VANACKER 4 POINT EFFORT EARNS DOGS A POINT IN KINGSTON
KINGSTON, ONTARIO. For their final game before the OHL Christmas break, the Brantford Bulldogs travelled to Kingston to square off with the Frontenacs for the 3rd time in the 2023-24 season, having taken both of the previous pair of meetings.
The opening period saw the Bulldogs jump on the Fronts early building a quick lead. Marek Vanacker started things off for the Bulldogs, carrying the puck out of the Brantford with speed up the left-wing side. Vanacker cut netfront and beat Mason Vaccari on the backhand for his 11th of the season, staking the visitors to a 1-0 lead. It took just 15-seconds for Vanacker to go from goal scorer to provider as the Bulldogs stormed back into the Fronts zone off the ensuing faceoff with Lucas Moore finding Vanacker twisting out high. Vanacker charged the right circle and hit Jake O’Brien cross-ice to the left side of the Fronts net where the rookie potted his 3rd of the season at 1:28 to give the Bulldogs the early 2-0 advantage. The Frontenacs began their battle back at 10:19 as Cal Uens collected the puck at the top of the slot and spread it left where rookie defenseman Cameron Bergeron took it through the circle to the front of the Brantford net, tucking it through the pads of Matteo Drobac for his 1st in the OHL to draw the hosts back to within a goal at 2-1. Despite the 19 shots on goal between the two teams, Vaccari & Drobac were able to keep the creases clean from there, exiting the first period with the Bulldogs holding their 2-1 advantage.
The middle frame tilted heavily towards the Frontenacs, as the hosts appeared a different team in the middle frame. Paul Ludwinski collected his 12th of the season at 2:54 to knot the game at 2-2 as the Fronts capitalized on a defensive zone turnover by the Bulldogs. Brantford responded quickly, just 26-second later, Calvin Crombie drove through the middle of the ice, splitting the Kingston defence and being hooked by the pair of Frontenacs, in loosing the puck, Noah Nelson who was trailing the play found it to the right of the Fronts net and hit Ben Bujold streaking through the slot. Bujold wasted no time lifting it to the top shelf for his 8th of the season at 3:20 to put the Bulldogs back up 3-2. At 4:26, the hosts came right back, Maleek McGowan held the puck onside, feeding Maddox Callens middle who had his shot deflected net front by Nathan Poole for his 4th of the season, once again tying the game 3-3. The Frontenacs took their first lead of the game at 5:59, as Ludwinski hit Luke McNamara for his 3rd of the season to make it 4-3. Kingston wasn’t done with the middle frame, as at 17:29 Matthew Soto had a nifty deflection of a Roman Schmidt point drive for his 13th of the season, giving the Fronts a 5-3 lead they took to the intermission.
The Bulldogs wouldn’t say die in the game however, battling back through the third period and being rewarded for that battle at 16:35. After Marek Vanacker made a shift into the right circle to create a window he hit Jake O’Brien just inside the left circle. Though O’Brien couldn’t get a clean shot away, Ben Bujold took the puck around Mason Vaccari’s pad, stopping just behind the left post and tucking it past the pad and inside the post for his 9th of the season and 2nd of the game pulling the Bulldogs to within one at 5-4. With the Bulldogs net empty at 18:02, Jorian Donovan worked the puck left for Ben Bujold who tossed it middle where Marek Vanacker found the rolling puck in the slot and launched a backhand over Vaccari and in for his 2nd goal and 4th point of the game tying the game 5-5. Vanacker nearly ended the game with a minute to go denting the post on a breakaway after beating Vaccari clean. In overtime, the only shot of the frame produced the goal at 1:31, with Gabriel Frasca whipping a shot through a screen off the backbar to give the Fronts the extra point with a 6-5 win.
The Brantford Bulldogs return following the Christmas break on Thursday, December 28th, paying a visit to the Tribute Communities Centre in Oshawa for a matchup with the Generals with puck drop at 7:05pm.
