LEENDERS PUTS ON A SHOW STOPPING 36 IN BULLDOGS 2-1 WIN OVER WOLVES
BRANTFORD, ONTARIO. The Brantford Bulldogs returned to the Civic Centre on Wednesday night following their five-game road trip that saw the team go 4-1 and sweep the three-game northern end. Wednesday marked the second half of the home and home series with the Sudbury Wolves who the Bulldogs defeated 9-3 on Sunday afternoon.
Both Nate Krawchuk and Ryerson Leenders were busy in the opening 20 minutes of the hockey game with Leenders denying all 10 that came his way including odd man stops on former Bulldog Alex Pharand and Chase Coughlan, while Krawchuk had his finest moment in shutting down Nick Lardis on a doorstep feed from Patrick Thomas, turning aside the rebound as well. The Bulldogs got to the Wolves netminder on a hard-working shift from the team’s fourth line, with Daniel Chen navigating over the blueline and working the puck in deep to the right corner and sending the puck back to the blueline for Tomas Hamara who whipped a wrist shot through the pile for his 7th of the season giving the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead they held to the intermission.
The middle frame opened on a bit of an ominous note for the Bulldogs, after Adam Jiricek took a heavy hit along the offensive zone boards in the opening frame, he did not return for the 2nd period. The Bulldogs battled on and extended the lead at 1:22 with a power-play expiring. Jake O’Brien laid the puck on for Cole Brown driving through the middle of the ice who picked out Nick Lardis in the right circle. Catching and releasing in the blink of an eye, Lardis beat Krawchuk to the right post, rifling his shot inside the iron to record his 49th of the season and give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead. The Wolves fought back at 6:02 with a bouncing puck that wouldn’t sit flat in the Bulldogs defensive slot for Owen Protz, rolling onto the stick of Ondrej Molnar who was able to surprise Ryerson Leenders with the quick shot to pick up his 9th of the season to make it a 2-1 game. Henry Mews appeared to have scored the equalizer moments later in a goalmouth scramble but upon review it was clearly seen that Mews shoveled the puck into the Bulldogs net with his glove, taking the goal off the board and keeping the hosts up one. Leenders took center stage the rest of the way. Making a brilliant split save across the top of his crease to prevent a Quinten Musty pass from arriving at the back door and denying the Wolves the opportunity to hit the locker on equal footing.
The final frame was all Leenders & Krawchuk with both netminders denying all 12 shots they faced. Krawchuk was able to steal a one-timer from Nick Lardis on a cross crease split stop, while Ryerson Leenders stared down both Quinten Musty and Nathan Villeneuve on opportunities from inside the circles flashing his glove on both occasions. With the Sudbury net empty, Alex Pharand had to make a stick stop on Nick Lardis to prevent his 2nd of the game, while Owen Protz managed to kill half of the last 45-seconds by standing over top of the puck on the end boards drawing upwards of four Wolves who were still unable to move the puck from the Bulldogs tower of power. In the dying moments Leenders nearly made Bulldogs history with a goalie goal but the puck bounced just inches wide of the post before the final buzzer sounded. On the back of 36 Ryerson Leenders saves, the Bulldogs captured the 2-1 victory.
The Brantford Bulldogs return to action on Friday night, February 7th, hosting the Saginaw Spirit for the only time this season in a battle of the CHL’s top goal scorers with Nick Lardis going head-to-head with Michael Misa. Game time is 7:00pm at the Brantford Civic Centre.
