The Rail Yard Dawgs jumped out to an early two-goal lead within the first three minutes of play, but couldn’t hang on to their lead as they lost 3-2 to the Knoxville Ice Bears in overtime on Saturday night.
Knoxville’s Alex Pommerville scored his first goal of the season with 1:15 remaining in the overtime period off of the feed from Carter Cowlthorp. The Ice Bears sprung a two-on-one fast break, leaving Pommerville with a clean look on goal when Cowlthorp sent a centering pass in his direction.
Roanoke rookie Logan Fredericks kicked off the scoring just 1:37 into the first period, notching his second goal in as many nights for the Dawgs off of the assist of Mac Jansen. Just 72 seconds later, Nick Ford scored his first professional goal to double the advantage for Roanoke, after he smashed home a feed by Brady Heppner.
The Dawgs held that lead by the same score for the rest of the first period, all of the second period, and the first half of the third period. In that time, Roanoke killed off five Knoxville power play opportunities, including a five-on-three chance during the second period. A goal by Stefan Brucato with 10:25 remaining in regulation cut the deficit in half for the Ice Bears, and the assist was credited to Cowlthorp. On Knoxville’s sixth power play chance of the night, Brucato scored again, tying the game with 5:16 remaining.
Austyn Roudebush saved 26-of-29 shots that he faced for Roanoke, while Knoxville’s Jimmy Poreda kept out 24-of-26 shot attempts by the Dawgs.
Roanoke returns to Berglund Center next weekend for a doubleheader against the Macon Mayhem on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. Puck drops at 7:05 p.m. for Saturday night’s game. 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.