O’BRIEN & OKITUNDU LEAD BULLDOGS TO 5-4 WIN IN OSHAWA
OSHAWA, ONTARIO. Returning from the Christmas break on Thursday night the Brantford Bulldogs travelled to Oshawa to face off with the Generals for the 5th of 8 meetings on the season.
Down their top defense pair of Jorian Donovan & Tomas Hamara, who are skating for Canada & Czechia at the World Junior Hockey Championship, the Bulldogs did receive some positive news with the return of Luca Testa to the lineup. One of the players stepping up in the absences of Donovan & Hamara opened the scoring at 7:12 as a low cycle from Jake O’Brien and Ben Bujold brought the puck to the line for Cedricsson Okitundu whose initial shot ricocheted off the back glass, off the top of Jacob Oster’s net and bounced back to the front, where Okitundu found it again and depositied his 3rd of the season to give the Bulldogs the 1-0 lead. The Bulldogs continued their push in the opening frame, firing 13 shots to the Oshawa net, with Marek Vanacker & O’Brien combining to find Bujold out front of the Oshawa goal but Jacob Oster turned aside the point blank chance as part of the 12 he parried aside to keep the game 1-0. Though Matteo Drobac wasn’t as busy as his counterpart he stopped all four he faced in the opening frame with a stretching pad save on Connor Lockhart providing his best to keep the Bulldogs up 1-0 through 20 minutes.
The game opened up in the second period with six total goals, the mayhem ensued with Stuart Rolofs catching a slick cross ice feed from Callum Ritchie at 3:47 to tie the game 1-1 on the Oshawa captain’s 11th of the season. The Generals followed up with a bit of a controversial one with Callum Ritchie being awarded a shorthanded goal at 5:38 on a play the Bulldogs protested never crossed the goal-line, but without the benefit of overhead cameras, was deemed to stand as a goal giving Oshawa a 2-1 lead. The Bulldogs answered right back on the power-play, Jake O’Brien crossed the puck in the offensive zone to Nick Lardis who played low on the right side for Patrick Thomas. Curling at the bottom of the circle, Thomas attacked the goal and shelved his 8th of the season at 5:56 tieing the game at 2-2. At 10:18 the Bulldogs nosed back ahead, with the fourth line on the ice, Noah Nelson sent the puck from the left wing netfront where Masen Wray got the initial shot off and the rebound bounced into the air where Luca Testa went net front and bunted it past Oster for his 10th of the season giving the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead. After Noah Van Vliet went down blocked a shot just seconds prior, the Generals top line capitalized with the Bulldogs missing another defenseman as a defensive zone turnover led to Connor Lockhart directing the puck to Callum Ritchie on the doorstep for his 2nd of the game and 7th of the season, again tying the game 3-3. Before the period was out the Bulldogs had last laugh, as Luca Testa drove into the offensive zone off the left side dropping the puck for Cedricsson Okitundu, who hammered a drive through Oster for his 2nd of the game & 4th of the season at 18:11 putting the Bulldogs up 4-3 through 40 minutes.
The final 20 minutes had a playoff like atmosphere, with the Bulldogs opening the frame extending their lead to a pair. On the power-play at 5:23, Lucas Moore’s point drive was knocked down off the shins of Marek Vanacker who twisted the puck in the slot as defenders converged to his left for Jake O’Brien who jumped on top and rang it off the back crossbar to give the Bulldogs a 5-3 lead on the rookie’s 4th of the season and 3rd point of the game. The Generals drew one closer on a power-play of their own, with Connor Lockhart converting a Luca Marrelli pass on a one-timer to cut the lead to 5-4 at 10:18 but that is as close as the Generals would get on the evening with Matteo Drobac standing up for his team denying 15 shots in the 3rd period alone to secure a 5-4 Brantford win.
With the victory in Oshawa and the Ottawa 67s & Mississauga Steelheads loosing on the night, the Brantford Bulldogs finished the night in 1st place in the OHL Eastern Conference.
The Bulldogs return to action on Saturday, December 30th, hosting the Barrie Colts at the Brantford Civic Centre with a 4:00pm puck drop.