O’BRIEN & CHEN RECORD FIRST OHL POINTS IN LOSS TO GREYHOUNDS
SAULT STE. MARIE, ONTARIO. The Brantford Bulldogs wrapped up their two-game road trip to the north visiting the GFL Memorial Gardens for the only time this season.
The opening frame was all Bulldogs, as just 2:17 into the period Daniel Chen sent Marek Vanacker up the left-wing side where he attacked the circle and beat Greyhounds starter Landon Miller for his 2nd of the season to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead with Chen earning his first OHL point on the play. The Bulldogs followed up quickly at 3:25 with Cole Brown attacking the left was able to push the puck to Lawson Sherk who cut middle and set Nick Lardis off the right circle for a perfect one-time finish to give the Dogs sniper his 2nd of the season and a 2-0 Bulldogs lead. The Greyhounds did strike back, on the power-play at 16:24, Jack Beck was able to corral a bouncing puck in front of Matteo Drobac and give the Hounds life on his 2nd of the season. Brantford answered right back at 17:30 as Daniel Chen sent the puck forward where Marek Vanacker kept it loose along the left boards long enough for Patrick Thomas to swoop and deliver it to Jake O’Brien. The Bulldogs rookie strode through the right circle and with a dip of his left shoulder opened Miller up and tucked the puck five-hole for a brilliant finish on his 1st in the Ontario Hockey League. The opening frame ended with the Bulldogs holding a 3-1 advantage.
The second period began with more of the same, as Florian Xhekaj flipped a pass through a trio of Greyhounds to find Bulldogs captain Lawson Sherk streaking into the Hounds zone. Sherk faked Miller down the ice and lifted a backend over the sprawled netminder for his 1st of the season, giving the Bulldogs a 4-1 lead at 1:13. Sherk’s goal spelled the end of the night for Landon Miller with Charlie Schenkel entering the game and spurring a momentum change. At 10:09 the Greyhounds began the battle back with Travis Hayes recording his 3rd of the season, followed by Owen Allard’s 2nd at 12:19 to cut the Bulldogs lead to 4-3. Brantford once again responded with Marek Vanacker being sent forward through neutral ice by Cedricsson Okitundu. While the Bulldogs were in a change, Vanacker spotted Florian Xhekaj fresh off the bench, sending the power-forward through the left circle and rocketing a shot past Schenkel to bubble the Bulldogs lead back to a pair at 5-3 through 40 minutes.
The final frame was all Greyhounds starting at :38 seconds, with Kirill Kudryavtsev firing a shot through a screen Matteo Drobac to cut the Bulldogs lead to 5-4. The game was tied at 3:36 with the Greyhounds on the power-play with Brenden Sirizzotti finding Arttu Karki alone at the bottom right circle and hitting a yawning cage on his 1st OHL goal. At 14:22 the Hounds took their first lead of the game, 6-5, with Owen Allard recording his 2nd of the game. The Bulldogs pressed to equal the game once more with one of the best chances coming with Lawson Sherk finding a rebound at the side of an open goal only to have his stick shatter. The Greyhounds closed the evening at 19:35 after a shot block led Jack Beck to feed Bryce McConnell-Barker ahead, hitting the empty net to give the Greyhounds the 7-5 victory.
The Brantford Bulldogs will host their inaugural Brantford home opener on Saturday, October 7th welcoming the Oshawa Generals to the Brantford Civic Centre at 7:00pm.
