Rattlers Bite Knights on Military Appreciation Nights

It’s common knowledge you don’t fool with a rattlesnake. The Bradford Rattlers slithered into the cozy confines of the Meaford & St. Vincent Community Centre on Military Appreciation Night on Thursday and showed why they are the defending Russell Cup champions.

Meaford came out the first period only down 2-1 despite the fact they gave up to many odd man rushes. That may have been due to a layoff of a week between games. Bradford’s Dino Gombar opened the scoring at 13:54 and Cameron Andersen added made it 2-0 at 1:20 of the first. The Knight’s Carl Bergenstjerna got his team on the board with 23 seconds left heading into the dressing room.

The Rattlers scored two more in the third chasing starting netminder Jesse Martel who was replaced by newly acquired Keegan McGraw. Rattlers goalie Dominic Nyffler, who returned to Bradford from a pro tryout didn’t face to many hard shots as a lot of the Knights chances were easily handled.

Meaford launched a mini comeback in the third with two power play goals in the third only 18 seconds apart to narrow the game to 6-3 by Brandan Muir and Bergenstjerna. Bradford’s Morgan Pagni ended any threat scoring at the 1:34 mark of the third.

The three stars were an Bradford affair with goalie Dominic Nyffler at number 3 stopping 30 of 33 shots, #2 was Dino Gombar with 2 goals and an assist and the #1 star was Dustin Jesseau who also had a 2 goal- 1 assist effort. He was a constant threat on each shift.

The Knights hit the road Saturday night for an 8:00pm date with the Bracebridge Phantoms who sit at 8-8-0-1 after 17 games good for 9th place in the 20 team GMHL.

Next home action for Meaford is Thursday, November 14 when they host the Orangeville Americans at 7:30pm.