ROANOKE, VA. – The Rail Yard Dawgs (28-17-5) fell to the Fayetteville Marksmen (22-22-8) in a 2-1 shootout loss at Berglund Center on Saturday night. Dominiks Marcinkevics scored Roanoke’s lone goal, Fayetteville’s Austin Alger was the only player to score in the shootout, and for the second consecutive home Saturday game the Dawgs set a new franchise record for attendance with 7,620 fans in the barn.
It was scoreless battle for nearly the entire game, but Roanoke outshot Fayetteville 13-11 in the first period. Austyn Roudebush had another strong performance in goal for the Dawgs, making 32 saves during the game. Roanoke had an early power play chance after Taylor McCloy was called for tripping, but the Dawgs weren’t able to convert on the man advantage.
Heading into the second period, neither team could find a way to break the tie. The Marksmen picked up their pace against the Dawgs, and both teams finished the frame with eight shots. Both teams had power play opportunities in the second frame, but neither side could turn the light on.
The scoreless tie was finally broken when Fayetteville’s Nick Mangone squeezed one past Roudebush with 11:20 to play in regulation. Marcinkevics tied the score at 1-1 with a power play goal off of a long-range wrist shot with seven minutes to go. Despite another strong push from the Dawgs in the final few minutes, the game went into overtime. The Dawgs and Marksmen wrestled for control all throughout the opening minutes of overtime, before Roudebush laid out to make a last-ditch effort save that kept the Dawgs in the game. With 59 seconds left in overtime, Roanoke went on the power play for one final chance before the shootout. The Dawgs couldn’t get the puck past Fayetteville’s Conor O’Brien, taking things to a shootout. Roudebush and O’Brien kept things neck-and-neck, but Alger scored the lone goal of the shootout to give the Marksmen the victory.
Fayetteville’s O’Brien stopped 36-of-37 shots, while Roudebush stopped 32-of-33 shots. Roanoke went 1-for-4 on the power play, while the Marksmen were 0-for-1.
Roanoke will stay home tomorrow afternoon, March 26 at 3:05 p.m. EST against the Knoxville Ice Bears at Berglund Center. Single-game tickets are available now by calling the Rail Yard Dawgs office, visiting the ‘Tickets’ page on our website, or by visiting the Berglund Center box office. Playoff package will go on sale Monday, March 27 by calling or visiting the Rail Yard Dawgs office located at Gate 1 at Berglund Center.
Photo Credit: Brian Collett // BC Captures