The Rail Yard Dawgs didn’t prevail in the shootout on Friday night, as Mac Jansen’s sixth-round shot attempt was saved by Birmingham’s Austin Lotz to hand Roanoke a 7-6 loss in a wild game at Pelham Civic Complex.
Roanoke rookie Logan Fredericks scored his first professional goal with 3.7 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the score at six and force overtime, tapping in a rebound from Jansen’s centering pass in a massive scrum at the front of the Birmingham crease. Roanoke trailed by two goals entering the third period, but notched four goals in the final 20 minutes to send the game into the extra period.
Roanoke started off the scoring in the first period, as Brady Heppner scored his first goal of the year off of a feed from Jeff Jones. Birmingham quickly answered through Carson Rose, whose third and fourth goals of the season saw the Bulls turn a one-goal deficit into a one-goal lead with 5:55 remaining in the first period.
A goal from Birmingham’s Danny Liscio prompted Roanoke head coach Dan Bremner to pull his goaltender, Austyn Roudebush, in favor of Brody Claeys less than a minute into the second period. The Dawgs pulled one back after Mac Jansen scored shortly thereafter, fed by the assists of Billy Vizzo and Logan Fredericks (his first professional point). The Bulls reinstated their two-goal advantage with less than five minutes left until the second intermission, with Alexander Taulien firing one in to make the score 4-2 in favor of the hosts entering the final period.
The Dawgs scored twice in the first 7:42 of the third period to erase the deficit and knot the score at four-all, as Jansen tacked on his second goal of the night and Billy Vizzo recorded his first pro goal. Right after the Dawgs killed off a hooking penalty by Vizzo, Yianni Liarakos launched a shot off of the skate of a Roanoke defenseman to put the Bulls ahead 5-4 with 9:15 left to play. But the action wasn’t close to over – Jeff Jones scored his first goal of the year and 40th career goal for Roanoke by banking a shot off the back of Lotz, despite having no clear shooting angle, less than two minutes after the Liarakos tally. Liscio then added his second score of the night with 5:18 remaining in the third period to give the Bulls a 6-5 lead. Finally, Fredericks notched his first pro score with a few ticks remaining to gift us with some free hockey.
Jansen and Birmingham’s Russell Jordan were the only shooters to score in the first five frames of the shootout, sending it to sudden death at 1-1. After Carson Rose fired by Claeys to complete his hat trick with a game-winning shootout goal, Jansen was stuffed by Lotz, who made a remarkable save on an attempt by Jones in a prior round.
Austyn Roudebush saved six-of-nine shots that he faced for Roanoke, while Brody Claeys turned away 26-of-29 attempts by the Bulls once he entered the game. Birmingham’s Austin Lotz kept out 40-of-46 shot attempts by the Dawgs.
Roanoke will stay on the road tomorrow night, October 30, as they take on the Knoxville Ice Bears. Puck drop is at 7:35 p.m EST. Season tickets, packages, group tickets, and single game tickets are on sale now for future home games, and you can listen to the game on the Haley Toyota Rail Yard Dawgs Hockey Network via Mixlr or watch it on HockeyTV.