O’BRIEN & BENAK PUNCTUATE THREE-IN-THREE IN 4-1 WIN OVER OSHAWA
OSHAWA, ONTARIO. Closing out a three-in-three weekend and a home and home with the rival Oshawa Generals, Brantford Bulldogs made their first visit of the 2025-26 season to the Tribute Communities Centre in Oshawa, where their season ended a season ago, looking for a weekend sweep on Sunday evening.
Ryerson Leenders opened the contest with an early, quick stop denying Vadim Smirnov on his backhand inside of the first two minutes. The Bulldogs began to mount pressure on Jaden Cholette’s goal, and Marek Vanacker twisting behind the Generals goal was felled by Brady Blaseg, leading to a Bulldogs power-play. Bringing the league’s top power-play unit into the game, they went to work quickly. Caleb Malhotra from below the goal line fed a seem pass back to the top of the formation for Adam Jiricek stationed in the right slot. The Czech defenseman twisted the puck across to his left for Jake O’Brien who quickly turned a shot past Cholette for his 7th of the season and a 1-0 Bulldogs lead at 9:26. With Ryerson Leenders turning aside all five he faced in the opening frame; the Bulldogs took their 1-0 lead to the room after 20 minutes.
The Bulldogs opened things up in the middle frame, after Ryerson Leenders made a pair of early frame stops the Bulldogs besieged the Generals zone, with the offensive work paying off at 11:05. With a full five-man cycle ongoing in the Oshawa zone, Jake O’Brien laid the puck out high for Camron Hankai off the left point to Lucas Moore on the left half-wall. As Moore approached the Generals goal through the left circle, Marek Vanacker drove the goal, bringing a Generals defender with him and Lucas Moore’s shot went off Jaden Cholette’s pad, off the Oshawa defender and into the net for the defenseman’s 2nd of the season. The final minute of the middle frame saw the Bulldogs double their lead, first at 19:08, Jake O’Brien created time and space for himself off the right half-wall, getting all five Generals and Cholette to buy a shot with the Bulldogs captain pump-faking and delivering to the back door for Adam Benak to fire in his 5th of the season. Benak was right back at it at 19:42, starting the play over the blueline to Marek Vanacker and finishing the play after Cholette stopped Vanacker left-circle drive with a dart under the back crossbar for his 2nd of the game and 6th of the season to give the Bulldogs a 4-0 lead through 40 minutes of play.
The final period was a very workman like effort for the Bulldogs in solidifying their advantage. Early in the period, Edison Engle bombed the puck forward from the defensive zone catching Sam McCue on a breakaway, but the Toronto Maple Leafs draft pick dinged the goal post to keep the lead at 4-0. At 13:55, the Generals got one back with Ben Danford feeding Owen Griffin on the right circle driving a shot through a Brooks Rogowski screen, breaking the Ryerson Leenders shut out bid. With the final horn sounding the Bulldogs moved their record to 11-0-1-1 extending their franchise best start with a 4-1 victory over the Generals, sweeping the weekend three-in-three and home & home with their longtime rivals.
The Brantford Bulldogs return to action on home ice on Wednesday night, October 29th hosting their Halloween game, facing off against the Barrie Colts for the first time on the season. Puck drop is expected just after 7:00pm at the TD Civic Centre.
