Smith-Pelly Hat Trick Buries the IceDogs

January 23, 2011 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Mississauga St. Michael's Majors News Release


St. Catharines, ON The Mississauga St. Michael s Majors visited the Gatorade Garden City Complex today to take on the Niagara IceDogs in the back half of a home and home series. On Friday night, the Majors fell 5-3 to the IceDogs at the Hershey Centre. The Majors got their revenge today with a 6-3 victory, thanks to a Devante Smith-Pelly hat trick and a strong goaltending performance by Taylor Edwards in his first OHL appearance.

The game did not start well for Mississauga as Niagara jumped out to an early lead. Majors starting goaltender Mickael Audette had a rough day as he lasted just 1:03. The IceDogs put pressure on Audette right away with three shots early. Andrew Agozzino scored his 29th of the season just 0:42 into the game to make it 1-0. Agozzino s goal was unassisted. Seconds later, Agozzino would get his second point of the day as he assisted on Alex Friesen s 22nd of the season at 1:03. Friesen s goal made it 2-0 IceDogs and chased Audette to the showers early. Edwards replaced Audette, making his first OHL appearance, and initially, it didn t look like he would fair any better. Maxim Kitsyn was sent off for two minutes at 3:23 for interference and the IceDogs would take advantage. At 4:33, Freddie Hamilton tipped in a shot from Alex Friesen. The powerplay goal made it 3-0. The Majors did answer back a few minutes later. Former IceDog Chris DeSousa got the Majors first goal of the afternoon at 9:28. DeSousa s 11th of the season was assisted by Justin Shugg and Brett Flemming. Less then two minutes later, Shugg scored his 25th of the season to pull the Majors to within a goal. This time, Alex Cord and Dylan DeMelo had the assists. The action packed first period came to an end with the score 3-2 in favour of Niagara. Mississauga skated off with 2 goals on 17 shots while Niagara had 3 on 7 shots.

The second period was not as eventful as the first. After the two teams combined for five goals and six minor penalties in the first period, there would be just a goal and two penalties combined in the second. The goal came from Devante Smith-Pelly at 11:06. Smith-Pelly s 24th goal of the season was a big one as it tied the game for the Majors. Casey Cizikas and Stuart Percy had the assists. Each team had 10 shots on goal in the second period.

The third period was all Smith-Pelly early on. He scored his 25th and 26th goals of the season just 0:18 apart to give the Majors the lead, some insurance, and to give himself the hat trick. The eventual game winning goal came just 0:43 into the period with Kitsyn and Flemming getting the assists. The hat trick goal came at 1:01, with Kitsyn and Flemming getting the assists once again. Riley Brace would pad the lead a little more at 11:31. Brace s 11th goal of the season was assisted by Joe Cramarossa. The Brace goal made it 6-3. The Majors outshot the IceDogs 11-7 in the third period.

Taylor Edwards made 20 saves on 21 shots in relief of Mickael Audette for his first OHL victory. Dalton McGrath made 32 saves on 38 shots, taking the loss for Niagara. The games three stars were Shugg (3rd), Friesen (2nd) and Smith-Pelly (1st).

With a tough 1-1-0-1 weekend in their rear view mirror, the Majors will now look ahead to next Friday when they take on the Brampton Battalion at the Hershey Centre at 7:30 PM. During the first intermission, the two team s mascots will tangle as Team Maniac takes on Team Sarge in the annual Mascot Hockey Game. The Majors will then travel to Peterborough to face the Petes on Saturday night at 7:00 PM. The team wraps up their 3 in 3 weekend with a game against the Sarnia Sting on Sunday, January 30 at 2:00 PM. Tickets to the Majors home games are available at the Hershey Centre box office, by calling 905-502-7788 x. 1 or visiting ticketmaster.ca.

MasterCard Memorial Cup ticket packages are also available now. Get tickets to the entire tournament for as little as $495.00. Platinum ticket packages are already sold out so call 905-502-7788 x. 1 or visit ticketmaster.ca to purchase yours now.



Ontario Hockey League Stories from January 23, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central