Wrapping up their two game Western Conference road swing the Brantford Bulldogs closed their season series with the Windsor Spitfires on Sunday afternoon, with the two teams looking decidedly different from their first meeting of the season.
Chances traded early on in the first period with the Bulldogs rattling the cage of Joey Costanzo in coming close on a couple occasions while Ryerson Leenders denied sharp angle opportunities from Jack Nesbitt & Cole Davis. The hosts broke the ice 15:34 of the first period on the power-play with Anthony Cristoforo wandering middle of the blueline and feeding back to his left for an Alex Pharand one-timer that just beat Ryerson Leenders sliding across the goal for his 11th of the season and a 1-0 lead. The Bulldogs equalized at the death of the opening frame, working on a Cole Davis double minor for high-sticking Edison Engle, Jett Luchanko brought the puck across the blueline for Charlie Paquette on the left-wing side where the right shot quickly picked out Caleb Malhotra through the middle of the ice. Driving through the slot, Malhotra let loose a rocket that dented the back bar over Costanzo’s shoulder to join the 20-goal club as a rookie and tie the game with 0.9seconds left in the opening frame to send things to the locker room tied 1-1.
The middle frame turned to the Bulldogs favour beginning at 3:48 when Charlie Paquette moved the puck back to the blueline for Owen Protz on the left with a quick shuttle to Adam Jiricek off the right. With a tremendous toe drag, moving outside in on a defender, Jiricek danced to the middle of the ice and rifled a shot past Costanzo to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead on the defenseman’s 12th of the season. After the Bulldogs found themselves on back to-back penalty kills, the Spitfires struck late on the second in a goal mouth scramble. As Alex Pharand directed a shot towards the goal that bounced to AJ Spellacy with an open lane to roll the puck past Leenders and in for his 10th of the year. After a brilliant Ryerson Leenders save on a 2-on-1 on Ethan Belchetz, the Bulldogs responded for their netminder. At 12:15, Caleb Malhotra stepped into a Windsor passing lane in the middle of his own zone and laid the puck forward on a backhand sneak away to Adam Benak. With a fake to his forehand Benak rolled a backhand inside the far post past the outstretched leg of Costanzo for his 17th of the year and a 3-2 Bulldogs lead. With a 5-on-3 for the Bulldogs expiring at 16:16, Vladimir Dravecky set a pass into the wheelhouse of Cooper Dennis at the top of the left circle to hammer home his 23rd of the season to give the Bulldogs a 4-2 lead that they would take to the locker room through 40 minutes.
Opening the third period looking to close the gap, the Spitfires got their opportunity as Carson Woodall found Nathan Villeneuve for a sneak away that the deadline addition capitalized on, striking for his 19th of the season at 2:14 to pull the Spitfires back within one at 4-3. The Bulldogs answered at 7:16 after Ryerson Leenders walled up chances from Jack Nesbitt & AJ Spellacy, Charlie Paquette sent Adam Benak ahead on a breakaway where the Wild prospect split the wickets on Costanzo for his 2nd of the game & 18th of the season giving the Bulldogs back the two-goal cushion at 5-3. Benak kept the hot-stick at 9:21 as Caleb Malhotra worked the puck behind the goal for Gabriel Frasca who exited on the left side feeding the slot for Benak to hammer in his hat-trick goal and 19th of the season for a 6- 3 Bulldogs lead. The wave of Czech offense continued at 11:46 on the power-play as Adam Benak fed the puck to the middle of the blueline for Jett Luchanko who turned to his left and set the puck for Adam Jiricek in the circle to blast his 2nd of the game, 13th of the season and 4th of the weekend to give the Bulldogs a 7-3 lead they would take to the end, sweeping their weekend Western set.
Story submitted by Reed Duthie
