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OHL Brantford Bulldogs

Avon Hat Trick Down Dogs in Peterborough

December 15, 2022 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Brantford Bulldogs News Release


PETERBOROUGH, ONTARIO. The Hamilton Bulldogs opened their final three games before the Christmas break at the Peterborough Memorial Centre on Thursday night for the fourth meeting of the season with the Petes.

The opening frame got off to a tremendous start for the Bulldogs, as Avery Hayes and Patrick Thomas worked the puck out of the defensive zone, Thomas looped the puck high from the left side to the right wing for Logan Morrison to skate onto. Morrison strode down the right circle and fired a shot past Michael Simpson at 3:13 for his 17th goal of the season and extended his OHL leading point streak to 17 games in the process. The Bulldogs carried that lead and the play overall right down to 18:59 when a Connor Lockhart shot got through the glove of Matteo Drobac, hitting the crossbar, and falling to Tucker Robertson to tie the game 1-1. Off the ensuing draw, Connor Lockhart pushed the puck ahead to J.R. Avon who slid the puck out front of Drobac's net where Robertson recorded his 2nd in 9-seconds at 19:08 to give the Petes a 2-1 lead headed to the first intermission.

The second period started where the first left off, at 57-seconds, Connor Lockhart took the puck off a bounce in behind the Bulldogs net, tossing it to the front where it hit J.R. Avon's skate and Matteo Drobac's back before rolling across the goal line to give the Petes a 3-1 lead. The Bulldogs had their chances with a power-play at the 4:21 mark only to have Simpson keep the Peterborough goal walled off. At 10:07, Jax Dubois tipped a Samuel Mayer shot off Drobac's pad and came right back to Dubois off his skate to his stick and swept past the Bulldogs netminder to give Peterborough a 4-1 lead. Tristan Malboeuf came into the Bulldogs goal to relieve Drobac following the Dubois goal but the Petes continued their press. After Jack Van Volsen flipped the puck out of the Peterborough zone to relieve Bulldogs pressure, J.R. Avon challenged Gavin White on the left wing, the puck stuck in Avon's skates allowing him to edge past White and pulled it around Malboeuf to tuck the puck for his 2nd of the game bubbling the lead to 5-1 at 13:14. Just 18-seconds later, Sahil Panwar collected a loose puck in front of the Hamilton goal to push the Petes lead to 6-1 at 13:32. The Bulldogs got on the board 36 seconds later as Braeden O'Keefe sent Marek Vanacker ahead on the right-wing side, with Cole Brown driving the left side late, Vanacker found his streaking linemate who snapped a shot past Simpson for his 5th of the season at 14:08 to cut the deficit to 6-2. Peterborough nabbed one more before the period was out, as J.R. Avon completed his hat-trick at 14:38 giving the Petes a commanding 7-2 lead through 40 minutes.

The final frame was much quieter on the scoresheet as the Bulldogs controlled the majority of the period, despite having to make a pair of successful penalty kills. Hamilton outshot Peterborough by a 16-12 margin over the period but the only offense of the period came at 17:05 as Samuel Mayer added one more for the Petes to secure an 8-2 win for the hosts.

The Hamilton Bulldogs return to action for the 2nd of the 3-game road trip on Friday night December 16th travelling to Leon's Centre in Kingston to face the Frontenacs for the second time in less than six days with a 7:00pm start.

For more information on Hamilton Bulldogs Holiday Flex packages call 905-529-8500 or visit hamiltonbulldogs.com.

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from December 15, 2022


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