DIPLACIDO SCORES 1ST OHL GOAL; MCIVOR DENIES 44 TO MAKE SERIES 3-1
NORTH BAY, ONTARIO. Having pushed the North Bay Battalion to the brink, the Brantford Bulldogs arrived at the Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens on Thursday night looking to close out their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series and advance to the second round of the OHL playoffs.
The hosts, with their season on the line came out with their best opening period of the series and put the Bulldogs behind for the first time in the playoffs. Nolan Laird, carrying the puck below the goal line was able to swing through the right circle, crossing in front of the net and out waiting Bulldogs netminder Ryerson Leenders to find an open side of goal and tuck in his first of the playoffs at 7:22. A broken play minutes later extened the Battalion lead with Ihnat Pazii carrying the puck to the Bulldogs zone and pulling both Bulldogs defenders to him before the puck popped away from the three man pile up and right to Nick Wellenreiter who snapped a quick shot past Leenders to give the Battalion a 2-0 lead on his 2nd of the series at 14:02. The Bulldogs tilted the ice late in the frame with Mike McIvor called upon to make massive stops on a Marek Vanacker one-timer and a Cole Brown net front drive to keep the Battalion up 2-0 hitting the first intermission.
The Bulldogs got the exact start they were looking for to the middle frame, just 15-seonds in, Cole Brown forced the puck loose in the right-wing corner for Patrick Thomas below the goal line to feed onto Nick Lardis who rifled his 4th of the playoffs off the back bar to cut the North Bay lead in half. Trouble struck, with Thomas Budnick in the penalty box at 6:19, Jacob LeBlanc fed the left circle for Jacob Therrien who closed to the slot and fired a shot over Leenders glove to put the Battalion lead back to a pair on his 3rd of the series. The Bulldogs went to a double minor power-play in the middle frame after a Briir Long high-stick caught Owen Protz, the best chances came off a Nick Lardis break through the middle of the ice with McIvor sealing off the five-hole on the backhand followed by Marek Vanacker setting Jake O’Brien from the right circle to the left for a one-timer that just came off the heel of O’Brien’s stick carrying wide. With time ticking away in the middle frame, the Bulldogs captured some momentum back, on their 21st shot of the period, Noah Nelson won the puck on the back boards before setting Calvin Crombie at the side of the North Bay goal to lift over McIvor for his 2nd of the playoffs at 19:42, pulling the Bulldogs back to within a goal heading into the intermission.
The Battalion took the momentum back to start the final frame, on a power-play at 2:17, Andrew LeBlanc fed twin brother Jacob at the blueline who launched a shot to the front of the net that was tipped by Ethan Procyszyn for his 2nd of the playoffs to move it back to a 4-2 score. History was made next for the Bulldogs with Noah Nelson having a left-wing drive ring off the post, recollecting and feeding the puck for Luca Diplacido at the right point. The defenseman, playing in just his 5th OHL game skated down and hammered a drive past Mike McIvor for his 1st OHL goal at 7:31 cutting the lead back to one at 4-3. Just 1:50 later after Ryerson Leenders made a kick stop, Jake O’Brien had his feet swept out from under him as he tried to clear the puck with it falling dead for Ihnat Pazii in the left circle to hammer past Leenders for his 1st of the post-season giving the Battalion a two-goal lead again, 5-3. Despite 47 shots being launched at McIvor, the Battalion netminder had his finest game of the series denying 44 in keeping the Battalion alive with Jacob Therrien hitting the empty net at 17:39 for a 6-3 win.
The series will switch back to the Brantford Civic Centre on Saturday, April 5th as the Brantford Bulldogs host the North Bay Battalion, with another chance to advance to the Eastern Conference semi-finals with a 7:00pm puck drop.
