VANACKER STRIKES FOR A HAT-TRICK; LEENDERS SHUTS OUT NIAGARA
ST. CATHARINES, ONTARIO. Visiting the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines for the second time on the season the Brantford Bulldogs paid visit to the Niagara IceDogs on Thursday night to open a back-to-back weekend.
The Bulldogs lineup looked a little different to open the weekend with Layne Gallacher & Nik Rossetto unavailable due to injury on Friday night, the recently recalled Ryan Chamberlain made his Brantford Bulldogs debut in his first regular season game with the team, after playing 20 games in the 2024-25 season with the Sarnia Sting.
The opening frame was fast moving and featured territorial dominance for the Bulldogs. Right from the opening drop the Bulldogs cycled in the Niagara zone at will with the top line of O’Brien, Vanacker & Benak giving way to Malhotra, Dennis & McCue for immediate pressure, all turned aside by Vladislav Yermolenko in the Niagara goal. Ryerson Leenders was only tested 3 times in the opening period, but he was fantastic in those opportunities, denying Ethan Czata on a partial breakaway with a tremendous right pad kick save to keep the game scoreless. The Bulldogs penalty kill was tested early but passed the test killing a cross-checking penalty to Owen Protz that was picked up in defense of a hit on Adam Benak. The latter stages of the period went right back to the Bulldogs with territorial dominance but with Yermolenko turning aside all 8 he faced in the first frame the game went to the locker room scoreless.
The middle frame had the offense that the first did not as the Bulldogs continued to carry the play into the second stanza. Just 1:54 into the period, with the Bulldogs shorthanded, Owen Protz sent Marek Vanacker away for a shorthanded opportunity. Cutting from his right to the middle of the ice, Vanacker fired a shot to the net front that deflected through the five-hole of Yermolenko to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead on the 19th of the season for the OHL’s leading goal-scorer. The Bulldogs extended the lead on the power-play at 6:23 on a beautiful passing play. Adam Benak began it from the right circle, feeding across to the left for Jake O’Brien, the captain immediately sent the puck back to Benak which created the space for Benak to set Adam Jiricek for a one-timer in the high slot that Jiricek ripped past Yermolenko for his 8th of the season and a 2-0 Bulldogs lead. At 17:41 the Bulldogs closed the loop, scoring in all three phases of the game as, skating 5-on-5, Edison Engle picked out a streaking Marek Vanacker from the left corner of his own zone to the right-wing side. Vanacker drove in at Niagara defenseman Liam Spencer, ducking his shoulder to fake an inside drive and toe-dragging the puck around the defender’s skate and curling past him where he beat Yermolenko low glove side for his 2nd of the game and 20th of the season, hitting the mark for the third straight season and being the first player in the OHL in the 2025-26 season to hit 20 goals, giving the Bulldogs a 3-0 lead that they would take to the locker room through 40-minutes.
The Bulldogs closed their Thursday night matchup out in the final frame, striking to extend the lead just 28-seconds into the period with Marek Vanacker blocking a shot inside his own blueline and flew forward in a 2-on-1 with Adam Benak. Vanacker placed a perfect pass in Benak’s wheelhouse for a one-timer past a sprawling Yermolenko for his 11th of the season and a 4-0 lead. Marek Vanacker opened the scoring and closed the scoring on the night with Jake O’Brien delivering a pass on a 2-on-1 that Vanacker hammered over Yermolenko for his hat-trick goal and 21st of the season for a 5-0 lead. Ryerson Leenders stopped all 18 he faced in earning his 2nd shutout of the season in a 5-0 victory.
The Brantford Bulldogs return to action on Friday night, November 21st, hosting the Sarnia Sting for the only time on the season at 7:00pm at the TD Civic Centre.
