Brantford Bulldogs lost their first preseason game in front of their home crowd as the Niagara IceDogs skated to a 5-2 victory on Friday, September 6, 2024.
Both teams played carefully early in the first period, with Niagara’s Charlie Robertson and Brantford’s David Egorov standing tall between the pipes. The Bulldogs scored first at the 9:07 mark, courtesy of a laser shot from Zakary Lavoie at the left circle that got past the upper right side of Robertson.
Niagara struck back less than two minutes later. Late on their power play, Andrei Loshko shot the puck from the left circle that got past the left shoulder side of Egorov.
Later in the period, the Bulldogs applied pressure while on the power play. Cole Brown and Jake O’Brien generated the home side’s best scoring chance on the man advantage, but Robertson stood tall and kept the game tied.
In the second period, the Bulldogs continued to apply pressure. The most notable opportunity early on came from Ben Bujold wrapping around an IceDogs defender, with Robertson making an excellent save.
Shortly after, Nick Lardis received the puck from close range and rifled it, only to be stopped by Robertson. Niagara took the lead at the 7:10 mark. Jack Brauti skated the puck, and his shot from close range just got past Egorov.
The Bulldogs netminder did his best to salvage the deficit by making his finest save of the evening at the 11:49 mark. Niagara’s Braidy Wassilyn intercepted the puck deep in the Bulldogs’ attack zone, leading to a breakaway, but Egorov made an excellent sprawling save.
With 6:57 remaining in the middle frame, the IceDogs extended their lead as Wassilyn tucked the puck past an unsuspected Egorov.
Niagara added cushion to their lead with 3:07 left in the period. Wassilyn gave the Bulldogs fits again with a quick pass to Brauti, whose shot from the right faceoff circle in the Bulldogs’ end got past Egorov for his second goal of the contest.
The score remained 4-1 for the IceDogs until 7:36 left when the Bulldogs pulled one closer after O’Brien passed the puck from the right side of the attacking zone to Patrick Thomas, who made no mistake as his one-timer from the slot got past the IceDogs netminder to make it 4-2.
Egorov was pulled for an extra attacker with over two minutes left, allowing the Bulldogs to make a comeback effort. But the IceDogs closed the game with a solid defensive stand, and Kevin He put the game out of reach with an empty netter at 19:52.
David Egorov had a good outing in the crease with 33 saves on 37 shots in the losing effort.
