PEORIA, IL. – The Rail Yard Dawgs went down early and were held scoreless on Friday night, falling 4-0 to the Peoria Rivermen at Carver Arena in a game that featured 160 combined penalty minutes.
The Dawgs were a bit unsettled from the start, and Mitch McPherson’s rebound shot bounced off of a Roanoke player’s skate for a Peoria power play goal at the 5:50 mark. McPherson notched his second of the night by tipping Dalton Young’s initial shot by Roanoke’s Henry Dill to make it 2-0 at the 10:30 mark. A centering pass that was tapped home by Mike Laidley at 14:23 made it 3-0, and that score held into the first intermission.
Dill was replaced by Austyn Roudebush to start the second period, and there were immediate fireworks. Roanoke’s Travis Armstrong and Dillon Hill dropped the gloves with Peoria’s Sacha Roy and Austin Wisely respectively, ending in a combined 38 penalty minutes for the four players. A high-sticking double minor later in the period led to a Peoria power play, and Alec Baer hammered home a rebound to make it 4-0 at the 14:23 mark. At the end of the period, the Dawgs nearly got on the board as the horn sounded, and the ensuing shoving match led to a fight by Roy and Roanoke’s Chris Vella. That led to game misconducts for both of them, and Roanoke started the third period on the penalty kill trailing 4-0.
The Dawgs killed the penalty to start the period, then proceeded to pepper the Peoria net with shots the rest of the night. Roanoke outshot the Rivermen 14-2 in the third frame, but couldn’t break the deadlock. A combined 96 penalty minutes were assessed in the third period as the game became chippy, and the Rivermen held on for a shutout victory over the Dawgs.
Roudebush stopped eight-of-nine shots that he faced, while Dill made four saves on seven shots. Peoria’s Eric Levine had a 29-save shutout to earn his 25th win of the season.
The Rail Yard Dawgs stay in Peoria until Sunday afternoon when they’ll face the Rivermen at 4:15 p.m. EST. Wisler Plumbing and Air Family Four Packs, group tickets, 2022-2023 season tickets, and single game tickets for home games are on sale now, and you can listen to the games on the Haley Toyota Rail Yard Dawgs Hockey Network via Mixlr or watch it on HockeyTV.
Photo Credit: Mark Sawyer