Brandon Caputo
(@BCaputo_AGM)
Kenneth Andersen Photography
The Niagara IceDogs travelled to Peterborough’s Memorial Centre for a Sunday afternoon game, looking to win two of three this week while sitting fourth place in the Ontario Hockey League’s Eastern Conference with 31 points through 25 games played; just two wins away from their total for all of last season.
Former IceDogs captain Gavin Bryant would play against his former teammates for the first time since being traded last month, having still been on the shelf when Niagara last played in Peterborough. Bryant came in with three goals through 11 games. Ryan Roobroeck had the shootout winner in the prior matchup for Niagara.
The aforementioned Roobroeck came in leading Niagara in points with 35 in 25 games, tied with captain Kevin He in the team lead in goals with 19.
Owen Flores would get his 15th straight start in the IceDogs net looking to repeat a stellar performance here in a win last month (.92 GAA, .974 S%) while Darcy Dewachter would be in as the seventh defenseman for this matchup, with Nick Frasca, Rafek Dianov and Charlie Hotles being scratched. Alex Assadourian and Mathieu Paris still recovering from injury.
Ethan Czata had the IceDogs lone regulation goal the last time these two teams played.
GAME RECAP
The IceDogs would go to the powerplay with 8:41 to play in the opening period in a scoreless game and rookie Braidy Wassilyn would find Matthew Virgilio at the point who made no mistake on the one-timer blast with traffic that beat Rye to open the scoring. Third goal of the season for the veteran who came over from Soo in the offseason.
Niagara would then strike quickly again as Braidy Wassilyn would pick up the puck off a pad save from Owen Flores and find captain Kevin He streaking down the right wing who fired one over the glove of Rye to give the IceDogs a two-goal advantage on his team leading 20th of the season.
The IceDogs would take penalties on back-to-back shifts from Dewachter and Scott, giving the Petes a two-man advantage, Czata would then shoot a puck from his own zone into the 15th row, extending the Petes two-man advantage.
A point shot would hit off of a body in front with Fitzgerald in the blue and squeak past Flores to get the Petes on the board. Goal credited to Carson Cameron. IceDogs would lead 2-1 after the opening 20 minutes of play thanks to Owen Flores stopping 16 of 17.
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The IceDogs would earn another powerplay opportunity and it was Braidy Wassilyn taking the pass from Matthew Virgilio and taking a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Rye to extend Niagara’s lead with their second powerplay marker of the game and Wassilyn’s third point of the game.
Callum Cheynowski would go down the tunnel after being knocked down in the neutral zone and then taking a puck up high, with the IceDogs being without one of their defenseman for the remainder of the contest, luckily having dressed a seventh defenseman in Darcy Dewachter who was able to fill in for his wounded teammate.
The IceDogs would be assessed a late penalty to Jack Brauti, which led to former Niagara captain Gavin Bryant splitting through the defence and going in forehand on Flores to get Peterborough within a goal, in his first game against his former team. Recently acquired forward Blake Arrowsmith would also be ruled out for the remainder of the contest, due to an injury in the first half of the contest.
Peterborough would then score just a short minute later as Page would take the pass in the blue paint, not being tied up well in front, allowing him to shovel it into the net and evening up the game late in the middle period.
In the final period, the Petes would get a mid-period powerplay that would be short lived after Ethan Czata drew a high stick and Niagara would kill a bit of the clock to make sure their man advantage would last longer than the four on four. Neither team could capitalize.
In 3on3 overtime it was a big cross crease save by Owen Flores to keep it going but just a few seconds later the puck would come to the right circle where Gavin Bryant made no mistake to cap off the victory against his former mates, with Niagara earning a point and splitting the weekend with three of a possible six points.
POSTGAME COMMENTS
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Niagara IceDogs head coach Ben Boudreau spoke postgame about his team not being able to seize the moment and close out the game after jumping out to a 3-1 lead against a young inexperienced Petes team.
“It's pretty easy to identify, you’re in cruise control and I thought we took an undisciplined penalty followed by two penalties on the same play and gave them an opportunity with momentum,” Boudreau said.
“They went back-to-back goals, they seized all the momentum and when you get a desperate hockey team that's only won twice all season, they can sniff their third win, they're just going to play really hard.”
“We battled all the way to the end, but they found a way to get the icebreaker so, at the end of the day, you're in cruise control, take an undisciplined penalty, gave an opportunity to the other team to get back in and they took advantage. Our discipline cost us eight minors tonight. “
Boudreau spoke about having to jumble the lines together after Blake Arrowsmith left the contest, leaving them with 10 healthy forwards after only dressing 11 to begin the game but believed his team did a solid job despite being undermanned, just going back to discipline as the concern.
“I don't even think it's a thing about running them into the ground,” Boudreau said. “They're well-conditioned guys and they had gas, I wouldn't say that we were tired. I thought we executed on the powerplay, we had opportunities, we missed the net on a few of them. I was proud about the way we played, battled and competed.”
Boudreau confirmed that both Blake Arrowsmith and Callum Cheynowski were only day-to-day and should both be fine for the team's next contest at home on Friday night.
“Our discipline was huge,” Boudreau made a point to speak of again. “They scored all three goals, two within three seconds of each penalty kill. If you're disciplined, you don't give them those opportunities and that was the end of the day. So that's pretty easy to pinpoint because if you cover that up, I think you got yourself two points instead of one."
Niagara’s bench boss spoke of playing against their former beloved team captain Gavin Bryant for the first time since the well talked about trade last month after needing to make a tough decision on one of their four overage players.
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“We talked about the story of the game is going to be before the match even started,” Boudreau said. “Gavin Bryant playing the former team he used to be a captain for, anytime you do that you're going to be a motivated player.”
“For us, seeing Gavin Bryant live in uniform, he ends up scoring two goals, the overtime winner, puts the team on his back, comes from behind victory. We are used to celebrating with him and now we're watching him do it for another team. So good for him, bad for us; that’s who Gavin is, he’ll do that from time to time.”
Boudreau ended with talking about going forward into next week after being .500 on the weekend, picking up three of a possible six points over their last three contests.
“You try to be positive in every scenario that there is so 3 out of 6 is the positive thing,” Boudreau said. “It’s not about being first in the conference, although it would be nice, or first in the division, although it would be nice; our goal is to make the playoffs, end that drought and to be riding the wave of momentum when we get there.”
"For us right now, I think we've only lost one weekend the entire season and we tied this weekend. That's a .500 hockey team and you know that's the floor for us. Hopefully we’ll welcome some fresh bodies back into the lineup, be motivated and ready to get back after it.”
HOCKEYSTICKMAN PLAYER OF THE GAME
BRAIDY WASSILYN - 1 GOAL, 2 ASSISTS
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