Junior Review: Bulldogs’ Under-18s, Under-16s and Under-10s round-up

RESPECTS: Bulldogs’ Under-18s stood side by side with their Nottingham counterparts for two minutes silence in honour of Nottingham Panthers’ Adam Johnson, who tragically died after a mid-ice collision in the previous night’s game at Sheffield Steelers.

TWO home games meant two tough assignments for Bradford Bulldogs’ junior teams hosted Division One rivals at Little Horton Lane last weekend. 

The Under-16s were first up on Saturday when they took on Yorkshire rivals Sheffield and, after a tight first period, it was the visitors who went in ahead 2-1 at the break, going 2-0 ahead through two strikes from Lewis Swaffield, although less than a minute after his second Daragh Spawforth got the hosts on the board (see video clip below) when he buried the puck low to Elliot Russan’s right off a feed from Danny Harrison with 12.21 on the board.

That was how it stayed until the 28th minute when Harry Roebuck doubled the visitors’ lead, the Sheffield captain then doubling his tally and stretching his team’s advantage to three goals at 33.43.

As the Bulldogs chased the game, both Spawforth and Harrison went close to reducing the deficit but the game was put beyond doubt when Swaffield completed his hat-trick with a short-handed strike with just 81 seconds remaining.

Bulldogs Under-18s were in action against Nottingham the following day.

Before the game, a two-minutes’ silence was held in tribute to Nottingham Panthers’ Adam Johnson, who had tragically died following a freak accident in the game against Sheffield Steelers the previous night. 

Nottingham were 2-0 ahead inside three minutes thanks to goals from Luke Birchnall and Ewan Woodward and that is how it stayed until just after the 12 minute mark, when a flurry of four goals in as many minutes - from Max McEwen, Alex Rushby, Woodward and Parson Mehrvand - saw the visitors take full control.

The visitors didn’t ease up in the second period, their lead increasing to 11-0 through further strikes from Tyler Somerton (2), Woodward - his hat-trick goal - Birchnall and Liam Oughton-Shaw.

Brief respite came in the shape of a strike from distance by Spawforth which finally got the Bulldogs on the board at 35.06, only for Nottingham to stretch their lead to 13-1 through a hat-trick strike from Somerton and a second for Oughton-Shaw.

Bulldogs Under-10s headed down to Sutton for a X-ice jamboree against Sheffield, Nottingham and the hosts.

The first game brought a 7-0 loss but the second game against Nottingham produced a marvellous 3-2 win, courtesy of goals from Stevie Abdy, George Clarke and Finley Mardell.

Evan Bulmer was on target for the Bulldogs in the last game against Sutton, one which saw coach Jemma Livingstone’s team edged out 2-1. 

ON THE UP: Bulldogs Under-10s, pictured after their X-Ice tournament at Sutton and, right, Evan Bulmer, who won the team’s Spirit of the Game, trophy.

Evan Bulmer picked up the Bulldogs’ Spirit of the Game award at a tournament which saw the players make plenty of progress once again. 

Manager, Aimee Clarke said: “This jamboree showed other teams that Bradford have a strong team when they work together. 

“The defence is a force to be reckoned with, and the forwards can be difficult to keep up with when they gain control of the puck. 

“We are slowly proving at each jamboree that we will be a threat when playing at competition stages. I am excited to see where this team goes in the coming years.”