Weekend Review - Mixed bag in Hull while 14s lose out in derby duel on home ice
THE weekend ended on a high for Bradford Bulldogs’ juniors - but it proved a tough two days overall for the club as three more teams got their 2022-23 campaigns underway.
It was the Under-16s - with the club’s second game of the day in Hull - who heralded celebrations, winning 8-5 against their Kingston Sharks counterparts.
Earlier in the day, Bulldogs’ Under-18s came off second-best against the Sharks when going down 8-2, their goals coming from Mackenzie Barker and Rhys Edwards, with Daragh Spawforth picking up the Spirit of the Game award in his debut at this age group.
The 16s got off to a flier when captain Daragh Spawforth fired home from 10 yards in between the circles to make it 1-0 before the visitors pressed home their dominance with further first-period strikes from Brett Harper and Frank O’Sullivan.
Mackenzie Barker made it 4-0 in the second before Danny Harrison increased the advantage further from close range as the Bulldogs continued to pile pressure on the the Sharks net.
Will Durgan - on his 16s debut - jinked his way through and around the netminder to tap home, before Cian Shorrock fired in from distance.
At 7-1, the game seemed over. That was until a third-period comeback by the hosts brought them to within two goals.
But their hopes of overhauling the visitors were dashed when Tyler Hall forced the puck home from close range on a breakaway to make the points safe. Charley Farr - another player making their 16s debut - deservedly picked up the ‘Spirit of the Game’ award.
On Saturday, the Under-12s - giving a number of youngsters their first taste of competitive hockey - battled gamely in their first game of the season at Whitley Bay where they went down 8-0. Thomas Andrews picked up the Bulldogs’ Spirit of the Game award.
The only home game for the weekend saw the Under-14s take on Leeds Junior Knights in an eagerly-anticipated local derby.
After a bright start which brought several goalscoring chances, the Bulldogs paid the price for failing to convert and were always chasing the game after Leeds established a 2-0 lead by the seventh minute, both from the stick of the clinical Josh Hartley.
Will Durgan halved the deficit at 10.51 and that was how it stayed until the second period when Evan Bradon restored the two-goal lead at 18.22, Leeds then going 4-1 ahead through Hartley’s hat-trick marker at 23.12.
The Bulldogs rallied quickly, while shorthanded, Durgan again finding a way past the resilient Harrison McCourt just 38 seconds later but they then ran into penalty trouble which enabled the Knights to go in at the second period break 6-2 ahead thanks to power play strikes from Ben Elliott and Jonas Bennett.
The lead was stretched to 7-2 early in the third by a rasper from Bradon inside the left circle and although the hosts gave themselves faint hope with Durgan’s hat-trick strike on the power play at 32.33, they were unable to make any further inroads into the deficit.
Hartley completed a memorable afternoon when adding a shorthanded marker at 34.55 and a fifth in the final minute, sandwiching a 41st-minute effort from defence Sebastian Mifek.