HUNTSVILLE, AL. – The Rail Yard Dawgs played a closely-contested game with the Huntsville Havoc, but fell 2-1 in the closing stages on Friday night at Von Braun Center. CJ Stubbs scored Roanoke’s lone goal, assisted by Travis Broughman and Sean Leonard.
The first period started swimmingly for the Dawgs, with Stubbs jamming home a rebound off of Broughman’s shot at 3:51 to give Roanoke the lead. The Dawgs had their lone power play of the night come up empty roughly halfway through the period, and Huntsville’s Kyle Clarke ripped a one-time shot into the Roanoke net at 16:43 to tie the score. It was 1-1 entering the first intermission.
The evenly-matched game continued into the second period, with only one empty Huntsville power play and a fight between Roanoke’s C.J. Valerian and Huntsville’s Robbie Fisher popping up in the stat sheet. Both teams enjoyed good chances to score the go-ahead goal, but the score remained tied 1-1 entering the final period.
The third period featured a very unlucky start for Roanoke, as a defenseman slipped following the faceoff win by the Dawgs, yielding a 2-on-1 chance for Huntsville. Huntsville captain Tyler Piacentini rifled the puck blocker-side on the Roanoke cage just eight seconds into the period to give the Havoc the lead. The Dawgs had several great chances down the stretch, as Huntsville’s Nick Latinovich made remarkable stops on a Stubbs breakaway and a Nick Ford point-blank shot in the closing minutes to seal the victory.
Brody Claeys stopped 29-of-31 shots faced for the Dawgs, while Latinovich made 29 saves on 30 shots faced for the Havoc. Both teams failed to score on their singular power play chances.
Roanoke will stay on the road tomorrow night to face the Pensacola Ice Flyers at 8:05 p.m. EST at the Pensacola Bay Center. You can watch the game on HockeyTV or listen for free on Mixlr. Season tickets and single-game tickets are available by calling the Rail Yard Dawgs office, visiting the ‘Tickets’ page on our website, or by visiting the Berglund Center box office.
Photo Credit: Paula Greenway