing the clock on the end boards securing the 5-4 win.

The Brantford Bulldogs return to action on Monday, February 17^th, hosting the team’s annual Family Day matinee, hosting the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds at 2:00pm. With a win in the game on Monday, the Bulldogs will clinch their 7^th straight playoff berth.