Thomas Leads Bulldogs to Home Opener Victory
September 29, 2024 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Brantford Bulldogs News Release
BRANTFORD, ONTARIO. Opening the home half of the season on Saturday night, the Brantford Bulldogs welcomed back Nick Lardis to the lineup for their meeting with the Oshawa Generals infront of a capacity crowd at the Brantford Civic Centre. It was the fourth time in franchise history that the Generals provided the opposition for the Bulldogs home opener, 2015, 2022 & 2023, with the Bulldogs having won each of the previous openers, and having won three straight home openers coming into Saturday.
Despite the electric crowd and history on their side, the Bulldogs fell behind at 4:11 with the Generals in an offensive zone cycle, Lauri Sinivuori & Owen Griffin combined to get the puck to Matthew Buckley for his 1st of the season, giving the visitors the lead. The Bulldogs found their legs feeding off David Egorov's strong first period, and knotted the game at 12:11. Lucas Moore pinched down the right boards, knocking the puck along to Cole Brown who looped it back to the left point for Owen Protz who strode on and fired a shot through Noah Bender igniting the Brantford crowd and sending the game to the locker room deadlocked at 1-1.
The Bulldogs used the middle stanza to turn the game firmly in their favour, beginning at 7:24 with the team on a 5-on-3 power-play. Patrick Thomas moved the puck from the bottom of the right circle back to the top of the formation to an in stride Nick Lardis. Moving left Lardis hit Zakary Lavoie in the left circle where Lavoie one touched it right back to Lardis for a one timer that sizzled it's way to the back of the Oshawa goal to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead. David Egorov took the game over from there, denying an Ethan Toms breakaway to open an incredible sequence of saves, Egorov one upped himself with a scorpion style kick save, kicking his left pad off the ice from a sprawled position to deny Shawn Costello with a spectacular effort. Again the Bulldogs fed off their netminder's heroics. At 18:14 Nick Lardis carried the puck over the Oshawa line on the left side, laying it to the blueline for Noah Roberts who sent a shot to the front of the Oshawa goal. With eyes in the back of his head, Patrick Thomas tipped the shot past Bender to give the Bulldogs a 3-1 lead. The prettiest goal of the night came just 19-seconds later, Nick Lardis exploded up the ice with a one-man breakout, gaining the Oshawa line on the right side, stopping at the circle and passing back to Owen Protz fresh off the bench. Protz delivered to Patrick Thomas at the right side of the goal who froze the defenders and sent the puck back across the front of the net to Jake O'Brien, tic-tac-goal, to give the Bulldogs a 4-1 lead through 40 minutes.
Oshawa pulled one back to open the third period. Off the Bulldogs timeout on an icing, Owen Griffin won a right circle draw that ended with Luca Marrelli rifling a point shot past David Egorov to cut the lead to 4-2 at 3:29. The Bulldogs got back to the front foot just 1:29 later, after Patrick Thomas stole the puck high in the offensive zone and fed Jake O'Brien at the bottom of the right circle, creating a short 2-on-1 with Zakary Lavoie, where O'Brien looked off the veteran sniped and roofed his shot for his 2nd of the game and a 5-2 Bulldogs lead. The hosts added one more at 14:31 as Patrick Thomas beat a pair of Generals defenders on the end boards, spinning a 360-pass to an open Nick Lardis in the slot for his 2nd of the game and Thomas' 5th point of the night, securing the Bulldogs 6-2 victory.
The Brantford Bulldogs return to action on Friday night, October 4th, hosting the Owen Sound Attack for their only visit of the year to the Brantford Civic Centre at 7:00pm, in the first half of our Girls Hockey Weekend.
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Ontario Hockey League Stories from September 29, 2024
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- Thomas Leads Bulldogs to Home Opener Victory - Brantford Bulldogs
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