Brantford Bulldogs 2024 - 25 Season Thread, Part I

[coolhandluc44]

Solid outing and hope they can hold on with 4 mins left, but they're being way to cute getting the puck out of their own end while up 2 in the third period.

Just turnover after turnover at the blueline.

I didnt watch Wednesdays game but tonight’s strategy seemed to be slow the breakout. Like you said still way too many bad breakouts.

Really like the energy Crombie is bringing

 

[Hamilton Bulldogs]

First period was pretty ugly defensive wise.

Like @coolhandluc44 said, really like Crombies game so far this year.

Parker Holmes fight was a surprising one, didn't know he could throw like that.

 

[Rounder8]

First period was pretty ugly defensive wise.

Like @coolhandluc44 said, really like Crombies game so far this year.

Parker Holmes fight was a surprising one, didn't know he could throw like that.

He fought in the preseason and did well.

Crombie appears to be a great fit with Thomas and Lardis. That will make there forward lines deeper.

Kind of like when Humphrey fit with Morrison and Hayes.

 

[Jawk]

Roberts about to go on a heater. Happy to see him get his 1st ever, even if it was an empty net.

 

[Jawk]

Leenders starting to look comfortable and in the groove in Brantford. Dogs are going to win more than a few games they have no business being in.

 

[Rounder8]

Roberts about to go on a heater. Happy to see him get his 1st ever, even if it was an empty net.

lol, not sure about a heater, but he had a strong game today. He has become a better Dman since he simplified his game. Just needs to avoid dumb penalties.

Leenders stole one today. Very nice 4 out of 4 pts on the weekend.

 

[coolhandluc44]

lol, not sure about a heater, but he had a strong game today. He has become a better Dman since he simplified his game. Just needs to avoid dumb penalties.

Leenders stole one today. Very nice 4 out of 4 pts on the weekend.

Plus the win on Wednesday. Good rebound after a bad weekend last week

 

[Rounder8]

When they get healthy this team could look a lot deeper. Still too thin on D.

Lardis-Thomas-Crombie

Vanacker-O'Brien-Lavoie

Testa-Bujold-Brown

O'Donnell-Avery-Rossetto

Protz-Jiricek

Moore-Roberts

Radley-Krmpotic

 

[Jawk]

Weird it took so long to announce the expected. They must have thought there was a chance Xhekaj could have been back?

https://x.com/i/web/status/1847281270125932747

 

[Rounder8]

Weird it took so long to announce the expected. They must have thought there was a chance Xhekaj could have been back?

https://x.com/i/web/status/1847281270125932747

No surprise, but definitely weird that it took so long.

Still nothing on Bujold...

 

[Babs716]

Jiricek apparently in Brantford and may be playing tomorrow…

 

[Hamilton Bulldogs]

You can talk about who isn't in but they've looked awful against a handful of teams that aren't even close to going for it.

Disappointing effort so far.

 

[Rounder8]

You can talk about who isn't in but they've looked awful against a handful of teams that aren't even close to going for it.

Disappointing effort so far.

They aren't going anywhere until they fix their D. Noah Roberts has REALLY surprised me. Lucas Moore has done the opposite. Chen is not an OHL defenceman.

Vanacker will be either their best or second best player once he gets going. That is a HUGE loss.

Jiricek is a 1st round draft pick. Another really important player.

You take a top line player and top pair dman off of any team and it will affect them greatly.

One the plus side Egorov is slowly making a believer out of me. They have a very solid tandem.

 

[Jawk]

Complete lack of attention to detail at the end. They do a killer job of the the PK. Then they get back to ES, but the bench forgets it's 4 on 4 because of the the OT PP.

Protz has to jump back on to have 4 guys, after killing all of the penalty, gets beat around the edge for the goal because he's sucking dirty pond water.

100% on the bench.

They aren't going anywhere until they fix their D. Noah Roberts has REALLY surprised me. Lucas Moore has done the opposite. Chen is not an OHL defenceman.

Vanacker will be either their best or second best player once he gets going. That is a HUGE loss.

Jiricek is a 1st round draft pick. Another really important player.

You take a top line player and top pair dman off of any team and it will affect them greatly.

