XHEKAJ’S 3 POINTS LEAD BULLDOGS TO 5-4 VALENTINES SHOOTOUT WIN
WINDSOR, ONTARIO. Opening up a run of 4 games in 6 nights the Brantford Bulldogs made their only trip of the season to the WFCU Centre in Windsor on Wednesday night. The Bulldogs entered the night, challenged for bodies on the blueline missing Tomas Hamara & Cedricsson Okitundu to injury as well as Noah Roberts to suspension, leading to regular left winger Adrian Rebelo stepping back to a defensive role.
The opening period was a bit of an odd one for the Bulldogs who controlled possession but 1:18 in the game, the Spitfires broke 2-on-1 with A.J. Spellacy’s pass deflecting off Rebelo, who played the defensive situation as well as could be done, and rolled back into the Brantford net to give the Spitfires a 1-0 lead. Following the funky goal against, the Bulldogs jumped on the front foot, first Patrick Thomas dented the crossbar behind Joey Costanzo before Jake O’Brien on the following shift struck the goal post, keeping the hosts ahead. Windsor doubled their lead at 7:32, after Matteo Drobac made a brilliant sliding kick save on a Cole Davis break chance, the puck slid right onto Liam Greentree, tossing it back to the front of the net for a wide open Ryan Abraham where, despite a tremendous diving effort from Drobac to get back into his crease, the Spitfires centre fired the puck into the Bulldogs goal for his 21st of the season.
The second period was a different story entirely. After a series of early period power-plays produced intense pressure on Costanzo the Bulldogs found their offensive footing. Matteo Drobac had to make one more big stop before the Bulldogs got going as Colton Smith earned a shorthanded breakaway but Drobac made a brilliant split save to keep the hosts in shouting distance. At 12:29 the pressure from the Dogs paid off, with Daniel Chen carrying the puck over the blueline on the left side, laying forward for Zakary Lavoie. With Lavoie attacking through the left wing circle, a lane opened to Florian Xhekaj on the doorstep where he rattled a shot through the legs of Costanzo for his 24th of the season and 5th in the last 4 games to get the Bulldogs on the board. With Matteo Drobac continuing to stand tall, in stopping a Liam Greentree rush off the right side, the re-united shutdown line equalized. Lawson Sherk loosened the puck at the top of the left circle with a thunderous hit that moved the puck onto Adrian Rebelo, quickly spreading it netfront to Ben Bujold. With the puck on a string, Bujold delayed just long enough for Rebelo to get open infront of an open goal for a quick tip to the roof top on his 3rd of the season tying the game 2-2 at 17:13.
The third period began with the Bulldogs getting their first lead of the contest on the power-play at 1:33 with Zakary Lavoie moving the puck on the left for Florian Xhekaj to find Patrick Thomas at the top of the formation. Walking down into the left circle Thomas rifled a shot past Costanzo for his 14th of the season giving the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead. Zakary Lavoie appeared to extend the lead to 4-2 off a Florian Xhekaj set but after the play had been ruled onside live, a lengthy review curiously reviewed it offside keeping it a 3-2 game. The review turned advantageous for Windsor at 9:48, catching Ryan Abraham sneaking up ice for a breakaway goal, his 2nd of the game to tie the game back up at 3-3. Abraham wasn’t done though it wasn’t without controversy again after Liam Greentree clearly highsticked a puck on the Windsor power-play to start their rush, Abraham batted it past Drobac to give Windsor a 4-3 lead at 15:28. As if the hockey gods smiled upon them, the Bulldogs tied the game right back up at 16:04 with Ben Bujold & Patrick Thomas working the puck to Florian Xhekaj through the middle of the ice to tuck his 2nd of the game and 25th of the season through Costanzo’s legs to knot the game 4-4, leading to overtime.The 3-on-3 sovled nothing despite a pair of goal mouth scrambles for the Bulldogs and an outstanding Matteo Drobac split stop on Cole Davis and it was off to the shootout. In his first shootout attempt of the season, Patrick Thomas fired a shot past Costanzo while Cole Brown danced one through his legs, while Matteo Drobac stoned both Liam Greentree and Ryan Abraham to earn the Bulldogs their first shootout win of the season and a 5-4 final to move back 4 points clear in the East Division lead.
The Brantford Bulldogs return to action on Friday night, February 16th hosting the Owen Sound Attack in their only visit of the season with a 7:00pm puck drop.