BULLDOGS BOUNCE STEELHEADS WITH 7-4 COMEBACK VICTORY
BRANTFORD, ONTARIO. Wednesday night at the Brantford Civic Centre marked the final home game on home ice for the Bulldogs before the holiday break and of the 2024 calendar year, hosting the Brampton Steelheads in the team’s 5th of 6 total meetings on the season. The Bulldogs entered Wednesday night riding a 3-game winning streak, scoring 18 goals in those games.
Despite the Bulldogs recent success overall, and three consecutive wins over the Steelheads, it was Brampton who had the first period go their way. The visitors opened up the scoring at 7:53 with a nice transition play as Kieran Witkowski & Jack Van Volsen combined to send Luke Misa away on the left wing where he launched a shot over David Egorov’s glove for his 20th of the year. The Bulldogs bounced back at 13:08 with Owen Protz sliding a defensive zone d-to-d pass for Tomas Hamara who sent Patrick Thomas away with a perfect breakout pass. The captain danced over the Steelheads lead going inside out on a Brampton defender and flew into the left circle. Opening his skates 10-&-2, Thomas baited Gibbons into believing it was a pass or far side shot and snuck one under his short side arm tying the game 1-1 on the captain’s 12th of the season. The Steelheads turned the period back in their favour at 14:42 with Finn Harding hitting Luke Misa with a picture-perfect pass in a 3-on-2 in the right circle to drive his 2nd of the game and 21st of the season past Egorov giving the Steelheads a 2-1 lead. Finn Harding was next at 16:00 on a solo rush around the back of the Bulldogs net, beating Egorov back to the post, banking it off his skate and in for his 2nd of the season and a 3-1 Steelheads lead. Mason Zebeski added to the lead at 17:59 taking a Luke Misa pass off the end wall and shelving a shot for his 5th of the year putting the visitors up 4-1. Before the frame was out, David Egorov made a pair of monstrous stops on Luke Misa and Jack Van Volsen to give the Bulldogs a jolt headed towards the second period.
The game turned entirely in the middle frame, with the Bulldogs looking to be a different team coming out of the locker room for the second period. On the power-play at 4:43, Cole Brown tossed the puck forward to Patrick Thomas, catching the Steelheads scrambling on a change, and moving the puck to the slot for Nick Lardis. The Bulldogs leading goal scorer went between his legs for the shot which Gibbons stopped but the rebound bounced down in the crease where Thomas followed up and jammed it over the goal line for his 2nd of the game and 13th of the season cutting the lead to 4-2. Continuing to close the gap at 9:43, Jake O’Brien doggedly pursued the puck behind the Steelheads goal, stealing it from a Brampton defender. With a pair of defenders closing him down on the end boards, O’Brien swiveled and delivered a spin-o-rama pass through five players right to the wheelhouse for Josh Avery who darted a one-timer through Gibbons for his 5th of the season puliing the Bulldogs to within a goal at 4-3. At 13:43, Owen Protz slid the puck along the line for Lucas Moore, walking the line, Moore allowed the crowd to build net front and sent a shot through the crowd where Jake O’Brien deflected it off the heel of his stick for his 17th of the season tying the game 4-4, where the game stood heading to the locker room.
The comeback was capped in the final frame at 6:29 with the Bulldogs on the man-advantage. David Egorov moved the puck for Tomas Hamara, who sent Lardis away on the right-wing side to gain zone entry. Pulling up in the right circle, Lardis laid the puck back to the middle of the blueline for Hamara who returned it to him for a one-timer that Lardis blew past Gibbons for his 29th of the season, giving the Bulldogs their first lead of the game, 5-4. With time ticking down the Bulldogs went back to the power-play inside of two minutes to go, looking to extend the lead. Patrick Thomas collected the puck off the left boards just inside the Brampton blueline whipping it across the rink to Cole Brown, his shot was stopped but Jake O’Brien collected it on the doorstep to shovel in his 2nd of the game and 18th of the year to put the Bulldogs up 6-4. With just :42-seconds to go and the Brampton net empty, Tomas Hamara blocked a point shot that fell right to Marek Vanacker launching a 150-foot shot into the empty goal to collect his 3rd of the year and finish off a 7-4 Bulldogs victory.
The Brantford Bulldogs return to action on Friday night, December 20th at the Tribute Communities Centre in Oshawa for their last game before the Holiday Break with a 7:00pm puck drop.
