IceDogs Win Joust with Knights, 3-2
February 4, 2016 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Niagara IceDogs News Release
The Niagara IceDogs defeated the London Knights Thursday night by a score of 3-2, in a hard fought contest.
The IceDogs got off to a strong start against the league's top ranked offence on Thursday evening, limiting their chances early, and getting strong chances of their own. The IceDogs would run into some late penalty trouble in the period's final quarter and find themselves trying to fend off back to back 5 on 3's. The Knights top ranked power play was able to capitalize as they scored two late goals to take the 2-0 lead heading into the second period. The shots on goal favoured the Knights by a tally of only 10-9, despite being on the power play for a large portion of the frame.
The second period showed that the Dogs' would not back down from a fight. They killed off an early Knight's power play before eventually getting another power play opportunity of their own. Johnny Corneil tipped in a beautiful feed from Ho-Sang to bring the Dogs' back within one goal. Just over a minute later, Vince Dunn would tie things up, unleashing a bullet of a slapshot that beat Knight's goaltender Tyler Parsons on the glove side. The IceDogs would kill off another power play for the Knight's, just after their tying goal, to keep things knotted up with the momentum on their side. The Dogs' generated a few high quality scoring chances in the final minutes of the period, coming within inches of taking the lead. The evidence was on the shot clock, as they outshot the Knights in the frame, 14-6.
The IceDogs came out stronger than ever in the third, pushing to take the lead. They outnumbered the Knights in chances throughout the whole period and it would finally pay off with just under six minutes left in the frame. The Captain, Anthony DiFruscia banged home a rebound off of a great chance by Jordan Maletta to give the Dogs their first lead of the game. The final quarter of the period had some of the most heart racing moments of the year. The Dogs had to kill off a 6 on 3 in the games' final moments in order to secure the win. The crowd had a scary moment with ten seconds left as the Knights thought they had tied things up, but the play was ruled no goal due to a high stick deflection. The IceDogs battled furiously in the games' final moments, showing heart and determination by blocking numerous shots and staying strong defensively. The IceDogs' efforts showed as they outshot the Knights 11-2 in the final frame, while holding their top ranked offence to only 8 shots in the games' final forty minutes.
Johnny Corneil, Josh Ho-Sang and Anthony DiFruscia were the games' standouts as they were each awarded one of the contests three stars, combining for four points between the trio.
The IceDogs will travel to Kitchener to take on the Rangers tomorrow night, in a game that can be viewed at 7:30 PM on Sportsnet. The Dogs will then return home Saturday to face off against the North Bay Battalion at 7:00 PM. Tickets are still available in limited quantity, and can be purchased at all IceDogs ticketing locations.
Ontario Hockey League Stories from February 4, 2016
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