LARDIS RELEASES THE BEARS, DONOVAN MAKES HISTORY IN 5-2 WIN
BRANTFORD, ONTARIO. The Brantford Bulldogs opened up their final weekend before the Christmas break hosting their annual Teddy Bear Toss game in Brantford for the first time against the Barrie Colts. The matchup on Friday night marked the second of four meetings between the teams in the 2023-24 season.
The opening frame belonged to the Bulldogs as the hosts came flying out of the gates and laid repeated siege to the net of Ben West. Florian Xhekaj believed he had the Teddy Toss goal just a few minutes in, collecting Nick Lardis’ rebound and shovelling it into the Colts net, but the marker was called back on a Barrie challenge for goaltender interference. The Teddy Toss fakeout didn’t halt the Bulldogs as they quickly earned a power play and the fur would fly. At 10:16, Nick Lardis “Released the Bears” recording his 24th goal of the season as Jorian Donovan collected the puck at the middle of the line off a Florian Xhekaj feed and set a pass right into Lardis’ wheelhouse at the bottom of the right circle to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. The Bulldogs doubled up the lead at 19:18, with Cole Brown driving up the right wing into the Colts’ zone where he drops it to Jorian Donovan who fired a pass over to Calvin Crombie, depositing a tap-in to the back of the Colts goal for a 2-0 Bulldogs lead on Crombie’s 7th of the season. The Bulldogs head into the dressing room after 20 minutes of play holding their 2-0 lead over the Barrie Colts with the Bulldogs leading 13-5 in shots.
The Bulldogs continued the momentum as they opened the middle frame at 2:56, tripling their lead. Ben Bujold picked the puck away from a Colts defender just inside the Barrie line to center a pass to Jorian Donovan. The Bulldogs defenseman strode to the middle of the zone and whipped a shot to the top corner his 8th of the season to take a 3-0 lead. Jorian Donovan’s goal marked his 23rd career goal and hit the history books in setting a new record for most goals scored by a Bulldogs defenceman in a career. After Donovan made the history, the Colts began to fight back, at 4:40, cutting the Bulldogs lead to a pair through Cole Beaudoin scoring his 14th of the season with Tai York and Riley Patterson collecting the assists. The Colts continued to claw their way back, beating the buzzer in the middle frame at 19:56. Connor Punnett fired a shot from the middle of the line with Roenick Jodoin left alone in the slot, tipping the drive on the way by, sneaking it past Matteo Drobac to send the game to the locker room after 40 minutes with the Bulldogs holding a now 3-2 lead.
The Bulldogs opened up the final frame earning another power-play opportunity with the chance to capture the momentum back. The Bulldogs power-play found its mark at 2:12, coming off a Lawson Sherk faceoff victory where Cole Brown collected the puck and sent it to the right point where Lucas Moore hammered his 2nd of the season giving the Bulldogs some breathing room with a 4-2 lead. With 9:42 left to play Jorian Donovan took offense to a hit on Nick Lardis and recorded his “Gordie Howe hat-trick” dropping the gloves against Kashawn Aitcheson. The resulting penalites ended up with a 5-on-3 advantage for the Colts. Matteo Drobac took the opportunity to make his finest save of the night, an incredible split stop on Beau Jelsma to keep the Bulldogs up a pair. After opening the scoring on the night, Nick Lardis closed the scoring at 17:56, stealing the puck from Aitcheson in the neutral zone, carrying it over the line on the right wing side through the circle. Breaking to the front of the net, Lardis lifted the puck over West’s arm to score his 2nd of the night and 25th of the season to give the Bulldogs a 5-2 victory.
The Bulldogs continue their weekend heading on the road for their last game before the Christmas break facing the Kingston Frontenacs on Sunday, December 17 with puck drop at 2:00pm.
