Frontenacs plagued by turnovers in loss to Bulldogs

Two of the giveaways led to goals; son of former NHLer made his debut with Frontenacs.

The long weekend couldn't have ended sooner for the Kingston Frontenacs.

They finished a stretch of three games where they played the top teams in the OHL. On Family Day Monday, Kingston hosted the Brantford Bulldogs for the second time in eight days.

The visitors took advantage of a pair of costly turnovers and beat the Frontenacs 3-2 at Slush Puppie Place.

Trailing 1-0 and shorthanded in the first period, Cooper Dennis intercepted Kieren Dervin's pass at the blue line and went in all alone sliding a backhander past Gavin Betts (37 saves) to tie it up at 1-1.

In the second period, the Frontenacs couldn't clear their zone after winning the face off. Jett Luchanko picked off Alex McLean's clearing attempt, found Jake O'Brien who later got it to Marek Vanacker who scored to give Brantford a 2-1 lead.

Head coach Troy Mann says those giveaways were the difference in the game.

Both Frontenacs goals came on the power play. The first by Maleek McGowan early in the first period to open the scoring.

Then trailing 2-1 in the second period, Matthew Frost took a backhand feed from Landon Wright and put it in past Ryerson Leenders (24 saves) to tie the game up at 2-2. For Frost, it was his 7th goal on the season and first on the power play. 

He says the Fronts have been playing well against the better teams in the league.

Caleb Malhotra gave the Bulldogs the lead for good with his 26th of the season 94 seconds into the third period.

The loss spoiled the OHL debut of Frontenacs forward Landon Marleau. He was called up from the Wellington Dukes of the OJHL to fill in for the suspended Aleks Kulemin.

Marleau, the 19-year-old son of former Shark and Maple Leaf Patrick Marleau, had 2 shots on goal and says it was bit overwhelming making the leap from Tier-2 Junior A.

Marleau played on a line with Frost and Adam Kelly. Frost say he handled his first game pretty well considering it was against one of the best in the Eastern Conference.

Mann says Marleau made an impression in practice and had confidence to put him in the line up.

The loss by the Frontenacs was their fourth in a row but are still holding the 7th seed in the East. They are six points back of the 6th place Niagara Ice Dogs, nine behind the North Bay Battalion for fifth.

The Frontenacs will host the Battalion in their next game this coming Friday at Slush Puppie Place. If you can't be there, be sure to catch the action on Upper Canada Fuel and Burner Frontenacs Hockey on Kingston's New Country 98.9 with Jim Gilchrist on the call just after 7 pm.

Story by Ken Hashizume