January 21, 2023 – Ontario Hockey League (OHL) – Hamilton Bulldogs News Release
SAULT STE. MARIE, ONTARIO. Ending, by distance, the longest road trip of the season on
Saturday night, the Hamilton Bulldogs entered the GFL Memorial Gardens in Sault Ste. Marie
looking to take a 4th win in 5 games from the trip and carry their momentum to the long ride back
home.
Entering the game having stopped 120 of the last 129 shots he’d faced, Matteo Drobac stepped
back between the pipes for a back-to-back start and immediately stood up to the test. Early in
the opening frame, the Greyhounds, off an offensive zone steal, worked in on a short distance
3-on-1 ending with Bryce McConnell Barker who was robbed by Drobac splitting across his
crease. The Bulldogs netminder continued his opening frame mastery, denying Connor
Clattenburg on a 2-on-1 allowing the Bulldogs the opportunity to get their offense running. The
time given by their goaltender paid off at 14:36 as Cedricson Okitundu’s point shot hit the end
boards where Marek Vanacker battled it back to the front of Samuel Ivanov’s goal, pushing the
puck to Cole Brown for a backhand chip past Ivanov, recording his 9th of the season and giving
the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead, the visitors held to the first intermission.
The game tempo dialed way up in the middle frame, at 3:42, Brenden Sirizzotti rifled a shot from
the left circle for his 13th of the season to tie the game 1-1. Just over a minute later, at 4:56,
Adrian Rebelo sprang Florian Xhekaj on a 2-on-1 with Ben Bujold where Xhekaj tossed the puck
right, deflecting off the stick of a diving Jordan D’Intino with Bujold collecting the oscillating puck
and slamming it past Ivanov for his 3rd goal of the season and 1st as a Bulldog putting Hamilton
up 2-1. After Matteo Drobac made another massive stop, a split save on a Kalvyn Watson
where Drobac anchored himself along the goal line to keep the puck out, the Bulldogs extended
the lead. At 16:16, Sahil Panwar, from the right corner, and Patrick Thomas, behind the
Greyhounds goal, played a bit of catch, allowing Nick Lardis to free up in the slot where Panwar
found the Dogs’ sniper to snap home his 19th of the season and put the Bulldogs ahead 3-1.
With the game 4-on-4 after Jorian Donovan showed his pugilistic prowess against Connor
Clattenburg, the Greyhounds got on the comeback trail. Just 45-seconds apart, Bryce
McConnell-Barker recorded his 24th of the year at 18:04 followed by Brenden Sirizzotti
converting a 2-on-1 at 18:49 to knot the game 3-3, where the score line stood through 40
minutes.
While the Bulldogs found themselves with an opportunity on the power-play to re-take the lead
just after the midway point of the third period, it was the Greyhounds taking advantage as
Jordan D’Intino whipped the puck to the front of the Hamilton net where Alex Kostov tapped the
puck in for the shorthanded goal at 12:01 putting the hosts up 4-3. As time ticked away, Ben
Bujold stole a pass through neutral ice, breaking 2-on-1 with Cole Brown. With Bujold setting
Brown perfectly down the slot, Brown turned to his backhand, tucking the puck around Ivanov to
tie the game 4-4 at 17:52, on Brown’s 10th of the season and 2nd of the night. After 60-minutes
solved nothing the game went to overtime. After the Bulldogs killed off penalties to open and
close overtime, Cole Brown and Nick Lardis each converted in the shootout while Matteo
Drobac stopped Brenden Sirizotti and Kalvyn Watson back-to-back to earn the Bulldogs 4th win
out of 5 on the road trip with a 5-4 final over the Greyhounds.
The Hamilton Bulldogs return home to host the Flint Firebirds for the first time since the 2019-20
season on Thursday, January 26th at FirstOntario Centre with a 7:00pm puck drop.
For more information on Hamilton Bulldogs 2022-23 Flex packages or single game tickets call
905-529-8500 or visit hamiltonbulldogs.com.
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