Brantford Bulldogs kicked off the week with a Wednesday night showdown against the Niagara IceDogs. The Bulldogs’ lineup received a boost as Jett Luchanko, Ben Danford, Adam Benak, Adam Jiricek, and Vladimir Dravecky returned from the World Juniors with hardware in tow, with the Czech trio suiting up for the Wednesday night clash. The night also marked the Bulldogs debut of newly acquired forwards Charlie Paquette and Gabriel Frasca, each skating in black and gold for the first time.
With energy clearly elevated, Brantford wasted little time pushing the pace out of the gate. The Bulldogs looked to open the scoring early as Benak generated the game’s first quality chance, but IceDogs goaltender Vladislav Yermolenko denied him. The play quickly turned the other way and led to a Niagara breakout, but David Egorov made the save to keep the game scoreless. Brantford earned its first power play of the night and created a handful of dangerous looks. Caleb Malhotra attempted to thread a pass through to Benak in front, who tried to lift it over Yermolenko’s pads, but the chance was thwarted. Moments later, Niagara went on the power play and capitalized, opening the scoring at 15:10 when Ryan Roobroeck found Jakub Chromiak in the circle and Chromiak snapped it home for his seventh of the season. Brantford pushed back, nearly drawing even as Malhotra’s chance just missed the goal line. After one period, the Bulldogs trailed 1–0 but held a 10–6 edge in shots.
Early in the second, Brantford looked to get on the board with the man advantage as Malhotra found space in the slot, but his attempt went just wide. Brantford finally drew even at 4:59, as a breakout sequence saw Owen Protz move the puck to Philip Govedaris, who sprung Dylan Tsherna on a break. Tsherna made no mistake, snapping it past the goaltender for his fourth goal of the season. The Bulldogs continued to press, with Frasca nearly tipping one in tight, but stayed level until late in the frame. At 17:09, Brantford took its first lead of the night. After a key defensive play by Zack Sandhu to keep the puck in at the blue line, he connected with Parker Holmes, who fed it right back to Sandhu. Vladimir Dravecky stepped into the play and blasted a shot from the dot for his sixth of the season. Through 40 minutes, Brantford led 2–1 while controlling the shot clock 23–12.
Brantford extended its lead early in the third with a 4-on-3 power-play goal just 58 seconds in. Off a Bulldogs faceoff win, Benak celebrated his return in style, tucking the puck past Yermolenko for his 16th of the season. The Bulldogs pushed for more as Charlie Paquette came close to his first as a Bulldog, ringing one off the post. He followed that with another dangerous look, and while Dennis fed Paquette at the doorstep, the IceDogs netminder stood firm. Niagara pulled within one at 13:55 when Grayson Tiller initiated the play, finding Riley Patterson at the blue line. Patterson’s shot through traffic beat Egorov for his 23rd of the season. Brantford restored its two-goal cushion at 18:32 on a delayed penalty. With the extra attacker on the ice, Benak found Cooper Dennis, who fired the puck into the open net for his 22nd of the season. The Bulldogs closed out the night with a 4–2 victory over the Niagara IceDogs.
Story submitted by Reed Duthie
