Behind a Pair of Shorthanded Goals and an Offensive Explosion, Dawgs Clinch Semifinal Spot with 6-0 Win over Bulls
SPHL Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs

Behind a Pair of Shorthanded Goals and an Offensive Explosion, Dawgs Clinch Semifinal Spot with 6-0 Win over Bulls

Published on April 11, 2026 under SPHL (SPHL)
Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs News Release


Roanoke, Va. - The Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs (2-0) are officially moving on after completing a two-game sweep of the Birmingham Bulls (0-2) with a 6-0 victory on Saturday night at Berglund Center.

Behind five different goal scorers, a pair of goals from Gustav Müller and not one, but two shorthanded tallies, the Dawgs became the first team to punch their ticket to the SPHL President's Cup Playoffs semifinal round.

Coming off the heels of a 7-1 rout over Birmingham in Game 1 of the series, the Dawgs erupted for six more goals on Saturday, outscoring the Bulls 13-1 in the two-game set while outshooting them 65-35.

Roanoke came out firing, recording the game's first eight shots and outshooting Birmingham 13-3 in the opening period.

The game's first goal belonged to Müller, who finished a tic-tac-toe sequence from Bryce Martin and Joe Widmar.

The Dawgs carried a 1-0 lead into the first intermission before making history in the second period.

During the 58-game regular season, Roanoke recorded just two shorthanded goals, one of which came from Sebastian Smith in Peoria last Friday. The Dawgs matched and surpassed that total in the second period alone on Saturday night.

Roanoke's third shorthanded goal of the season came at the 9:10 mark of the second period when Dominiks Marcinkevics knocked a puck past Taylor Joseph. Just over eight minutes later, Noah Finstrom redirected a feed from David Novotny to make it 3-0, giving the Dawgs two shorthanded goals in the span.

Roanoke led 3-0 entering the final period and continued to control play in the third.

Goals from David Novotny, Müller and Smith capped off the 6-0 victory, with the Dawgs finishing the night with a 37-17 advantage in shots.

On the defensive side, Austyn Roudebush recorded his SPHL all-time best 15th postseason win and earned his first playoff shutout since April 15, 2023, when he blanked the Evansville Thunderbolts.

On special teams, the Dawgs killed off all six Birmingham power plays while adding the two shorthanded goals.

Roanoke advances to the semifinal round for the first time since the 2024 season and will look to carry the same complementary team play that fueled its first-round sweep.

The Dawgs have clinched a spot in the 2026 SPHL President's Cup Playoffs! Single game tickets and parking passes for round two will go on sale soon. The dates, times and opponent of Roanoke's second round opponent will be announced soon. Round Two will be a best of five games series where the winner will advance to the finals. Roanoke's 2026 postseason is sponsored by Haley Toyota.

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