Bulldogs up and running after 19-goal thriller with Sting
GOALS GALORE: Bradford Bulldogs and Sutton Sting shared 19 goals between themselves at The Pound on Saturday.
BRADFORD BULLDOGS got their season up and running, claiming their first point of the 2025-26 NIHL North Two campaign after a barnstorming 19-goal thriller at The Pound against title hopefuls Sutton Sting.
Three weeks earlier, the Bulldogs had been on the wrong end of a 15-3 scoreline at Ice Sheffield against the Sting.
But this time they refused to lie down, twice coming from behind - including from 9-6 down in the last 10 minutes - to take an end-to-end game into overtime before losing out in a shoot-out.
The Bulldogs are now looking to build on their impressive performance against Sutton when they host Deeside Dragons 2 at The Pound this Sunday (face-off 5.30pm).
Connor Medley led the way with four goals, joined on the scoresheet by a hat-trick from line-mate Josh Stockton plus markers from defencemen Kieron Furlong and Joe Howie.
Echoes of last season’s closing 5-3 win over Sutton in Bradford looked a long way off when the visitors fired themselves 2-0 ahead inside four minutes through Charlie Saunders and Justin Dennison.
But the Bulldogs were level inside 10 minutes, Medley halving the deficit at 7.38 before Stockton equalised just under two minutes later.
Sutton held the edge going into the first break, however, when former Bulldogs’ D-man Joel Bark fired through traffic from just inside the Bulldogs’ zone at 17.40.
A Medley face-off win set up Furlong to make it 3-3 at 25.01 before - two minutes later - the Bulldogs took the lead when Stockton and Medley combined well for the latter to round goalie Jack Hargreaves and tap the puck home.
But Sutton hit back to make it another 3-2 period, Matt Jeffcock levelling on the power play at 28.56 before two Callum Russell goals - the second also coming on the man advantage at 34.52 - giving them a 6-4 lead going into the third.
Stockton beat Hargreaves from the tightest of angles as the Bulldogs hit back on a power play of their own to make it a one-goal game again with just 39 seconds of the third gone.
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Joe Colton responded a minute later to make it 7-5 only for Medley to hit back for the hosts on the power play at 46.04.
Sutton looked to have sealed the deal when they forged 9-6 ahead when Dennison and Colton both bagged their second of the evening within a minute of each other.
But the Bulldogs weren’t done, a trademark Stockton breakaway and finish making it 9-7 at 50.15 before Howie’s long range effort went through everyone and past Hargreaves to make it a one-goal game again just over a minute later.
A major boarding call on Dennison handed the Bulldogs the advantage they needed for the last five minutes of the game, though, the extra man paying off when Furlong fired home to make it 9-9 to take it into overtime.
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Jake Lowndes had to make a couple of stunning saves to keep the Bulldogs in the game in OT but was eventually beaten in the sixth round of the shootout by Russell, the only player to score to ensure the extra point went to Sting.