PANWAR, LARDIS RECORD FIRST POINTS AS BULLDOGS IN 6-3 LOSS
HAMILTON, ONTARIO. The Hamilton Bulldogs had a busy day both on and off the ice, starting this morning having to say heartfelt goodbyes to Gavin White, Avery Hayes, and Logan Morrison before welcoming the Sudbury Wolves to town for a Saturday night matchup. Newly acquired forwards Nick Lardis and Sahil Panwar joined the team in time to make their Bulldogs debuts.
The Wolves got off to a characteristically fast start just 53-seconds in as Nick DeGrazia sent Ethan Larmand on a breakaway shorthanded breakaway, opening the scoring on his 7th of the season. Sudbury’s lead doubled at 4:32 as Kieran Walton stole the puck right in front of the Hamilton goal and slapped it through the five-hole of Tristan Malboeuf giving the Wolves a 2-0 lead. With the Bulldogs on the power-play just prior to the mid-way point of the period, Artem Grushnikov wound up for a slapshot, his stick exploded only to have his stick explode and former Bulldog Alex Pharand grabbed the puck and made a nifty move around Lucas Moore and scored a beautiful between the legs goal to increase the lead to 3-0 for the visiting Wolves. The night was over for Malboeuf unfortunately, as Matteo Drobac replaced him after the third goal. Drobac entered the game making a big stretch leg save off of a turnover and the save appeared to energize his teammates. On the power-play for the third time in the opening period, the Bulldogs finally capitalized right off the faceoff. Sahil Panwar won the puck back to Jorian Donovan wristed one to the net, tipped home by Patrick Thomas, his 8th of the season, to make it a 3-1 game and Panwar his first point as a Bulldog. Panwar didn’t stop there, putting heavy pressure on a Wolves defender, he stole the puck behind the net and sent it out front to Patrick Thomas to make it a 3-2 game on his 2nd goal of the game and 9th of the season at 16:36, sending the Bulldogs to the break down just one.
The Wolves opened the middle frame as they opened the first, with a tired Bulldogs group hemmed in their zone, defenseman Matthew Mania sent a shot to the net through a multi-layered screen, making it 4-2 for Sudbury 2:10 into the period. Sudbury continued their offensive attack, quickly adding another pair with Nathan Villeneuve potting his fifth of the season, and Ethan Konyen with his ninth of the season, making it a 6-2 Wolves by the 5:43 mark of the period. With Hamilton back on the power-play at 10:23, Jorian Donovan sent the puck to the right side to Cole Brown who quickly fired a cross-seam to Nick Lardis in the left circle wristing a shot past Kevyn Brassard for his first goal as a Bulldog, and 13th of the season, narrowing Sudbury’s lead to 6-3, which is where the game stood heading to the second intermission.
The final frame was held entirely quiet with the Bulldogs killing off a pair of penalties, working on a 7 for 7 run on the penalty kill on the weekend. Marek Vanacker had a near golden opportunity to draw the Bulldogs closer as Brassard mishandled the puck, but puck was just out of Vanacker’s reach in front of the open goal. Matteo Drobac earned his best save of the night late in the game after Kocha Delic sent the puck cross crease to Quentin Musty, Drobac stretched his leg across the goal to deny Musty of a sure goal. The Bulldogs pressed late but couldn’t draw any closer with Brassard picking up his first OHL win as the Wolves skated away with a 6-3 final.
The Bulldogs are back in action tomorrow afternoon for a Family Sunday matchup against the visiting Oshawa Generals. The puck drops at 2:00pm at the FirstOntario Centre.
For more information on Hamilton Bulldogs 2022-23 Holiday Flex packages or single game tickets call 905-529-8500 or visit hamiltonbulldogs.com
