BULLDOGS FALL IN FINAL FRAME TO COLTS IN BARRIE
BARRIE, ONTARIO. Coming off a midweek win at TD Civic Centre, the Brantford Bulldogs took to the road for a quick weekend set against a pair of opponents in the top four of the Eastern Conference, beginning with their meeting with the Barrie Colts at Sadlon Arena on Saturday night.
The Bulldogs received a boost to their lineup with the returns of forward Adam Benak and defenseman Edison Engle from injury. It didn’t take long for the returns to pay dividends, at 4:40 of the opening frame, Gabriel Frasca sent Adam Benak forward over the Barrie blueline, cutting to his right, Benak dropped the puck for Luca Testa who strode off the top edge of the left circle towards the slot and rifled in his 12th of the season past Ben Hrebik to give the Bulldogs an early 1-0 advantage. Ryerson Leenders was strong in the opening 20 minutes, denying a pair of early efforts from Kashawn Aitcheson, including a fantastic split glove save on the penalty kill. With the Bulldogs on the power-play at 14:07, the advantage was doubled. Marek Vanacker fed the middle of the blueline for Adam Jiricek who turned to his left for Jake O’Brien at the top of the left circle. O’Brien collected and stepped through the circle to unload his 22nd of the season and give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead. Before the frame was out the Colts cut the lead in half. With the game in a 4-on-4, Ben Wilmott tossed the puck forward from deep in his own zone to be caught by Emil Hemming creating a 2-on-1 with Kashawn Aitcheson. Hemming’s cross-slot feed was just tapped through a sliding Ryerson Leenders for the defender’s 25th of the season at 18:37, sending the game down the tunnel with the Bulldogs holding a 2-1 lead.
Controlling long stretches of the middle frame, the Bulldogs outshot the Colts 12-7 in the period but were left off the board due to the handiwork of Ben Hrebik and a pair of goal posts. Approaching the halfway point of the period, Gabriel Frasca set the puck on the left side for Luca Testa who rolled through the circle and fed Adam Benak appearing on the right, but his quick release was met with iron to keep the game 2-1. After a successful Bulldogs penalty kill that featured a nice Ryerson Leenders glove save, and the Colts having a Carter Lowe attempt at net disallowed due to a high-stick, the hosts did find the equalizer. After a puck rattled around the boards in front of the Bulldogs bench caused a traffic jam, Kashawn Aitcheson picked the moment to hop into the play and take a drop pass from Cole Beaudoin to fire in his 2nd of the game & 26th of the season to tie the game 2-2 at 17:18. The Bulldogs went to the power-play late in the middle frame and nearly knotted the game only to be foiled by iron again. Caleb Malhotra left the puck on the right side for Adam Benak to attack the circle, finding Adam Jiricek wide open sliding down the back side but his shot caught the post as he tried to squeeze it past Ben Hrebik to send the game to the 2nd intermission tied 2-2.
The final frame turned sour on the Bulldogs, with the Colts scoring early as Mason Zebeski was hit late coming down the middle of the ice by Cole Beaudoin to record his 17th of the season and give the Colts their first lead of the game at 2:59. The Bulldogs tied the game quickly on the power-play with Charlie Paquette forcing the puck loose behind the net and a Cooper Dennis touch delivering it to the front for Gabriel Frasca to knock past Hrebik for his 22nd of the season at 5:29 to tie the game 3-3. The Colts bounced back to the lead at 8:32, with Carter Lowe taking a William Schneid net front feed to convert his 8th of the season for a 4-3 lead. Just 56-seconds later, the Colts doubled the advantage with Parker von Richter skating in alone from the left point to send a shot through a Beaudoin screen for his 9th of the season and a 5-3 Colts lead. At 17:04, the Bulldogs pulled the goaltender but a launch down the ice was found by Emil Hemming who hit the empty goal to make it a 6-3 lead on his 22nd of the year. The Bulldogs bounced back late at 18:46 with Adam Benak sending the puck along the right-wing wall for Marek Vanacker, who while taking a slew-foot played the puck middle for Jake O’Brien to cash in his 2nd of the game & 23rd of the season pulling the game to 6-4 with the Bulldogs going to a 5-minute power-play. Despite a late run of shots Cole Beaudoin hit the empty net at 19:52 to secure a 7-4 Colts win.
The Brantford Bulldogs are right back to action on Sunday, February 22nd, closing out the quick two-game road trip with a 2:00pm meeting with the Peterborough Petes at the Peterborough Memorial Centre.
