LEENDERS MAGNIFICENT; LARDIS & VANACKER POWER 2-1 COMEBACK WIN
NORTH BAY, ONTARIO. From Michigan to the great white north, the Brantford Bulldogs played the third of their four-game road trip making their last trip to the Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens in North Bay of the 2024-25 season.
The Bulldogs entered Thursday night’s contest in a battle for top spot in the Eastern Conference, with a 3-point lead on Barrie, Kingston & Oshawa while the Battalion began the weekend with a four-point cushion on Ottawa for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, making the clash a potential 1st round preview. The opening frame was a goalie duel with Ryerson Leenders the slightly busier of the two netminders, stopping 8 Battalion shots in the period, his best stop coming on a Jacob Therrien break while Mike McIvor denied a Cole Brown backhand effort right at the side of his goal slamming pad to post to keep the game scoreless as part of his 7 stops in the first period. With the goaltenders dueling each other to a draw through 20 minutes, the game hit the intermission scoreless.
The middle frame opened with the Battalion putting on a push, earning a pair of power-plays that the Bulldogs were able to navigate through, thanks in large part to Ryerson Leenders. While being outshot 9-4 to open the second period, the Battalion did manage to strike for one despite Leenders’ efforts. Aaron Enright sent Ihnat Pazii ahead on the left side for a 2-on-1, with Adam Jiricek closing, the Bulldogs defender nearly knocked the Battalion forward off his stride, but Pazii was able to keep his feet and from the dot in the left-circle sent a wrist shot over Leenders’ shoulder and under the crossbar for a 1-0 lead. The Bulldogs then outshot the Battalion by a 10-2 margin through the rest of the period but despite a pair of opportunities for Marek Vanacker, marking the visitor’s best chances, Mike McIvor remained undented through 40 minutes.
The game turned in the final frame with the Bulldogs offense coming alive. At 4:50, Noah Nelson set Marek Vanacker away on a 2-on-1 with Nikolas Rossetto, Vanacker used his linemate as a decoy and toe-dragged at the top of the left circle, pulling up in the slot and ripping his 21st past Mike McIvor to tie the game 1-1. Nick Lardis displayed three zone prowess to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead at 10:58, laying the puck forward through the defensive zone for Jake O’Brien who quickly turned it wide left to Marek Vanacker with speed. Curling around the back of the net, Vanacker found the charging Lardis skating down to the Battalion slot to one-time a shot off the back bar collecting his 71st of the season and tying Eric Lindros’ 1990-91 effort for 7th in single-season OHL goal scoring giving the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead. Ryerson Leenders made the lead stand up, denying all 12 he faced in the third period, the finest coming from a top of the slot drive off the stick of Ethan Procyszyn that Leenders kicked aside while managing to stop Reyth Smith’s rebound attempt, and 33 of the 34 he faced in total to give the Bulldogs their 41st win of the season, moving 5 points clear at the top of the Eastern Conference with a 2-1 final.
The Brantford Bulldogs close their four-game road trip on Friday, March 14th when the team visits the Sudbury Wolves at the Sudbury Community Arena with a 7:05 start time.
