Bulldogs pound IceDogs
Jack Brauti scored Wednesday as the visiting Niagara IceDogs dropped a 6-2 decision to the Brantford Bulldogs. Photo: OHL IMAGES.
The Niagara IceDogs spent too much time in the penalty box Wednesday night in Brantford and the Bulldogs made them pay the price.
The Bulldogs scored three times in seven power-play opportunities en route to a convincing 6-2 win in Ontario Hockey League action at the Brantford Civic Centre.
“We played four games against Brantford and they’ve scored 11 goals off a penalty kill and we scored zero tonight on ours,” IceDogs coach Ben Boudreau said. “So they won that battle. Not only did we not generate offence, they also found a way to score on their penalty kills so I thought their special teams was a difference. There’s no question about that.”
The IceDogs, 26-15-2-1, are tied for third in the Eastern Conference with 55 points, one point behind Barrie and Oshawa and only one up on the Bulldogs.
“We talked about Barrie being ready for us physically and competing and just how hard they played, and I thought they (Brantford) were in our face screaming that at our bench,” Boudreau said. “That’s a team that’s looking to make the playoffs. There’s a lot of teams that are coming for us, so we’re going to have to match them physically, which I don’t think that we found a way, and emotionally, which I don’t think we’ve found since before the Christmas break.”
The IceDogs have a 4-5-1 record in their last 10 games after heading into the holidays playing their best hockey of the season.
“There’s no question that was a huge run for us,” Boudreau said. “We haven’t been playing the hockey we need and we need our guys to all be on the same page. Kevin He had his first point in four games, Ethan Czata his first point in four games and Andrei Loshko hasn’t scored in four games.
“We’re looking for our top guys and, at the same time, we need our support players.”
The IceDogs continue to be without veteran forwards Alex Assadourian and Mathieu Paris, who are injured, and Mike Levin, who is with Team Isreal at the IIHF Hockey U20 World Championships.
Boudreau said there is work to be done before Friday when the team heads to Erie.
“I think every game has got to be a learning lesson,” he said. “This is 44 games into the season now. All of our first-year or second-year guys, all of the guys are still relatively young and coming together, so these are invaluable experiences that we have to go through unfortunately, whether we like them or not, and even though we got kind of whupped tonight, we’ve got to find a way to take something from them.”
Patrick Thomas had a memorable night for the winners with a goal and five points while Nick Lardis, Jake O’Brien, Cole Brown, Lucas Moore and Owen Protz added singles.
Ryerson Leenders made 36 saves for the win.
Owen Flores faced 31 shots in net for Niagara.
Jack Brauti and Ethan Czata scored for the IceDogs in the third period.
The IceDogs are back home to host the Otters Sunday at 2 p.m.
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