Bulldogs get burnt in home ice opener by Blaze

Action from Sunday's NIHL North Two clash with Coventry Blaze NIHL, who won 7-3

BRADFORD BULLDOGS’ came off second-best in the home opener against NIHL North Two rivals Coventry Blaze NIHL - but showed enough promise in the latter stages of their 7-3 defeat to offer hope for the weeks to come. 

It will be another tough test this weekend when reigning league champions Telford Tigers 2 pay a trip to The Pound, looking to maintain their 100 per cent record after registering three wins out of three already.

The Bulldogs may have been off the pace at times against Coventry, something made clear by them trailing 6-1 after two periods.

But the fact they won the third period 2-1 will give coach Andy Brown and his players some heart ahead of Sunday’s tussle with Telford (face-off 5.30pm).

Player-assistant coach Dave Williams said there were flickers of promise for the Bulldogs, but more work was required in training this week at Bradford Ice Arena.

“The result against Coventry is kind of a reflection of where we’re at at the moment as a team,” said Williams. “We’re still finding our feet, we’re still quite a new group of guys together.

“So we’ve got a lot of work to but, in the third period, we showed a bit more promise with better work-rate and our breakout and we had a few scoring opportunities. 

NOT TO BE: Bradford Bulldogs' team line-up for their first team pic of the season.

“But we can’t just rely on solo efforts, we’ve got to contribute as a team and work the puck through all three zones to create the scoring opportunities we need to. 

“Like last year, Coventry were pretty strong, we’ll probably see them in the top four again. With Sean Alderson as a coach, they are quite a well-drilled team.

“It will be another tough game (against Telford) but, while we may not be at the same level as some of these teams this year - beause of the transition we are going through - we will match these teams in effort and work-rate every game.” 

After a relatively even start, the deadlock was broken when Kyle Nash broke clear down the middle and fired past Jake Lowndes at 4.21. 

Just over six minutes later, it was Nash who doubled the lead this time on the powerplay, but it was in the second period where the Blaze took control, extending their lead to 6-0 by the 37th minute.

Nash completed his hat-trick with another power play strike on 25.36, penalty trouble again costing the hosts cearly when Sam Prosser made use of the man advantage 90 seconds later. 

Ryan James and Ashton Rudkin scored within 33 seconds of each other to effectively kill the game off with just under 37 minutes gone. 

But Bradford then got on the board through the power play themselves when Lucas Vince, stabbed home from close range after good work behind the net by Tom Mardell. 

It was Mardell who cut the deficit further just over six minutes into the third, winning puck on the edge of the Bulldogs’ zone before sprinting down the right boards and beating Joel Bearman down low to make it 6-2. 

Coventry restored their five-goal lead through a second for Rudkin at 50.56 and although they were outshot heavinly for a third period, it was the hosts who had the final say, Mardell picking the puck up in the neutral zone from Vince before unleashing a quick shot which again beat Bearman down low before he could set himself.