Thomas 5-Point Effort Sends Bulldogs to 2-0 Series Lead
April 13, 2025 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Brantford Bulldogs News Release
BRANTFORD, ONTARIO. The Brantford Bulldogs hosted Game 2 of their OHL Eastern Conference semi-final on Sunday afternoon at the Brantford Civic Centre following a 5-2 comeback victory in Game 1, looking to hold home ice.
It was a brilliant start for the Bulldogs in Game 2, highlighted 6:06 into the game with Marek Vanacker blocking a shot at the Brantford blueline and racing onto the puck in neutral ice. Bearing right down the middle of the ice with Matthew Buckley getting a stick under his arm, Vanacker quickly flipped the puck on Jacob Oster rolling through the Generals goaltender and over the line for his 4th of the playoffs to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. Just 20-seconds later, Patrick Thomas intercepted the puck through center ice and knocked it to the left side of the Generals blueline for Cole Brown who quickly spiked it to the middle of the ice for Nick Lardis. Releasing just as quickly as it arrived, Lardis darted the shot through Oster for his 9th of the playoffs at 6:26 to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 advantage. With the period winding down, Tomas Hamara was flagged for a controversial cross-checking penalty at 18:12 giving the Generals a 4-on-3 power-play. The highly skilled unit for the visitors struck with Luca Marrelli delivering the puck backdoor for Callum Ritchie to tip by a sprawling David Egorov to cut the lead to 2-1 at 19:20 before both teams headed to the locker room with the Bulldogs up a goal.
The second period was a back-and-forth affair that opened up just 1:38 in, with the Bulldogs caught committing bodies forward after a solid cycle in the Generals zone, saw the Generals break with numbers. Beckett Sennecke drove down the left side, holding up in the circle and finding the late man, Luca Marrelli off the point who fired a shot to the net that deflected off Owen Griffin to tie the game 2-2 on Griffin's 8th of the post-season. The Bulldogs responded just 1:26 later, with Nikolas Rossetto flying in on the right side, his shot was denied by Oster with Aiden O'Donnell following up on the rebound. The puck deflected back to Adam Jiricek skating in from the right point while Simon Wang cross-checked Nikolas Rossetto into Jacob Oster, wiping out his goaltender and allowing Jiricek the opportunity to toss the puck past a diving Generals netminder for his 1st OHL playoff goal, restoring the Bulldogs lead at 3:04. The Bulldogs followed up at 8:22 with Patrick Thomas feeding the puck to Owen Protz driving up the left-wing. Hammering on the breaks and losing an edge, Protz made an incredible backhand, falling pass to Nick Lardis high on the right side who gathered and whipped a shot past Oster for his 2nd of the game and 10th of the playoffs to give the Bulldogs a 4-2 lead. Oshawa responded at 9:36 working a picture perfect 3-on-2 with Luke Torrance laying the puck to the right for Noah Powell who sent a pass cross-ice to Matthew Buckley, quickly gunning the puck past David Egorov to cut the lead back to one at 4-3 on his 2nd of the playoffs. With the Bulldogs on a 5-on-3 at 12:51, Patrick Thomas caught down a shot off the back boards, laying it back to the blueline for Tomas Hamara. Stepping down from the middle of the blueline, Hamara fed it to the bottom of the right circle for Nick Lardis to hammer in a hat-trick goal from an incredible angle for his 11th of the playoffs giving the Bulldogs a 5-3 lead that they would take to the third period.
Early in the final frame, a scary moment inside the Civic Centre with Andrew Gibson looking to throw a hit on Nick Lardis on the left-wing boards. As Lardis moved the puck and attempted to cut around Gibson, the defenseman hit Lardis knee-on-knee and Lardis had to be helped from the ice and down the tunnel. The Bulldogs extended their lead to 6-3 at 2:19 of the third period with Calvin Crombie ripping a puck loose in the centre circle and feeding on for a Dylan Tsherna breakaway where the speedy forward notched his first playoff goal top corner. Noah Powell pulled the Generals to within a pair at 4:46 battling the puck in the crease past Egorov for his first playoff goal making it 6-4. At 7:23 on another broken play in the Bulldogs zone, Beckett Sennecke had the puck knocked loose by a sliding Thomas Budnick but was able to re-gather and feed on for Owen Griffin at the left post to roll over the goal line for his 2nd of the game, cutting the lead to 6-5. The Bulldogs battled their way down to the finish with Owen Protz feeding the puck from deep in the Bulldogs zone for Patrick Thomas and onto Noah Nelson to lay into the empty net for his 2nd of the post-season at 18:56 to give the hosts a 7-5 lead. With Oster out once more, Jake O'Brien ripped the puck loose in the defensive zone and sent ahead for Patrick Thomas to fire into the open goal to record his 2nd of the playoffs and 5th point of the game securing the Bulldogs an 8-5 win to take a 2-0 series lead.
The series will turn to Oshawa on Tuesday, April 15th as the Tribute Communities Centre will play host to Game 3 with the Bulldogs looking for force the Generals to the brink. Puck drop takes place just after 7:05pm.
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Ontario Hockey League Stories from April 13, 2025
- Thomas 5-Point Effort Sends Bulldogs to 2-0 Series Lead - Brantford Bulldogs
- Gens Down 0-2 in Round Two against Bulldogs - Oshawa Generals
- Gens Look to Bounce Back in Game 2 - Oshawa Generals
- Otters Strike for Pair on Power Play, Drop Game 2 in London - Erie Otters
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