BROWN SCORES IN 200TH GAME; DOGS COMEBACK FALLS SHORT LATE
KITCHENER, ONTARIO. Closing out a three-game road-trip on a rare Tuesday night showcase, the Brantford Bulldogs met the Kitchener Rangers at the legendary Memorial Auditorium in their only visit of the season marking the Rangers Teddy Toss game.
The story of the opening frame was the dueling netminders with Ryerson Leenders & Jackson Parsons each keeping their crease clean. Leenders stopped all 11 that came his way with his finest coming of a backside one-timer off the stick of Blackhawks prospect Jack Pridham with the Bulldogs netminder making a tremendous post to post stop. Parsons was tested 6 times in the opening frame with his best coming on a short distance Marek Vanacker break where Parsons was able to follow the Bulldogs defending leading scorer and keep his positioning to deny the forehand drive. The game hit the locker rooms scoreless after 20 minutes.
The Rangers Teddy Toss goal came at 5:24 of the middle frame, when an errant pass in the offensive zone for the Bulldogs rolled out to neutral ice where Lucas Ellinas strode onto the puck on the left-wing side. Into the circle with Owen Protz chasing from the right, Ellinas fired a perfect shot over Leenders’ shoulder and just tucking a shot under the front crossbar for his 14th of the season. Zakary Lavoie came within inches of knotting the game with a left circle drive closing in on the midway point of the frame that Jackson Parsons had squeeze through his arm but shot out past the far post keeping the hosts ahead. The Rangers bubbled the lead at 16:02 when Hayden Ellis kicked the puck down the boards to Chris Grisolia who won a battle off the right-wing half boards and drove towards the net. With Josh Avery lifting Grisolia’s stick from the backside the Rangers forward half fanned on the shot and sent a change up just over Leenders’ shoulder for his 4th of the year. Kitchener took a three-goal lead shortly after at 16:55 as Alexander Bilecki took a point shot through a multi-stage screen with Aiden O’Donnell in the slot and Justin Bottineau net-front to give the Rangers a 3-0 lead on his 2nd of the year. Leenders did his best to keep the Bulldogs in the game, in the closing stages of the opening frame making a pair of shorthanded stops on Adrian Miseljevic and Trent Swick as part of his 15 saves in the period to give the Bulldogs a lifeline into the third period.
The Bulldogs mounted a frenzied comeback in the third period, first at 4:00 minutes with the puck on the end boards, Zakary Lavoie tossed it net front where Josh Avery had been tripped down. Avery somehow batted the puck out of the air past Parsons from his stomach for his 2nd of the season giving the Bulldogs life at 3-1. Shorthanded at 8:04, Patrick Thomas guided the puck into the offensive zone for Marek Vanacker who froze Jackson Parsons on his forehand and tucked the puck around him on his backhand for his 1st of the season pulling the Bulldogs to within a goal, 3-2. At 9:27, the Rangers pulled back ahead on a second good luck goal as Max Dirracolo’s left point drive struck the far side goal post, deflecting off Ryerson Leenders back and over the goal line to make it 4-2 on his 1st of the season. The Bulldogs answered once more with Patrick Thomas tossing a right-wing pass for Nick Lardis who bolted ahead into the right circle of the Rangers zone. Lardis’ laser drive got through Parsons’ arm and Cole Brown followed on the back side to bat home his 12th of the season in his 200th OHL game, putting the Bulldogs back to within one at 14:14. Brantford nearly tied the game on a goal mouth scramble moments later but Rangers defender Carson Campbell dove onto the puck in the crease, escaping the official’s eye at the back of the net, saving a potential tying sequence. The Rangers would hit the empty net twice in the closing moments to secure a 6-3 win.
The Brantford Bulldogs will return to action on Friday, December 6th, returning home to square off with the Peterborough Petes in Marek Vanacker’s return to Civic Centre ice.
