BULLDOGS STREAK SNAPPED BY STEELHEADS IN MID WEEK DEFEAT
BRANTFORD, ONTARIO. Opening up the final week of the season on home ice, the Brantford Bulldogs returned to Civic Centre ice after sweeping their four-game road trip to welcome the surging Brampton Steelheads for the third and final time and sixth meeting of the season.
Bulldogs’ captain Patrick Thomas missed his first game of the season due to illness while Braeden O’Keefe re-joined the Bulldogs lineup following his season with the Niagara Falls Canucks coming to a close. The Brampton Steelheads got out to a quick start, with three early power-plays in the game but striking 5-on-5 at 5:13 with Porter Martone following up a net front diving stop from Ryerson Leenders, banking his 33rd of the season off the Bulldogs netminder to take the 1-0 lead. With the Steelheads on the power-play, Nikolas Rossetto earned a penalty shot after breaking away shorthanded. On the penalty shot, Rossetto squeezed the puck through Ivankovic’s legs but the puck died out right at the goal line, allowing the Steelheads netminder to reach back and steal it away keeping his team in the lead. Gabriel Chiarot gave the Steelheads a 2-0 lead at 8:03 with a great individual effort working across the offensive and rifling from the left for his 18th of the season. Bulldogs fans had a nervous moment as Finn Harding stuck his leg out on Nick Lardis leaving the Bulldogs forward slow to his feet and ending in a 5-minute major and game misconduct on Harding, Lardis was able to skate off the contact and stay in the game but the Steelheads struck despite the penalty. Making an errant drop pass on the power-play Porter Martone batted the puck forward, collecting it in the Bulldogs slot and pulling to his backhand to work past Leenders and record his 2nd of the game 34th of the season to give the visitors a 3-0 lead heading to the middle frame.
The middle frame was more of the same, 3:05 into the period Aiden Lane and Kieran Witkowski exchanged off the right side before finding a streaking Konnor Smith coming off the left for his 7th of the season to give the Steelheads a 4-0 lead. Aiden Lane picked up a power-play goal at 8:59, his 7th of the season, managing to shovel a puck from the right post over the goal line to bump the lead to 5-0. Kieran Witkowski added another on a left-wing break, speeding behind the Bulldogs defense and tucking the puck through Ryerson Leenders to put the Steelheads up by a 6-0 score. The Bulldogs battled one back at 15:07 with Jake O’Brien feeding to the left point for Tomas Hamara who went along the line for partner Thomas Budnick. Looking for a tip infront of the net, Budnick waved a wrist shot that bounced off the ice and through a crowd to record the defenseman’s 7th of the season and give the Bulldogs something to build off of headed into the final frame.
After seeing 33 shots in the first two periods, Ryerson Leenders was given the rest of the night off with David Egorov taking over in the pipes and turning aside 12 of the 13 he faced in the relief effort. Only Jack Van Volsen, off a great feed to the slot from Adam Zidlicky, would be able to dent the Bulldogs netminder, collecting his 17th of the season at 15:16. The Bulldogs battled to the end and earned one more before the game was out. Thomas Budnick and Tomas Hamara combined out high to work the puck low on the right side for Aiden O’Donnell who charged around the back of the Steelheads goal, emerging on the left side, losing a defender and driving through the slot where the rookie whipped a shot through Ivankovic for his 7th of the season, at 16:38, to close the game with a 7-2 final.
The Brantford Bulldogs return to action on Friday, March 21st, making the trip to Slush Puppie Place in Kingston for a 7:00pm puck drop. With a victory on Friday night, the Bulldogs would clinch the 1st seed in the Eastern Conference.
