PEORIA, IL. – The Rail Yard Dawgs (5-3-2) were on the wrong side of the bounces all night, falling 4-1 to the Peoria Rivermen (7-0-1) despite outshooting the hosts 34-17 on Saturday night at Carver Arena. Mac Jansen had the lone goal for Roanoke.
The visiting Dawgs led out with a much higher energy level early in the game on Saturday, with winger Dom Marcinkevics in particular influencing the game with his speed early and often. Roanoke had a 7-5 shots on goal advantage, and a late power play in its favor, but the game was scoreless after 20 minutes.
The second period saw Peoria strike first through center Alec Baer off of the feed of Dale Deon at 2:22, giving the Rivermen the lead. A broken Peoria stick sprung a breakout for the Dawgs at 5:29, and Jansen finished off a great rush on the assist by Nick Ford to tie the game. Two straight hooking calls against Brendan Pepe gave the Rivermen consecutive power plays, and a tight angle shot by Peoria’s Jordan Ernst at 8:52 somehow snuck through the traffic to make it 2-1. Then, Alec Hagaman tipped in a long-range shot on the next power play to double the advantage at 10:42. The Dawgs continued to battle to close the deficit, but instead a wildly unlucky bounce off of a puck dumped into the Roanoke zone ended up right in the lap of Peoria’s Mike Gelatt for an easy finish at 18:47. Roanoke somehow trailed by three goals after two periods of play, despite a 22-13 shots on goal advantage.
Roanoke continued to battle in the third period, but couldn’t find a goal to tighten the score. The game got very chippy down the stretch, with plenty of instances of pushing, shoving, and chirping after the whistle. The Rivermen held on to remain undefeated in regulation with the 4-1 victory.
Brody Claeys saved 13-of-17 shots for Roanoke, and Peoria’s Brendhan Brawley stopped 33-of-34 shots faced. The Dawgs went 0-for-3 on the power play, while the Rivermen went 2-for-2 on the power play.
The Rail Yard Dawgs will return home on Wednesday night, November 22, to take on the Huntsville Havoc. Puck drop is slated for 7:05 P.M. EST at Berglund 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: Tim Lester Images