BULLDOGS CLOSE HOME HALF WITH A 7-1 TRIUMPH OVER NIAGARA
BRANTFORD, ONTARIO. The Brantford Bulldogs closed home half of their schedule on Wednesday night hosting the Niagara IceDogs for the final meeting of six on the season, looking to sweep the season series for the third straight season. Opening the night, the Bulldogs honoured their trio of overage players of Lawson Sherk, Matteo Drobac & Daniil Sobolev.
Looking to spoil the party, it the was the Niagara IceDogs who got on the board first. After Sobolev took a checking from behind minor at 2:03, the IceDogs went to a 4-on-3 power-play with Zakary Lavoie & Ivan Galiyanov already in the box leading to Alex Assadourian navigating to the top of the slot and whipping a shot past David Egorov at 2:33, giving the visitors a 1-0 lead. After being out-shot 6-1 to the first break of the game, the Bulldogs returned from the timeout a different team, outshooting the IceDogs 16-8 the rest of the frame and equalizing the game just past the halfway point of the period. Jake O’Brien collected the puck as he worked from the left circle to the slot and sent a flat pass to the right point for Owen Protz. The towering defender walked the blueline, changing his shooting angle and firing to the front of the net where the puck was tipped past Owen Flores by Marek Vanacker for his 36th of the season at 10:02. With the Bulldogs on the power-play at 15:26, the hosts captured the lead. Patrick Thomas, quarterbacking the man-advantage from the top of the formation dealt the puck to his right for Zakary Lavoie who charged through the circle and fed a back side pass that made its way to Jake O’Brien’s tape where the rookie fired it into an open side for his 12th of the season, giving the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead they would take to the locker room through 20 minutes.
Early to the power-play in the second period, the Bulldogs needed just 9-seconds to strike. Off the draw, Florian Xhekaj controlled the puck around the back of the net, emerging on the left wing side. Skating up the half wall, the power forward drew two penalty killers with him and dropped the puck to the bottom of the circle for Jake O’Brien who drove towards the goal and fed Zakary Lavoie back side, returning the favour from the first period, for Lavoie to record his 31st of the season giving the Bulldogs a 3-1 lead. Just 1:15 later, the Bulldogs 4th line capped off a tremendous shift at 4:02. Joshua Avery kept the puck loose in the slot for Noah Nelson who A-framed over top of it, getting it into the left wing circle for Luca Testa who hit the far side top corner for his 14th of the season giving the hosts a 4-1 lead. After a 5th Bulldogs goal was waved off for a questionanble Too Many Men call, the Bulldogs captain took matters into his own hands. With Owen Protz tossing the puck forward and out of the Bulldogs zone on the left side, Lawson Sherk skated onto it and tore off ahead working 1-on-1 at Artem Frolov who Sherk blew past and tucked a beautiful backhand finish five-hole on Flores for his 11th of the season on the shorthanded marker at 10:47 to give the Bulldogs a 5-1 lead they carried into the second intermission.
The Bulldogs continued their offensive push into the final frame. At 12:22, breaking away on a 3-on-1, Luca Testa fed Florian Xhekaj who turned the puck to his right, catching Cole Brown in the right circle where he rifled his 16th of the season and 6th in the past 6 games to give the Bulldogs a 6-1 lead. With just over 2-minutes left and the Bulldogs on the power-play, it appeard Noah Roberts had recorded his 1st OHL goal, after Luca Testa saved the puck along the blueline and the puck deflected in off Roberts skate. However after a dubious review, the goal was disallowed due to a “kick”. At 18:30 the Bulldogs added one more with Noah Nelson tossing the puck from the blueline for Calvin Crombie in the slot who in turn found Adrian Rebelo to score his 6th of the season and rounding out a 7-1 victory for the Bulldogs, their 24th straight over the Niagara IceDogs.
The Brantford Bulldogs will return to action on Saturday, March 23rd visiting the Kingston Frontenacs for a 7:00pm start time.
