LARDIS & O’BRIEN COLLECT 3 POINTS EACH AS BULLDOGS FALL IN ERIE
ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA. Finishing off the 2023 calendar year with a trip south of the border, and opening up a 3-game road swing, the Bulldogs played a New Years Eve matinee at the Erie Insurance Arena in a cross-conference battle with the Otters.
With both clubs coming off Saturday wins, the opening frame was fast and open affair with plentiful chances at both ends of the rink. The Otters opened the scoring on home ice at 9:40, after David Egorov battled off a 2-on-1, Pano Fimis recovered possession in the left corner and from the left half boards hit defenseman Alexis Daviault streaking from the right point for his 2nd of the season to give the Otters the 1-0 lead, against the run of play. The Bulldogs quickly earned a man-advantage following the goal and the first unit struck. With Patrick Thomas gathering possession in the right corner he shuttled the puck around the back of the net to hit Jake O’Bried, the rookie quickly turned the puck to the wheelhouse of Nick Lardis striding off the left point through the circle where fired a laser past Ben Gaudreau for his 26th of the season, knotting the game 1-1. The Otters earned the lead back before the period was out however as top pick in the 2023 U18 Draft, Brett Hammond charged through the left circle towards the front of the net, battling through a pair of stick lifts to tuck the puck past Egorov putting the Otters back up 2-1 at 14:48, a lead they would hold to the locker room after 20 minutes.
The Bulldogs raced out quickly in the middle frame to get the game back level. After David Egorov turned an Otters attempt aside, Jake O’Brien sprang Marek Vanacker on a breakaway at Ben Gaudreau. With a little fake to his backhand to open the Otters goaltender, Vanacker tucked the puck five-hole for his 14th of the season, tying the game 2-2. After a fairly level start to the middle frame the Otters turned the proceedings to their advangtage at 10:22 with Dylan Edwards stealing the puck away from Callum Cheynowski at the offensive blueline, racing in on David Egorov and tucking the puck around Egorov’s pad for his 1st of the season putting the Otters ahead 3-2. The Otters bubbled the lead on wacky one at 14:49, just after a two-man advantage had expired, Pano Fimis tried to toss the puck to the front of the net for Malcolm Spence, the puck hit the skate blade of a sprawled Noah Van Vliet and knuckled into the Bulldogs goal to give the Otters a 4-2 advantage they held through 40 minutes.
The final frame of 2023 was a bit of an offensive fiesta with five total goals between the sides. The Otters built on their lead beginning at 57-seconds as a counter attack after a Bulldogs chance led to a 3-on-1 that Kaleb Smith capitalized on for his 4th of the season giving the Otters a 5-2 lead. Another odd-man rush, this time a 2-on-0 at 4:32 resulted in Dylan Edwards cashing his 2nd of the game and the season to pace the hosts to a 6-2 lead. The Bulldogs refused to go quietly, on the power-play at 10:15, Nick Lardis rescued the puck out high and worked it along to Lucas Moore who found Marek Vanacker to knock in his 15th of the season and 2nd of the game to pull the Bulldogs to within a trio at 6-3. Bruce McDonald looked to slam the door shut for the Otters at 12:45, after Matthew Schafer’s point drive was deflected into the air and batted at, it landed in the Bulldogs crease for McDonald to record his 7th of the year putting the hosts up 7-3. The Bulldogs bit back once more before the game came to a close with Jake O’Brien wheeling the puck to Nick Lardis whose shot was stopped by Gaudreau but won by Patrick Thomas to pop his 9th of the season, the last Bulldogs goal of 2023, as the Dogs fell by a 7-4 final.
The Brantford Bulldogs finish the 2023 calendar year with 41 points sitting in a tie for 1st place in the OHL Eastern Conference.
The Brantford Bulldogs open 2024 heading north to take on the North Bay Battalion on Thursday, January 4th with a 7:00pm puck drop.
