The Brantford Bulldogs punched their ticket to the Eastern Conference Semifinals on Saturday night, defeating the North Bay Battalion 5–1 in Game 5 at the Brantford Civic Centre to take the series 4–1.
Nick Lardis led the charge with a hat trick, opening the scoring on a power play just over two minutes into the game and adding two more in the second period.
His third of the night—his seventh of the playoffs—came on a blistering shot over the glove of North Bay goaltender Mike McIvor at 11:28 of the middle frame.
Cole Brown and Calvin Crombie also found the back of the net for Brantford, while Ryerson Leenders turned aside 23 of 24 shots in a solid performance between the pipes.
Lirim Amidovski scored North Bay’s only goal, but the Bulldogs’ quick responses and defensive structure shut the door on any comeback.
With the series win—their first since relocating to Brantford—the Bulldogs now await the winner of the Oshawa Generals vs. Brampton Steelheads quarterfinal series.
Oshawa leads that matchup 3–2, with Game 6 set for Sunday at 2 p.m. in Brampton.
