Cole Brown Hat-Trick Leads Dogs Over Gens In Vanacker's Return

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Brantford Bulldogs

Cole Brown Hat-Trick Leads Dogs Over Gens In Vanacker's Return

November 29, 2024 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Brantford Bulldogs News Release


BRANTFORD, ONTARIO. The Brantford Bulldogs opened a 3-game road swing on Friday night, in a rematch from last weekend with the Oshawa Generals. The Bulldogs welcomed Marek Vanacker back to the lineup in Oshawa after the team's leading scorer from the 2024-25 season missed the first 23 games of the season recovering from off-season surgery.

Vanacker's return came at a very welcome moment with Calvin Crombie joining Adam Jiricek, Dylan Tsherna, Parker Holmes & Luca Testa as unavailable on Friday night for the Bulldogs. David Egorov wasn't worried about who was in or out to open the game, walling off five early shots from the Generals including a pair of post-to-post stops on Beckett Sennecke & Callum Ritchie on an early Generals power-play. The Bulldogs fed off their netminder and made his hard work pay off at 6:30. Cole Brown stole the puck at the bottom of the right circle in the offensive end, driving to the front of the net. Extending his reach around a splitting Jacob Oster, Brown was able to guide the puck into the open side for his 9th of the season giving the visitors a 1-0 they would take to the intermission.

The Generals countered early in the middle frame with a 3-on-2 rush and Ethan Toms tucking a wrist shot under the crossbar for his 5th at 2:15, tying the game 1-1. From that point the middle frame belonged to the Bulldogs. On the power-play at 5:39, Tomas Hamara fed Nick Lardis on the left where the sniper in turn played for Cole Brown at the side of the net. On his backhand, Brown flipped the puck cross-crease for Patrick Thomas with it deflecting off Luca D'Amato past Jacob Oster to give the Bulldogs the 2-1 lead on Brown's 2nd of the game and 10th of the season. Cole Brown completed the hat-trick just 1:34 later, as Nick Lardis shovelled the puck back to Lucas Moore whose right point shot was knocked down by Brown in the slot on the backhand, turned to his forehand and ripped a shot through Oster collecting his 11th of the season and calling on the hats at 12:26 for a 3-1 lead. The Bulldogs special teams weren't done for the period, the last team in the OHL to record a shorthanded goal, recorded a pair. First at 14:00, Zakary Lavoie burst forward on the right-wing side, tossing the puck out in front of an open goal for Patrick Thomas for the captain's 8th of the season. Just 45-seconds later, on the same penalty kill, Noah Nelson created a 2-on-1 shorthanded with Marek Vanacker. Streaking down the left wing, Nelson looked off Vanacker and rifled a top shelf shot for his 2nd of the season, giving the Bulldogs a 5-1 lead at 14:45 that they'd take to the locker room after 40 minutes.

Entering the final frame the Bulldogs kept the heat on the hosts, extending the lead at 4:25. On the power-play, Nick Lardis carried across the top of the formation, leaving for Jake O'Brien who found Tomas Hamara off the right point moving middle. The Czech defenseman fired a shot through a screen and between Oster's legs for his 3rd of the season, giving the Bulldogs a 6-1 lead. The Generals clawed one back with Luke Torrance turning a nice Callum Ritchie feed past a diving David Egorov for his 11th of the season at 17:27. The Bulldogs almost immediately answered back on the power-play at 17:58. Tomas Hamara, recording his 4th point of the night, moved the puck to Nick Lardis in a high cycle, sending it to Jake O'Brien in the left circle where he fired a shot through a Cole Brown screen and through Oster's glove for his 12th of the season and making it a 7-2 Brantford lead. Lauri Sinivuori got one more back for the Generals at 18:50 but it's as close as the game would get with the Bulldogs taking a 7-3 victory.

The Brantford Bulldogs return to action on Saturday night, November 30th making their first visit of the season to the Sadlon Arena to meet the Barrie Colts with a 7:30 puck drop.

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