FAYETTEVILLE, NC. – The Rail Yard Dawgs exploded offensively on Friday night, beating the Fayetteville Marksmen 6-3 at Crown Coliseum.
Mac Jansen scored twice for Roanoke, while Tommy Pokorney, Matt O’Dea, Jeff Jones, and Nick Ford each added a goal of their own for the Dawgs.
The Marksmen had a pretty strong start to the first period, limiting Roanoke to just five shots in the first 20 minutes. Yet, it was Pokorney who opened the scoring with a nice wrister from the slot for his first pro goal at 3:42 in the opening period. Alex Renaud equalized for Fayetteville at 10:15 on a power play, but O’Dea reinstated Roanoke’s lead with a snipe from beyond the left wing circle after trailing behind Jansen. The score held at 2-1 entering the first intermission.
Roanoke took over the game in the middle period. Outshooting the Marksmen 10-5, the Dawgs got their first goal of the period on a power play finish by Jansen. After a shot by Bryce Martin was stopped by Jason Pawloski, a loose puck was lying in front of the goal mouth – Jansen dove head first with his stick out to jab the puck over the goal line for his 10th goal of the year. Later in the period, a blast by Ford was parried out in front of the crease by Pawloski, and Jones whipped a backhanded shot by the Fayetteville goalie for a rebound goal. Pawloski was pulled for backup goalie Chris Paulin at this time. The Dawgs led 4-1 entering the final period.
The teams traded goals in the final period. F.X. Girard brought the score back within two goals with less than 13 minutes remaining, but Jansen slammed the puck through the five-hole of Paulin to put Roanoke ahead 5-2 at the 12:24 mark. Matt McNair’s centering pass deflected off the skate of Martin for a Marksmen goal with 5:13 left to play in the game, and after a fight between Sean Leonard and Don Olivieri and an ejection for Fayetteville head coach Cory Melkert, Ford put the cherry on top of the night with a deep slapshot that beat Paulin for the 6-3 victory.
Austyn Roudebush got the win for Roanoke, saving 19 of Fayetteville’s 22 shots. The Marksmen goaltenders struggled, with Pawloski credited with 11 saves on 15 shots faced while Paulin stopped just four of the six shots he encountered.
Roanoke will stay in Fayetteville tomorrow night for the second game of the weekend doubleheader at Crown Coliseum. Puck drop is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. EST. 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.