O’BRIEN CLAIMS ANOTHER RECORD; THOMAS SCORES OVERTIME WINNER
BRAMPTON, ONTARIO. The Brantford Bulldogs made the short trip up the 407 to the CAA Centre on Wednesday night, making their last trip of the season to visit the Brampton Steelheads, who were light on bodies due to injuries & World Junior Camps for the midweek clash.
Getting out on the right foot, the Bulldogs first struck at 4:33 with Nick Lardis making a tremendous feed through a pair of Steelheads defenders to the left-wing side for a streaking Noah Roberts in the left circle where his shot was denied by Jacob Gibbons but resulted in a perfect feed for Calvin Crombie net front who banged home his 3rd of the season to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. The lead was doubled just over five minutes later at 9:57 when Marek Vanacker stole a puck on the right-wing side of neutral ice, carrying into the offensive zone and feeding on for Nikolas Rossetto who froze a pair of Steelheads defenders before walking down the slot. With a brilliant forehand to backhand transition, Rossetto lifted the puck over Gibbons and off the back bar for the 4th of the season for the talented rookie giving the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead. The Steelheads were able to pull one back late on the power-play with Luke Misa feeding Jack Van Volsen from the right corner to the front of the where Van Volsen recorded his 8th of the season at 19:10 to send the game to the intermission with the Bulldogs lead cut in half at 2-1.
Noah Roberts opened the second period for the Bulldogs with a laser beam shot from the middle of the blueline that got right through Jacob Gibbons off a draw win from Patrick Thomas and a feed from Nick Lardis for his 3rd of the season giving the Bulldogs a 3-1 lead at 4:36. The period turned sour from there with the Steelheads scoring three straight to turn the game on its’ head. At 8:23, a Troy Patton left-wing shot crawled over Ryerson Leenders’ right shoulder after an impressive stop, dying out on a bounce in the crease where Martin Vaculik met it and pushed his 1st career OHL goal over the line. Gabriel Chiarot tied the game at 13:00, carrying on the right-wing side with two Bulldogs defenders leaving their feet opening up a lane through the circle where the Steelheads winger took the ice and wired a shot past Leenders for his 4th of the season. The Steelheads weren’t done, on the power-play again at 19:36, the hosts picked up a second goal in the final minute of a period. Spencer Sova’s point blast bounced heavy off the end wall, coming out on the right-wing side where Luke Misa was the only one to find it, delivering his 18th of the year to give the Steelheads a 4-3 lead through minutes.
A third period full of twists and turns followed as the Steelheads looked to hang onto the lead but those hopes were dashed at 6:54. With the Bulldogs 5-seconds into a power-play Tomas Hamara fired a point shot that was deflect by Jake O’Brien and collected by Patrick Thomas to shovel his 9th of the season past Gibbons, tying the game 4-4. With the assist, Jake O’Brien became the fastest Bulldogs to reach 100-points, doing so in 90 games (breaking Arthur Kaliyev’s record of 102). Just 24-seconds later, Zakary Lavoie played the puck low in the zone for Ben Radley. The defenseman curled around back of the net and fed Josh Avery in the slot to wire in his 3rd of the season, giving the Bulldogs a 5-4 lead at 7:18. The Steelheads managed to tie the game again in the final minute of the third period with Aidan Lane in his first OHL game tipping a Spencer Sova point shot for his first OHL goal at 19:42.
Off to overtime and after a brilliant Ryerson Leenders glove save early, the Bulldogs took advantage late with a last-minute goal of their own. At 4:39, Nick Lardis carried across the front of the Brampton net taking the attention of a pair of Steelheads defenders. The Bulldogs leading goal scorer dropped the puck off to Patrick Thomas and with a shift to his backhand, tossed in the overtime winner on his 2nd of the game and 10th of the season to give the Bulldogs the win.
The Brantford Bulldogs return to action on home ice for the rest of the weekend, hosting the Barrie Colts on Friday night, December 13th, with a 7:00pm puck drop before hosting the team’s annual Teddy Toss game on Sunday, December 15th against the Kingston Frontenacs with action beginning at 2:00pm.
