NICK LARDIS 4 GOAL PERFORMANCE LEADS DOGS TO NORTHERN SWEEP
SUDBURY, ONTARIO. Closing their five-game road trip and three-game northern swing, the Brantford Bulldogs met the Sudbury Wolves, making their first of a pair of visits on the year to the Community Arena in Sudbury.
For the third straight time on the road-trip, the Bulldogs scored first and scored early, with a steal from just inside the Brantford line, Marek Vanacker carried forward on the right-wing side, whistling a shot over the shoulder of Nate Krawchuk and under the bar to collect his 11th of the season at 2:38. Just 50-seconds later with the Bulldogs on the power-play the good start got better, Patrick Thomas played the puck off at the left-wing circle for Tomas Hamara who twisted it across the offensive zone for Cole Brown launching the puck past Krawchuk and reaching the 20-goal club for the first time in the OHL giving the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead at 3:28. The Wolves clawed one back at 7:21 on a miscommunication in the Bulldogs zone, with Lucas Moore looking to drop the puck back to defense partner Ben Radley, the gap was too wide and Keiron Walton bridged it to steal the puck and record his 28th of the season cutting the lead to 2-1. The northern product, Nikolas Rossetto, of Sault Ste. Marie, with friends and family in the audience, was next for the Bulldogs taking a Tomas Hamara feed on the right-wing side, gaining the right circle and rifling a shot past Krawchuk’s blocker and inside the post with expert placement for his 6th of his rookie season to move the Bulldogs back up by a pair at 3-1 and spelling the end of the afternoon for Nate Krawchuk who had given up three goals on 7 shots in the opening period. The Wolves pulled another back, with Henry Mews crossing net-front and dropping the puck to a late arriving Kocha Delic who was able to catch Ryerson Leenders for his 22nd of the year, again pulling the Wolves to within one, 3-2, at 17:11. Before the period was out and as a Bulldogs penalty kill was ending, Jake O’Brien sent Nick Lardis in down the middle of the ice on a breakaway, with Lardis dancing past Finn Marshall and rocketing his shot under the back bar for his CHL leading 45th goal of the season and a 4-2 Bulldogs lead at 19:44 that they would take down the tunnel through 20-minutes.
The middle frame was all fireworks from the Brantford Bulldogs, and it was led by leading goal scorer Nick Lardis who picked up right where he left off in the first period. Adam Jiricek directed the puck forward to Jake O’Brien who once again found Nick Lardis through the middle of the ice to hammer home his 2nd of the night and 46th of the season giving the Bulldogs a 5-2 lead at 4:36. Lardis called on the hats at 8:48 after Owen Protz tossed the puck forward to Patrick Thomas who held up coming across the blueline and dropped it to his running mate. Lardis slid into the slot and whistled a wrist shot past Marshall to complete the natural hat-trick and collect his 47th of the season and a 6-2 Bulldogs lead. The top sniper in the CHL still wasn’t done, with the Bulldogs in a 5-on-3 at 14:03, Jake O’Brien crossed to the left side and fed back to the middle for Tomas Hamara who took a couple strides down from the line before feeding Lardis in the right circle to rocket his 48th of the season and 4th of the game, for a 7-2 Bulldogs lead. The Bulldogs received a first at 16:02 of the middle frame with Nikolas Rossetto moving the puck to the Brantford line for Layne Gallacher, tipping it ahead to a streaking Marek Vanacker to race in and collect his 2nd of the game and 12th of the season, earning Gallacher his first OHL point on the goal, in just his third OHL game. Following Vanacker’s goal at 16:02, the Wolves lifted Finn Marshall after surrendering 5 goals on 16 shots, returning Nate Krawchuk to the goal, who opened the game, and the Bulldogs hit the intermission holding an 8-2 lead.
The final frame was subdued in comparison to the opening forty-minutes with the Bulldogs content to play a possession game and keep the puck as far from their net as possible. The Wolves were able to strike one back at 13:11 with Nathan Villeneuve hopping on an errant pass in the Brantford end and firing a slapshot from the hashmarks for his 23rd of the season making it 8-3. The Bulldogs notched one more on a late power-play before the game ended, with Nick Lardis & Tomas Hamara combining to set Jake O’Brien for a shot out of the left circle to give the Bulldogs a 9-3 lead at 18:55 they held to the final buzzer, taking the win and sweeping the northern run.
The Brantford Bulldogs return home to finish the home & home series with the Sudbury Wolves on Wednesday, February 5th with a 7:00pm start time.