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OHL Brantford Bulldogs

Third Period Pair for Vanacker Earns Bulldogs 3-2 Win

January 30, 2025 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Brantford Bulldogs News Release


NORTH BAY, ONTARIO. The Brantford Bulldogs hit the middle part of the five-game road trip by starting the longest, by distance, weekend of their season when the team opened their three-game northern road swing, visiting the Memorial Gardens in North Bay to do battle with the Battalion.

Layne Gallacher opened the night skating in his first OHL game after being signed earlier on Thursday, coming up from the Ajax-Pickering Raiders U18 AAA where he leads the OMHA U18 AAA in points on the season. The Bulldogs got exactly the start they were looking for 4:13 into the hockey game when Patrick Thomas hit Cole Brown in the left circle and the New Jersey Devils prospect immediately twisted the puck to the front of the net for Nick Lardis crashing in off the right circle to conver his 42nd of the season, pulling to within 9 of the Bulldogs single season record, giving the guests the 1-0 advantage. The Bulldogs lead stood until 12:43 off of a broken play in neutral ice, with former Bulldog Briir Long carrying into the Bulldogs zone and then catching a carom off the right-wing wall to step into the circle and launch a shot off the back bar for his 3rd of the season equaling the game 1-1 where it stood through 20 minutes.

The middle frame turned the game on its head when just 1:03 in, Andrew LeBlanc fed the slot for Parker Vaughan to hammer home his 6th of the season giving the Battalion their first lead of the game. The Bulldogs came close to the equalizer on multiple opportunities, none finer than Marek Vanacker sending Luca Testa in alone from the North Bay blueline. With a backhand fake, Testa looked to lift a shot over a sprawled Mike McIvor, but the Battalion goaltender came up with an incredible glove save while laid out to the ice to keep the hosts ahead by a 2-1 margin through 40 minutes.

The game turned around in the third period for the Bulldogs, just 1:11 into the final frame Owen Protz sent Luca Testa forward on the left-wing side. Barreling through the corner, Testa dropped his shoulder to shake a defender around back of the net, emerging on the right-wing side. Hitting the breaks just past the post, Testa incredibly found the space in between Kent Greer & Mike McIvor to set Marek Vanacker on a cross-crease feed that Vanacker hammered into the North Bay goal for his 9th of the season tying the game 2-2. The game proceeded to get chippy with a scrum involving Testa, Vanacker, Aaron Enright and Ethan Procyszyn leading to a North Bay power-play before it was negated by a Jacob Therrien cross-check to the head of Noah Nelson. The Bulldogs kept the rink tilted their way in the third but even when the Battalion had a break opportunity like Lirim Amidovski being sent alone on Ryerson Leenders, the Bulldogs netminder was there to shut the door, as part of his 32 saves in the game. At 14:00, a familiar combination connected again with Jake O'Brien delivering the puck on the right-wing side for Luca Testa to speed into the North Bay zone. Drawing defenders, Testa sent a pass through the middle of the ice to the goal mouth that Marek Vanacker was once again able to convert while crashing the net for his 2nd of the game and 10th of the season giving the Bulldogs the 3-2 lead they held to the final horn, winning their 9th game in their past 11.

The Brantford Bulldogs continue their five-game road swing on Friday night, January 31st, visiting the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds at the GFL Memorial Gardens in their only trip to the Soo on the season with a 7:07pm puck drop.

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