Josh Stockton breaking more records as Bulldogs close out regular season at home against champions Telford Tigers 2

MAGIC MOMENT: Josh Stockton (centre) celebrates his record-breaking goal in the 37th-minute against Telford Tigers with team-mates Connor Medley and Declan Kime. Picture courtesy of Alien Aerial Photography.

BRADFORD BULLDOGS finished off their home schedule for the 2023-24 NIHL North Two regular season with a loss - but head coach Andy Brown saw plenty of positives as his players gave recently-crowned champions Telford Tigers a run for their money. 

And it proved another memorable day for forward Josh Stockton, his second goal of the game saw him become the club’s leading goalscorer - adding to his record-breaking feats of top points-scorer and most assists earlier in the season.

Combined with a 3-2 win for Altrincham Aces at home to rock-bottom Nottingham, it meant that the Bulldogs dropped to seventh in the regular season standings ahead of this Saturday’s final game of the season at runners-up Sutton Sting. 

It is likely the game at Ice Sheffield will be a dress rehearsal for the play-off quarter-finals the following weekend.

With Telford arriving at The Pound having lost just once all season it was always likely to prove tough for the Bulldogs and so it proved, the hosts finding themselves 3-0 down inside seven minutes through strikes from Oli Hunt, Charlie Hammerton and Ben Washburn.

But after a timeout was called by coach Brown, the hosts came out stronger and got themselves on the board soon after when Stockton pulled off a trademark deke after breaking free down the middle and guiding the puck past netminder Ryan Lewis. 

Telford got themselves ahead again through a second for Hammerton in the 14th minute but, in a theme which lasted for the remainder of the game, the Bulldogs hit back, Ben Fox reacting quickest to a loose puck in front after Kacper Andrukianiec’s shot had been blocked and firing home to make it 4-2 at 14.32.

The second period saw the Bulldogs match the champions in terms of possession and chances, they fell further behind early on when Hammerton completed his hat-trick but hauled themselves to within two goals again when good work on the boards from Dave Williams and Lucas Vince, saw the latter find Mikey Speare in front, where he back-handed the puck through Lewis at 27.17. 

That man Hammerton struck for a fourth time just 54 seconds later but the Bulldogs were to go in at the second intermission just the one goal down, thanks in part to some more history being made. 

It was only last month in the 6-0 win over Kingston that Stockton went top of the Bulldogs’ all-time points-scoring list - replacing the revered Paul Mahon. 

Having already bagged the assists record earlier in the season, the 34-year-old winger made it a memorable hat-trick in the 37th minute against Telford, the magic moment arriving when Medley had twice been denied close in by Lewis before the puck fell to Stockton to jam it home for goal number 231, making it 6-4 in the process. 

COLLISION COURSE: Bulldogs’ Jacob Brownlie clashes with Telford’s Connor McNaughton on the boards during Sunday’s game at The Pound. Picture courtesy of Alien Aerial Photography.

It got even better for the hosts shortly after when good work behind the net by Williams saw him come out with the puck and find Speare in front, from where he fired past Lewis at 38.12.

Clearly stung by being pushed so close by the Bulldogs, Telford came out stronger in the third, restoring their two-goal advantage inside two minutes through Washburn, although they didn’t make the points entirely safe until the 59th minute when Karol Jets made it 8-5.

“After a terrible start, we took the timeout and started to find our feet for the rest of the first and certainly the second period,” said head coach Andy Brown.

“I felt we matched Telford’s intensity for the most part, but you can see why they are a championship-winning team - they have got a lot of quality.

“But our boys stuck at it and we pushed them all the way and with 20 minutes left it really was anybody’s game.

“They struck early in the third, though, and that made it tough for us to come back from. I thought their last goal was a touch harsh on us because we had recovered well and put in our best performance against them all season.”