ROANOKE, VA. – The Rail Yard Dawgs (6-4-2) roared to life to beat the first-place Fayetteville Marksmen (9-3-2) in a 4-2 win on Black Friday at Berglund Center. Josh Nenadal scored twice, Owen McDade and Dom Marcinkevics also tallied goals and Tyler Roy made 29 saves for Roanoke.
Both teams struggled to get things rolling in the first period, with only six combined shots on goal in the game’s first 14 minutes of action. A hooking penalty by Fayetteville put Roanoke on the power play and opened the game up a bit in the last few minutes of the period, but the game was still scoreless at the intermission.
The second period saw the ice completely tilt in Roanoke’s favor. McDade won a right-wing circle faceoff and sniped the puck himself for an incredible unassisted goal at 2:58 to open the scoring. A blocked shot and quick transition pass by Matt O’Dea gave Marcinkevics and Alex DiCarlo a two-on-one breakout, and Marcinkevics flicked home the DiCarlo pass at 5:33 to double Roanoke’s lead. Just 24 seconds later, Nenadal redirected a Billy Roche shot from the blue line to make it 3-0 at the 5:57 mark. Roanoke continued to mount pressure, but a penalty later in the period at 13:20 gave the Marksmen a power play chance that led to a Tyler Kobyrn goal for Fayetteville just one second after the penalty had expired at 15:21. The Dawgs quickly responded, as Nenadal tipped on a Stephen Alvo shot at 17:02 to make it 4-1 for the Dawgs, a lead that Roanoke took into the second intermission.
Roanoke turned on the defensive strength in the third period, holding the Marksmen at bay despite two power play chances and nearly eight full minutes of an empty net by Fayetteville to close the game. Roy made some wild saves and the Dawgs blocked plenty of shots, but a goal by John Moncovich at 19:18 did cut the deficit to 4-2. Roanoke held on from there, giving the Dawgs three wins in three tries against the Marksmen this season.
Fayetteville’s Ryan Kenny stopped 25-of-29 shots faced. The Dawgs went 0-for-1 on the power play, while the Marksmen went 0-for-4.
The Rail Yard Dawgs will hit the road next Friday night, December 1, to take on the Evansville Thunderbolts. Puck drop is slated for 8:00 P.M. EST at Ford Center, and you can watch the game on Flo or listen for free on Mixlr. Season tickets, 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: Ryan Hunt