LARDIS EQUALS BULLDOGS GOAL SCORING RECORD WITH 51ST IN WIN
BRANTFORD, ONTARIO. In a massive Friday Night Faceoff, the Brantford Bulldogs played host to the Saginaw Spirit on Friday night at the Brantford Civic Centre in a matchup that featured an incredible array of talent on both sides led by the likes of OHL leading scorers Nick Lardis & Michael Misa.
Even with the dazzling array of offensive talent on display, it was Ryerson Leenders who wowed the crowd in the opening frame with 18 saves in the period. From a quick kick stop on Igor Chernyshov to and post-to-post stop on Zayne Parekh and a brilliant glove save starring down Michael Misa from the left circle, the Bulldogs starting netminder gave his team the chance to get their legs under them. Despite missing a laundry list of players for the game, including Adam Jiricek, Calvin Crombie, Dylan Tsherna, Parker Holmes, Josh Avery & Luca Testa, the Bulldogs found their stride on the man-advantage. History was made for the first time on the night as Cole Brown kept the puck loose in a crowded Saginaw crease, batting it to the left side for Jake O’Brien who quickly whirled round and fed Nick Lardis just inside the right circle to hammer home his 50th of the season and becoming the first Bulldog to score 50 goals in less than 50 games in the process, achieving the mark at 6:51 of the first period of his 49th appearance of the season and joining Arthur Kaliyev as the second Bulldog to ever reach the 50-goal plateau. The Bulldogs offense kept rolling with the power-play at 17:55. Catching a pair of Spirit penalty killers up ice, the Bulldogs had four attackers in the rush. Nick Lardis went from finisher to provider, crossing the line and playing off to the right for Jake O’Brien. Again, with a quick pivot, O’Brien tossed the puck back across the zone to Marek Vanacker in the trail position who rifled his shot past Andrew Oke for his 13th of the season, staking the Bulldogs to a 2-0 lead they held to the locker room through 20-minutes.
Into the middle frame the Bulldogs took a greater share of the territorial advantage and shot tally, but it was Andrew Oke’s turn to keep his team in the game. Oke turned Cole Brown aside at the end of a 3-way passing play at the side of the Saginaw goal, blockering the shot over the top before stealing a pair of looks from Nick Lardis, one from the right circle and the other from the middle of the slot to keep the Spirit in the game. As the Bulldogs did in the first, the Spirit responded to their goaltender’s efforts in the middle frame, catching the Bulldogs up ice this time, Igor Chernyshov played the puck below the goal line on the right side for Michael Misa who set P.J. Forgione in the right circle for a drive that just squeezed through Ryerson Leenders to pull the Spirit to within one on the defenseman’s 3rd of the season at 8:08.
The Spirit knotted the game into the third period, at 3:57 with Michael Misa driving down the right wing and through the circle, laying an exceptional pass through a pair of Bulldogs defenders to the left post where Igor Chernyshov quickly pounced on the puck and fired just inside the post for his 6th goal in just his 4th game in the OHL. The Bulldogs answered back on the power-play once again at 5:36. Nick Lardis set the puck back to Tomas Hamara at the middle of the blueline where the Czechia product sent a wrist shot on Andrew Oke, Patrick Thomas was able to bat down the rebound and deal it over to the right post for Cole Brown to toss into the open side past the sprawling Oke to give the Bulldogs back the lead 3-2 on Brown’s 21st of the season. Leenders was leaned on again down the stretch, managing to hold aside 7 of the 8 shots he faced in the final frame. At 17:52 and with the Spirit skating 6-on-5, history was made again. Patrick Thomas pulled the puck away from the front of the Bulldogs net and shoved forward for Nick Lardis who took a step towards the Bulldogs blueline. Flattening out the puck, Lardis launched it the length of the rink and into the open goal to collect his 2nd of the night and 51st of the season, tying Arthur Kaliyev’s single season Bulldogs record for goal scoring and assuring the Bulldogs a 4-2 victory.
The Brantford Bulldogs close out their weekend on the road on Saturday, February 8th with a trip to the WFCU Centre in Windsor to visit the Spitfires for the first and only time in the 2024-25 season with a 7:00pm start time.
