BROWN GOES COAST-TO-COAST AS BULLDOGS STUN 67s IN OVERTIME
HAMILTON, ONTARIO. The Hamilton Bulldogs opened a back-to-back weekend Saturday afternoon, hosting Logan Morrison and the Ottawa 67, the first time the former Bulldogs captained returned to the FirstOntario Centre since his trade to Ottawa.
The 67s capitalized on a 4-on-3 penalty kill early, as Will Gerrior was able to scoop the puck and race up the ice on a 2-on-1, sending it cross crease to Pavel Mintyukov who joined the rush and snapped it past a sliding Drobac to open the scoring at 5:32. The Bulldogs looked to return the favour shorthanded as Patrick Thomas picked up the puck and sent a great pass up the ice to Lawson Sherk for a partial breakaway but Colin MacKenzie stood tall keeping the visitors up a goal. At 12:10, Cole Brown strode down the middle of the ice and was one-on-one with the 67s defender, as Brown was tied up, Ben Bujold found the puck in the scramble and dealt a beautiful backhand pass to a wide-open Marek Vanacker, tying the game at 1-1 on his 3rd of the season. Ottawa was able to respond quickly however, with Jack Beck finding an unattended Brad Gardiner entering the offensive zone who skated in and snapped the puck past the glove of Matteo Drobac, regaining the 67s lead at 15:52, giving Ottawa a 2-1 lead through 20 minutes.
The Bulldogs opened the scoring in the middle frame at 4:36, as Nick Lardis carried the puck up the right-side boards and lasered a pass to Sahil Panwar’s tape, firing wrist shot by the glove of MacKenzie, tying the game at 2-2 on Panwar’s 12th of the season. Mere moments later and back in the offensive zone, Lawson Sherk picked up the puck, faked a slapshot before cutting to the outside around the 67s defenseman, and sent the puck out front to the stick of Marek Vanacker who wristed it through the five-hole for his second of the game, only to be called back due to a review with the play offside. The 67s regained the lead at 14:45 as Patrick Thomas shot the puck down the ice and as the Bulldogs went for a line change, MacKenzie quick upped the puck to Jack Beck, who then passed it to Brad Gardiner creating a 2-on-0 with Luca Pinelli who tapped it in on the cross crease pass from Gardiner for his 19th of the season, making it a 3-2 game for Ottawa. Their lead didn’t last, as Nick Lardis picked up a pass from Patrick Thomas and toe-dragged through Henry Mews, ripping it top shelf over the shoulder of MacKenzie for his 20th of the season, tying the game 3-3 at 17:49, sending the game to the intermission locked up.
Logan Morrison was millimeters away from getting the go-ahead goal, as he ripped the puck from the left side that dinged both posts before Drobac stretched back to keep it out of the net. The Bulldogs 4th line turned up the tempo in the third with Masen Wray ringing a shot off the crossbar followed by Noah Van Vliet sending a point shot that squeaked through the five-hole of MacKenzie, but he reached back before the puck crossed the goal line keeping the game tied 3-3-3. Sahil Panwar broke the tie with 5:15 remaining, fluttering a left point shot that fooled the 67s netminder bobbling over his glove and into the net for Panwar’s 2nd of the game and 13th of the season, giving the Bulldogs their first lead of the game. Ottawa fought back just 1:23 later as Logan Morrison tipped an Anthony Costantini point-shot over Drobac’s glove and into the net tying the game, 4-4 with 3:49 left to play. With 60-minutes not enough to solve the deadlock, each team took a point and readied for overtime.
Cole Brown was the overtime hero for the Bulldogs both defensively and offensively. Brown raced back to strip Vinzenz Rohrer of the puck, then jetted up the ice and fired the puck blocker side past Colin MacKenzie to dramatically seal the Bulldogs victory by a score of 5-4.
The Bulldogs are right back at it on Sunday, travelling to Peterborough for an afternoon matchup against Avery Hayes, Gavin White, and the Petes. The puck drops at 2:05pm at the Peterborough Memorial Centre.
For more information on Hamilton Bulldogs 2022-23 Flex packages or single-game tickets call 905-529-8500 or visit hamiltonbulldogs.com.
