KNOXVILLE, TN. – The Rail Yard Dawgs won for the eighth straight time on Wednesday night, holding off the Knoxville Ice Bears 6-5 at Knoxville Civic Coliseum. Travis Broughman, Dom Marcinkevics, Josh Nenadal, Billy Vizzo, Dillon Radin, and C.J. Valerian scored for the Dawgs, as the team tied its franchise record for longest winning streak (eight games, Feb. 3-23, 2018).
The first period started slowly for Roanoke, and Knoxville opened the scoring on a rebound goal at 8:39 by Dean Balsamo. Broughman quickly answered for Roanoke with an unreal spinning backhand shot to tie the game at 12:07. The Dawgs took their first lead at 18:20 when Marcinkevics redirected a shot by Broughman, and Roanoke took the 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
The Dawgs started the second frame on the power play, and Nenadal was able to tip a Broughman shot into the net to make it 3-1 for the visitors. Knoxville responded with three goals in the span of 94 seconds by Tanner Salsberry, Rex Moe, and Balsamo, to turn the 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 lead for the Ice Bears. A Knoxville turnover late in the period was moved from Nick Ford to Vizzo for a laser slapshot that tied the game back at 4-all with two minutes left in the period. The game was tied entering the final period.
Knoxville received a gift early in the third period, as a shot that clearly hit the post of the Roanoke cage was somehow ruled a go-ahead goal for the Ice Bears at 3:59. That only motivated the Dawgs, who picked up the intensity with a quick power play rebound finish by Radin to tie the game back at 5-5 at 5:25. It looked like overtime could have been an option, until Valerian tipped a loose puck in the paint underneath the Knoxville goalie to put Roanoke ahead for good at 15:06.
Austyn Roudebush stopped 10-of-15 shots for Roanoke, while Alec Calvaruso made 20 stops on 26 shots faced for Knoxville. The Dawgs were 2-for-6 on the power play, while the Ice Bears came up empty on their two chances.
Roanoke will return home on Friday, December 23 at 7:05 p.m. EST against the Fayetteville Marksmen at Berglund Center. 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: Brian Collett – BC Captures