One the plus side Egorov is slowly making a believer out of me. They have a very solid tandem.

Of all the guys on D that are playing too much, Roberts has been Awesome.

I'm with you, what has happened to Moore?

 

[Hamilton Bulldogs]

They aren't going anywhere until they fix their D. Noah Roberts has REALLY surprised me. Lucas Moore has done the opposite. Chen is not an OHL defenceman.

Vanacker will be either their best or second best player once he gets going. That is a HUGE loss.

Jiricek is a 1st round draft pick. Another really important player.

You take a top line player and top pair dman off of any team and it will affect them greatly.

One the plus side Egorov is slowly making a believer out of me. They have a very solid tandem.

I don't think they'll be losing to crap teams when they get those players back but you can't say adding them will make them better than the Steelheads, Knights or Gens. Which was what the plan was when they sold off the past two years.

Bulldogs champ teams in the past started the season off meh and had their bad moments before they got in new players but this team is getting out classed. They can't do the basics like get the pucks out, they lose every battle and their pretty undisplined. There's also not a ton going to be available at the deadline so the core of this group is what we have.

I think it's on the coaching / management as it stands. Plenty of these issues were very prevalent in the playoffs and they haven't been addressed at all and all the other contenders are getting much more active in the trade market.

If they can add X and Hamura they have a chance at winning but as it stands I don't see it unless there's some big trades.

 

[Rounder8]

I don't think they'll be losing to crap teams when they get those players back but you can't say adding them will make them better than the Steelheads, Knights or Gens. Which was what the plan was when they sold off the past two years.

Bulldogs champ teams in the past started the season off meh and had their bad moments before they got in new players but this team is getting out classed. They can't do the basics like get the pucks out, they lose every battle and their pretty undisplined. There's also not a ton going to be available at the deadline so the core of this group is what we have.

I think it's on the coaching / management as it stands. Plenty of these issues were very prevalent in the playoffs and they haven't been addressed at all and all the other contenders are getting much more active in the trade market.

If they can add X and Hamura they have a chance at winning but as it stands I don't see it unless there's some big trades.

Of course there will have to be big trades if they expect to win.

They added Riley Stillman and Robert Thomas before their first championship and Arber Xhekaj and Mason MacTavish before winning their second.

IF they are going to win they will need to add significant pieces. That's a given.

It will be up to management to decide if they have a legit chance this year as the deadline nears.

 

[Rounder8]

Complete lack of attention to detail at the end. They do a killer job of the the PK. Then they get back to ES, but the bench forgets it's 4 on 4 because of the the OT PP.

Protz has to jump back on to have 4 guys, after killing all of the penalty, gets beat around the edge for the goal because he's sucking dirty pond water.

100% on the bench.


Of all the guys on D that are playing too much, Roberts has been Awesome.

I'm with you, what has happened to Moore?

It might be a case of Roberts has simplified his game and it is working and Moore is trying to do too much and it isn't working.

Honestly I would be inclined to keep Roberts with Protz right now. Maybe Jiricek with Moore would let him simplify his game.

I guess we will see what type of game Jiricek has before seeing where/how he fits.

 

[Jawk]

It might be a case of Roberts has simplified his game and it is working and Moore is trying to do too much and it isn't working.

Honestly I would be inclined to keep Roberts with Protz right now. Maybe Jiricek with Moore would let him simplify his game.

I guess we will see what type of game Jiricek has before seeing where/how he fits.

100% Moore is just trying to do too much. Once he slots in where he should, I think we start to see the player that we recognize.

I actually thought the D played pretty good, given their limitations, last night. They are what they are, for now.

Jiricek is definitely with the team now. Don't think he plays tonight, team likely makes the announcement early this week.

At some point they'll add another high end D, probably after Christmas. Also expect them to add an older D, maybe 2, they can trust before then.

Is there a guy that loves his teammates more than Roberts. He absolutely lit up when Krmpotic fought and was up and excited when Long wanted to go.

 

[Rounder8]

I was also expecting a lot more out of Lavoie this year. They just haven't been able to find a fit for him.

He's a gifted goal scorer, but doesn't really create his own chances. I think we will see more out of him later this year when Vanacker is back because it takes attention away from him and frees up space for him to do what he does best.