Bulldogs Under-14s get season up and running with road win at Whitley Bay
FRANK O’SULLIVAN bagged a brace as Bradford Bulldogs’ Under-14s got the club’s competitive season off to a winning start at Whitley Bay.
With Bulldogs’ Seniors not in action until Satuday, September 17 - when they travel to Coventry Blaze for their NIHL North Two (Laidler) opener - it was the juniors who kick-started the club’s 2022-23 campaign.
Other juniors’ games were scheduled for the weekend but, for various reasons, were not able to be played, meaning it fell to head coach Andy Brown’s 14s to get the puck rolling on Sunday afternoon, with Under-14 debuts for Maksims Gailliss, Thomas Lee and Thomas Taylor, with back-up netminder Jack Atkin also on the bench for the first time.
And the visitors got off to the perfect start, captain Danny Harrison putting his team ahead from a tight angle close in with just 3.26 on the clock.
But the hosts were soon level when Ben Wood rifled a left-handed effort past Jacob Mardell from the top of the right circle.
Less than a minute into the second period, Whitley got their noses in front through Oliver Jardine, but a piledriver from O’Sullivan after he weaved his way through the hosts defence brought the Bulldogs level at 18.03.
Just over six minutes later Bradford regained the lead when Kieran Smith tipped in from in front off Harrison, the lead then doubled when O’Sullivan added to his his tally at 28.54.
That was how it stayed until the final minute when, chasing the game, Whitley pulled their goalie, allowing Will Durgan to fire home and empty-netter from just inside the Bulldogs’ zone to secure a 5-2 win, with netminder Jacob Mardell picking up the team's Spirit of the Game award after turning away 15 of the 17 shots on his net, with the tricky conditions making for poor visibility at both ends of the ice.