Pitbulls Bring Back Two Points On The Road Following A Home Loss To The Wildcats

By Xanthe Boursier-Gazzard

The Bristol Drive North Pitbulls fell to a 3-1 home defeat on Friday night in a game that saw the visiting Wildcats maintain their early two-goal lead. Despite this, the Pitbulls managed to bring home the two points on Saturday as they took the trip up to Solway, winning in overtime, recovering from an initial two-goal deficit to bring the game past sixty minutes, allowing John Dunbar to score the winning goal.

Bristol Pitbulls vs Swindon Wildcats

The Pitbulls continued to be without Jacob White-Sey as well as Rhys Smetham through illness and both Josh Poole and Bayley Harewood as they received the call-up from their two-way teams. Despite this, the team saw the return of former Pitbull Caly Robertson following his signing announcement during the week, alongside the addition of Cam Hamill back into the lineup following his injury in preseason.

The first period started off slow on the scoreline as the puck was brought end to end with both teams searching for an opportunity to make the finish. Shots came from Tomasz Malasinski and Ryan Wells for the visitors and from Jake Bricknell and Tanner Butler for the home side. It wasn’t until the fifteenth minute that the Wildcats made the finish, as Edgars Bebris received a pass from Chris Jones, launching the puck backdoor past Tommy Nappier, putting them one goal up at the end of the first.

Swindon were quick to double their lead in the second, scoring in just thirty seconds as Aaron Nell sniped a shot past the shoulder of Nappier, giving them a two-goal advantage. An opportunity came from Cam Hamill minutes later as he received a pass from Owen Smetham; however, it was deflected off the posts, leaving the scoreline untouched. Nappier was called for tripping soon after as the Wildcats came in with a shot, leaving Bricknell to sit the penalty; however, the Pitbulls were able to run the clock down and kill the two minutes, leaving it at 2-0 heading into the final twenty minutes.  

Bricknell was able to get the home team on the board within the first minute of the final period, taking the puck from Dunbar and cutting a shot past Renny Marr to lower the deficit to one. A few close calls followed for the Pitbulls, as pressure built up in the offensive zone with shots from Hamill, Bryceland, and Bricknell before Josh Shaw could make the clearance. These chances weren’t enough to delay the Wildcats, with them restoring their two-goal lead from the stick of Logan Vande Meerakker, leaving the score at 3-1 as the game came to an end.

Solway Sharks vs Bristol Pitbulls

As the team made the trip up to Scotland on Saturday for their second fixture of the weekend, both Josh Batch and Tommy Nappier were out due to illness, making some changes to the lineup, with head coach Ales Padalek lacing up the skates for the evening as well as Joe Nolan getting the call up from MK Thunder, as Harry Thomas got the start in net. 

Back-to-back penalties were called throughout the first period, leaving the Sharks with the man advantage in the opening minutes of the game. The home side were able to kill their first penalty called on Jordan Marr, served by Bailey Thomson; however, the Pitbulls received a call for holding and tripping within a minute of each other, putting the Sharks on a five-on-three advantage. Off the back of these penalties, Dylan Stewart was able to take his chance on the power play to give the home side the opening goal, which was swiftly chased by Bobby Ragan taking the rebound from Mason Lipsey to equalise. Despite this, the Sharks quickly restored their lead with two subsequent goals, the first coming from Kell Beattie on the power play following a cross-checking call on Tanner Butler and the second coming off the stick of Lewis Young. 

The Pitbulls were able to catch up in the second period, however, as Owen Smetham got a breakaway chance, pushing the puck through the pads of Marr, followed by Caly Robertson, who got his first goal back in Pitbulls colours since the 22/23 season, levelling the scoreline. 

Jake Bricknell brought the visitors the lead for the first time that evening in the final period, taking a clean pass off Smetham to fire the puck past the crowd in front of the net. As the clock went down, both teams called for a timeout in the last two minutes of regulation time, which saw Marr head to the bench. The Sharks were successful following their timeout, as Jordan Buesa took a redirected puck and fired it into the back of the netting, taking the game to overtime.

Overtime was quickly underway, and it wasn’t long before Bricknell could bring the puck down the ice, making the pass to Dunbar, who flicked the puck past the shoulder of Marr to get the winning goal to bring home the two points.