EASTER SUNDAY SEES THE END OF BULLDOGS SEASON IN GAME 6 DEFEAT
OSHAWA, ONTARIO. Facing elimination for the first time in the post-season the Brantford Bulldogs took to the Tribute Communities Centre on Sunday night for Game 6 looking to force a Game 7 with a win against the Oshawa Generals in their Eastern Conference semi-final.
The Bulldogs got out on the wrong foot in Game 6, with Thomas Budnick called for cross-checking Beckett Sennecke after the Generals had gone into Ryerson Leenders and the Generals power-play continued to stay hot cashing in the opportunity. With just 11-seconds left in the man-advantage Colby Barlow set the middle of the blueline for Luca Marrelli who hammered a shot through an Andrew Gibson screen to take a 1-0 lead on his 4th of the playoffs at 4:35. The Bulldogs went on the power-play following an errant stick catching Cole Brown and got the unit set for a Tomas Hamara screen shot from the middle of the line that was gloved down by Jacob Oster to keep the Generals ahead. Ryerson Leenders did his best to hold the Bulldogs in the game in the opening 20, denying a point-blank opportunity from Callum Ritchie with a tremendous shoulder stop and squeezing the knees to keep Colby Barlow from scoring on a one-timer from the right circle. Late in the frame, the Generals extended the lead on a broken play in the Bulldogs zone after Owen Protz stepped up for a hit on Owen Griffin, the puck rolled on to Noah Powell who found Luca Marrelli sneaking in from the right point to feed Colby Barlow back door for his 9th of the post-season and a 2-0 Generals lead through 20 minutes.
The action started fast in the middle frame with the Generals extending their lead early in the second period to 3-0, after Thomas Budnick was taken down to the ice by Noah Powell, the Generals winger recovered the puck behind the Bulldogs goal, feeding front for Owen Griffin. The initial shot was denied on a great pad save by Ryerson Leenders but quickly followed by Griffin gathering his own rebound to make it a 3-0 lead at 1:30. The Bulldogs snapped to life just 32-seconds with Nikolas Rossetto handling an out pass through neutral ice laying it forward to Jake O’Brien stepping in over the blueline on the right side. With Marek Vanacker flying to the front of the Oshawa net, O’Brien brought the two Generals defenders towards him feeding the back door play for Vanacker to tip past Oster for his 6th of the playoffs, cutting the lead to 3-1 at 2:02. That was all the scoring for the middle frame but the Bulldogs found an extra gear with long stretches of offensive zone time in possession but were unable to claw their way closer heading down the tunnel down by a pair, looking to fight for their playoff lives in the final 20 minutes.
The final period saw the Bulldogs fight hard all the way to the finish, throwing chance after chance to the Generals goal with Jacob Oster standing strong. Marek Vanacker had a pair of brilliant opportunities, first to the right side of the Generals goal looking at what appeared to be an open goal, getting the shot away, Oster made a tremendous right to left move to cut it off and keep the puck north of his goal line. With the Bulldogs net empty Vanacker again found himself in the middle of the ice open with the puck only to have Oster steal it away, on the rebound Vanacker batted the puck into the scrum but Oster was able to scramble it back underneath him to hold on. Owen Griffin ended the Bulldogs season with 8.3 seconds to go, sealing the Generals 4-1 win in Game 6 and a 4-2 series victory.
With the final horn the OHL careers of captain Patrick Thomas and defensemen Thomas Budnick & Tomas Hamara came to a close. The Brantford Bulldogs are so grateful for the all contributions of each of the team’s overage players and are proud to have had all three wear the Bulldogs crest and represent the black & gold so exceptionally. Patrick Thomas in particular departs as a captain, a champion and the franchise’s all-time leader in points, cementing his legacy as one of the best to ever skate with the Brantford Bulldogs franchise.
