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OHL Brantford Bulldogs

Aiden O'Donnell Scores in OHL Debut; Dogs Drop Petes in Shootout

October 27, 2024 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Brantford Bulldogs News Release


BRANTFORD, ONTARIO - The Brantford Bulldogs opened a three game, mini-homestand on Saturday night, opening their season series with the Peterborough Petes. Saturday night's matchup marked the OHL debut of the Bulldogs' 2024 14th overall selection Aiden O'Donnell.

The debuting rookie's first touch of the game contributed to the Bulldogs taking the early lead. Owen Protz hard wrap around the offensive zone boards turned to the left-wing side where O'Donnell bumped the puck back to Jake O'Brien at the top of the left circle. O'Brien turned the puck to Tomas Hamara at the middle of the blueline where the Czech import fired a shot to the front of the net where Cole Brown got his blade to it at 2:07, giving the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead on Brown's 4th of the season. The debut only got better at 9:42 as Cole Brown charged down the right-wing side, leaving the puck at the bottom of the circle for Jake O'Brien who spun off pressure and delivered the puck right out front of the goal to Aiden O'Donnell to score his 1st OHL goal on his first shot. At the other end of the rink, David Egorov continued his strong start to the season, turning aside all 13 shots he faced in the opening frame to send the Bulldogs to the locker room with a 2-0 lead through 20 minutes.

The visitors turned the game around over a four-minute period in the middle frame. First at 2:29, with a power-play expiring, Graydon Strohack turned the puck to Nico Addy along the blueline where the towering forward's shot was deflected net front by Ryder McIntyre for his 1st of the season, cutting the Bulldogs lead to 2-1. After a brilliant series of Zach Bowen saves in the Petes' end on a Bulldogs power-play the Petes turned the puck up the ice as Brennan Faulkner tried to set the puck middle for Aiden Young, the puck deflected and sat for Liam Ladds charging down from the point where the defenceman fired a shot that got past Egorov for his first in the OHL tying the game 2-2 at 6:39. Following 40 minutes, Bowen and Egorov turned the game into a goalies duel keeping the sides locked 2-2 heading to the third.

The Bulldogs got back on the front foot in the final frame. At 1:35, Noah Roberts sent the puck to Patrick Thomas at the Peterborough blueline where the Bulldogs captain laid it along for a determined Nick Lardis to charge on to. Lardis drove the net off the left-wing side firing a shot through Bowen for his 11th of the season putting the Bulldogs back ahead 3-2. The lead didn't last long as off a quick break for the Petes, Chase Lefebvre took a pass from Caden Taylor across the top of the Brantford zone, rifling a shot that Egorov got most of but managed to just leak through tying the game 3-3 at 1:57. With 31 saves from David Egorov & 32 from Zack Bowen, the teams remained deadlocked after 60 minutes forcing the Bulldogs to overtime for the fourth straight game. An extra five minutes wouldn't be enough to break the deadlock with Zack Bowen turning Patrick Thomas aside on a breakaway and David Egorov denying Zack Bowen with a lighting fast kick save, the game hit a shootout. Cole Brown scored to open the shootout for the Bulldogs while Patrick Thomas struck to close it with Egorov denying Colin Fitzgerald & Aiden Young for a 4-3 Bulldogs victory.

The Brantford Bulldogs return to action on Friday night, November 1st, hosting the Erie Otters at the Brantford Civic Centre in Erie's only visit of the season with a 7:00pm puck drop.

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