NEWS RELEASE
BRADFORD RATTLERS
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The Bradford Rattlers held their home game opener this past Sunday, Sept. 25, against the West Nipissing Lynx.
With the Rattlers coming off a strong finish of second overall in the 2021-2022 season to the Lynx’s seventh-place finish, they were looking for a dominating and strong start to the season in front of a full house of fans.
At the game the Bradford Rattlers held the official puck drop featuring Run4Bradford and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association of Canada, who earlier in the day had their charity run. The Bradford Rattlers donated tickets to all event participants.
The first period was a strong battle by both teams with puck control evenly in both ends of the ice. The Rattlers would dominate the period with 14 shots to nine and end the period with a stellar goal by Churchill local Julian McCarthy (No. 5), assisted by Sweden’s Arvid Malm (No. 19) and Czech Republic’s Daniel Suda (No. 24).
The Rattlers continued to control the first half of the second period with an early goal by Ontario local Hunter Godmere (No. 20) four minutes into the second period, assisted by Dawson Leduc (No. 18) and Oliver Balazs (No. 1). They would expand their lead to 3-0 lead with a goal by Kanata local William-Daniel Burns (No. 22), seeing assists from Swen Meusy (No. 12) and Pavel Rozhkov (No. 27).
However, the lead would take a turn with the Rattlers receiving a slashing penalty, leading to West Nipissing scoring their first power-play goal by Liam Thor (No. 72), assisted by Joshua Boucher (No. 67) at 13:30 in the period. While the teams continued to battle, the Lynx would drain another into the back of the net at 16:57 for the final goal of the second period.
The Rattlers maintained control going into the third period with 23 shots to the Lynx’s 10. However, a bad bouncing puck squeezed past the Budapest, Hungary goalie (No. 18), Oliver Balazs, at the 13:32 mark to tie up the game.
In overtime the Lynx squeezed in a tight goal at 4:26 to win the game.
Be sure to come out this weekend on Sunday, Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. at the BWG Leisure Centre (blue ice) as the Bradford Rattlers take on the Ville-Marie Pirates. The Rattlers also encourage all attendees to make a sign for a chance to win a prize at the night's game.
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