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OHL Brantford Bulldogs

Lavoie & Sobolev Score In Dogs Debut To Earn Point

January 13, 2024 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Brantford Bulldogs News Release


BRANTFORD, ONTARIO. The Brantford Bulldogs took the ice for the first time following the trade deadline on Friday night, hosting the Ottawa 67's and welcomed a trio of new faces to the lineup with defensemen Daniil Sobolev & Owen Protz joining forward Zakary Lavoie in making their Bulldogs debut.

The Bulldogs opened the game funneling shots to Collin MacKenzie's net taking a 10-1 advantage in shots on goal prior to the midway point of the period. The hosts dented MacKenzie with the man advantage at 11:40. Nick Lardis worked the puck up the right boards moving it across to Tomas Hamara who worked the middle of the line. Hamara fed the puck to the left side in the wheelhouse for Zakary Lavoie who hammered home his 1st as a Bulldog and 14th of the season to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. The 67's answered back at 13:30 of the opening frame. After Matteo Drobac made a brilliant split stop to deny Will Gerrior's tip of a Braeden Kressler cross-crease pass, Gerrior found the rebound and managed to chuck it into the Bulldogs net to tie the game 1-1 on his 15th of the season.

The 67's found a jolt to begin the middle frame, quickly forcing Matteo Drobac into a scintillating glove save to keep the game knotted at 1-1. The 67's nosed ahead at 1:54 as Chris Barlas won a faceoff to Drobac's right to the stick of Brad Gardiner who fired a shot that took an unfortunate deflection off the skate of Owen Protz changing directions on Drobac and putting Ottawa ahead 2-1. With the game 4-on-4 at 7:05, 67's newcomer, Samuel Mayer tracked the puck to the end boards making a no look pass to the front of the net for Luca Pinelli who quickly cashed on his 28th of the season to move Ottawa ahead 3-1. The Bulldogs cut into the lead at 15:22 as Marek Vanacker battled the puck off the right wing half boards and fed Jake O'Brien who carried middle through a trio of 67's defenders. With the puck on his backhand O'Brien set the puck for an on rushing Zakary Lavoie to laser his 2nd of the game and 15th of the season to make it a 3-2 game. Before the period was out with the 67's on the power-play, Braeden Kresser launched a shot from the middle of the blueline to the front of the net. With Luca Pinelli on the doorstep, the 67's leading scorer put a perfect tip to the puck to elude Drobac and give the 67's back a two-goal lead at 16:40 on his 29th of the year and 2nd of the game, a lead which the visitors held heading into the third.

The Bulldogs mounted their comeback in the third period, beginning at 5:50 with the hosts on the power-play. Florian Xhekaj recovered the puck in deep for Nick Lardis on the right side, moving the puck out high to Lucas Moore. From the middle of the blueline, Moore whipped a wrist shot through a screen provided by Ben Bujold to cut the lead to 4-3 on his 3rd of the season. After Luca Testa was slashed on the hands on a breakaway by Kimi Korbler at 9:07, the Bulldogs forward was awarded a penalty shot. Working his way in through the left circle, Testa got MacKenzie to lay out with a shrug of his shoulders and a fake to his backhand, pulling the puck around the downed netminder and firing it under the back bar for his 11th of the season, tying the game 4-4. The 67's bounced back at 11:24, as Brad Gardiner dug the puck through a scrum on the right half boards into the circle for Chris Barlas. With a lightning quick release, Barlas used Daniel Chen as a screen and fit the puck in a tight window over Drobac's shoulder and under the bar for a 5-4 lead on his 8th of the season. With 12-seconds left in the period, the Bulldogs shorthanded and their net empty, Nick Lardis gained possession in the offensive zone moving the puck back to Zakary Lavoie who put a perfect pass to Daniil Sobolev to drill a one-timer through Colin MacKenzie for his 3rd of the season and 1st as a Bulldog in dramatic fashion to force overtime.

The extra 5-minutes, despite furious effort at both ends including a sequence where Drobac & MacKenzie each made spectacular stops to force a shootout. With it coming down to player versus netminder, each of Cole Brown and Braeden Kressler scored to open the shootout only to have Drobac & MacKenzie turn aside each of the next four shooters. In the 6th round, Nick Lardis rang the goal post, while Nic Whitehead managed to best Drobac on a slot from the shot following a series of dekes to give the 67's a 6-5 shootout victory.

The Brantford Bulldogs finish their weekend travelling to Sadlon Arena in Barrie on Saturday night, January 13th for the 4th meeting of the season with the Barrie Colts with a 7:30pm puck drop.

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