LARDIS JOINS 40-GOAL CLUB; DOGS STREAK SNAPPED AT EIGHT
BARRIE, ONTARIO. Riding an eight-game win streak into Saturday night, the Brantford Bulldogs made their final visit of the season Barrie’s Sadlon Arena for a matchup with the Central Division leading Barrie Colts.
Featuring one of the deepest lineups in a tough Eastern Conference, the Colts looked to jump on the Bulldogs early with Cole Beaudoin pulling a puck from the left corner to the front of the net but Ryerson Leenders followed along the blue paint and turned away the Utah HC prospect. After Tommy Budnick & Grayson Tiller went to the box for matching roughing penalties and the game 4-on-4, Emil Hemming jumped on an errant pass out high in his own zone and raced to the right circle of the Bulldogs zone rifling a shot over the elbow of Ryerson Leenders who got just a piece with his glove before it floated into the Bulldogs goal for Hemming’s 10th of the season at 2:34. The Colts doubled the lead, catching the Bulldogs in a line change at 7:30 with Riley Patterson off the right feeding Beau Jelsma through the middle of the ice in a 2-on-1 where the Colts captain was able to hold his momentum and make a move to the front of the net to turn backhand and lift it over the outstretched pad of Leenders for a 2-0 lead. The Bulldogs responded late in the frame, after having the majority of zone time in the period it was their forecheck that cracked the Colts with Marek Vanacker forcing a turnover at the side of the Colts goal and the puck rolling onto Jake O’Brien’s stick. Twisting the puck back across the net front, O’Brien found Vanacker for the quick one-timer off the back bar and out for his 8th of the season pulling the Bulldogs to within a goal at 2-1, where the game stood through 20-minutes.
The middle frame unfolded similar to the first, the Colts struck twice early, first with a broken Bulldogs stick opening a lane across the front of the net, Kashawn Aitcheson was able to feed Riley Patterson for a one-timer to get past a sprawling Ryerson Leenders for his 19th of the season, giving the Colts a 3-1 lead at 1:28. Barrie added to the lead at 7:17, on a short 2-on-1 with Carter Lowe feeding across the slot for Brad Gardiner to toss in his 13th of the season, extening the lead to 4-1. The Bulldogs clawed one back 10:56 on the power-play with Cole Brown keeping the play alive net front and battling it loose for Jake O’Brien to carry around behind the goal. Emerging on the right side, O’Brien dealt a slick feed into the right circle for Nick Lardis whose lightning-fast release bested Ben Hrebik off the goal post and in for his 40th of the season. With the goal, Lardis joined Arthur Kaliyev and Avery Hayes in the Bulldogs 40-goal club as he continues to chase the single season goal scoring record for the team. The Bulldogs came up with a massive penalty kill in the middle frame to add to the Lardis goal, fighting off a Colts’ double minor advantage with a tremendous penalty kill. Leenders made one more fantastic save before the frame was out denying Emil Hemming on a 2-on-1 net front with a brilliant split stop to keep the Bulldogs in range through 40 minutes.
The Colts began the final frame as they began the first two, striking early. After a brilliant Ryerson Leenders sprawling save on Owen Van Steensel, the rebound rolled loose for Anthony Romani who was able to toss his 5th of the season over the sprawled Bulldogs goaltender at 1:02 to give the Colts a 5-2 lead. The Bulldogs refused to call it quits and struck back at 12:31 with Cole Brown crisscrossing with Nick Lardis over the Barrie blueline resulting in Lardis turning to the left circle and Brown driving to the Colts’ goal. Lardis fired a long-distance drive that rolled through Hrebik’s legs for his 2nd of the game and 41st of the season to pull the Bulldogs to within a pair, 5-3. It’s as close as the Bulldogs would come, late in the game with Leenders on the Brantford bench and skating 6-on-5 Adam Jiricek beat Beau Jelsma to the inside but was hauled down only to have the officials’ arms stay down and resulted in the Colts carrying forward and Carter Lowe hitting the empty net at 18:37 assuring the Colts a 6-3 win.
The Brantford Bulldogs continue their five-game road swing on Thursday night, January 30th with a trip to North Bay to take on the Battalion for a 7:00pm puck drop. The Bulldogs will also be hosting a viewing party that night at The Lounge at the Brantford Civic Centre for the game.