ROANOKE, VA. – The Rail Yard Dawgs (25-12-7) were simply sensational on Friday night, blowing out the Knoxville Ice Bears (15-25-4) in a 12-3 win at Berglund Center. Mac Jansen had a four-point hat trick, CJ Stubbs had one goal and four assists (tied franchise-record for single-game points), Owen McDade, Brendan Pepe, and Jacob Kelly each had two goals, Anthony Cinato notched one goal and two assists in his pro debut, and Tommy Munichiello added a goal for the Dawgs. Roanoke set a franchise record for goals in a game, beating out a 10-1 win over Macon back on January 27, 2022. Every single skater that dressed out for the Dawgs recorded at least one point.
It was seemingly over before it even started on Friday, as the Dawgs opened the scoring just 61 seconds in on a power play finish by McDade from the right wing. Cinato quickly opened up his scoring account in his first game for Roanoke, placing a beautiful wrister into the left side of the net from the high slot at 3:36 to make it a 2-0 game. The third goal came on a long-range blast by Pepe at 8:55, as he slotted the puck to the top left corner of the net from the right-point. That forced the first goaltender change from Knoxville, as Zane Steeves relieved Sean Kuhn, but it didn’t make a dent in Roanoke’s high-flying attack. Stubbs hammered in his lone goal at 10:26, and Jansen added another just 28 seconds later to make the score 5-0. Munichiello’s snipe at 16:26 finally brought the first period scoring to an end, as the Dawgs led 6-0 off of the strength of a 21-6 shots on goal advantage.
The second period saw Knoxville start well, as the visitors tallied 10 of the periods first 15 shots on goal combined between the two teams. The Ice Bears would tally a power play goal from Dawson McKinney at 4:05 to get on the board, and another goal from Cole McKechney would trim the score to 6-2 at the 7:38 mark. McDade’s second power play goal of the night at 8:46 would push the Roanoke advantage back to five goals, and that gap would hold heading to the third period.
Roanoke was a bit sluggish to start the third period, as the Ice Bears rattled off the first six shots of the frame. Knoxville would cut the deficit to four once again on a goal by Troy Murray at 3:22, but the Dawgs roared back into the game from that point. Pepe’s second goal of the night came on a rip from the high slot on the power play at 8:16. The first goal of the night by Kelly at 9:30 made the score 9-3, and forced Kuhn back into the game for Steeves in the Knoxville net. Roanoke wasn’t done yet, as Jansen’s second goal of the game pushed the Dawgs into double digits at 11:31. Another close-range rip by Kelly at 16:44 made the score 11-3, and Jansen sealed his hat trick at the 18:52 mark to close out the 12-3 dismantling.
Austyn Roudebush stopped 24-of-27 shots for Roanoke, while Kuhn saved 14-of-20 shots faced and Steeves saved 20-of-26 shots in net. Roanoke went 3-for-8 on the power play, while Knoxville went 1-for-3 on its chances.
The Rail Yard Dawgs will stay home on Saturday night, March 2, to take on the Knoxville Ice Bears. Puck drop is slated for 7:05 P.M. EST at Berglund Center, and you can watch the game on Flo or listen for free on Mixlr. Ticket packages, group tickets, and single game tickets are on sale now by contacting the Rail Yard Dawgs office or visiting the Berglund Center box office.
Photo Credit: Michele Hancock