FAYETTEVILLE, NC. – The Rail Yard Dawgs shut out the Macon Mayhem on the road on Friday night, winning 3-0 at Macon Coliseum.
Austyn Roudebush saved all 23 shots that he faced to keep the hosts off of the board, and three third period goals from Chris Vella, Mac Jansen, and Nick Ford gave Roanoke the victory.
The first period saw plenty of scoring chances, as Roanoke outshot the Mayhem 13-10. Macon’s Don Carter Jr. had two breakaway chances denied by Roudebush, and Matt O’Dea had an excellent shorthanded chance denied by Macon’s Dillon Kelley late in the period. At the first intermission, the game was still scoreless.
Roanoke had the better opportunities in the second period, but still couldn’t capitalize. They had 12 shots on goal to Macon’s 10 in the middle period, and Roanoke almost had a power play chance at the 17:38 mark. Nigel Slade slashed Bryce Martin, then tried to pick a fight. That stir-up was quickly solved by Roanoke’s Charlie Pelnick, as the six-foot-five defenseman pummeled Slade before he even dropped the gloves. Unfortunately, that cancelled Roanoke’s power play when he was assessed a double minor, and the score was still tied at 0-0 entering the final period.
The third period saw two goals in quick succession created by Roanoke’s Jeff Jones. Jones found Vella streaking towards the net for an easy tap-in goal at 3:08 in the third period, and Jones slid another pass across the slot to Jansen just 40 seconds later for basically the same goal. The Dawgs held through the empty net chances by Macon, and Ford fired home the final goal with 28 seconds remaining in the contest.
Roanoke will stay in Macon to face the Mayhem on Saturday night. Puck drop is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. EST on Saturday. Season tickets, Wisler Plumbing and Air Family Four Packs, 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.