ROANOKE, VA. – The Rail Yard Dawgs (21-11-4) shut down the Knoxville Ice Bears (19-16-4) on Saturday night, rolling to a 4-1 win at Berglund Center in front of 7,563 fans – the second-largest home crowd in franchise history. Austyn Roudebush became just the third goaltender in SPHL history to record 100 career wins, stopping 25-of-26 shots faced in the victory. Andrew Harley, Carson Gallagher, Stephen Alvo, and Jacob Kelly all scored goals for Roanoke.
For the third consecutive night, the Dawgs roared to life from the opening whistle. Harley would snap the puck to the roof of the net on a pass that came from behind the Knoxville cage by Joe Widmar to give Roanoke a 1-0 lead at 4:39. Gallagher extended his point streak to 11 games at the 11:51 mark, flipping the sauce pass by Matt O’Dea in to make it 2-0 for Roanoke. The Dawgs had a couple of other golden chances that just stayed out early on, but still led by a pair at the end of 20 minutes. Roanoke has outscored its opponents 11-1 in the first period over the past three games dating back to Thursday, February 6 against Huntsville.
The game got much chippier in the second period, and it fully boiled over when Knoxville’s Lucas Helland landed a controversial high hit on Roanoke’s Johnny Macdonald that went unpenalized. Macdonald and Knoxville’s Brendan Dowler would each receive penalties for their actions in the ensuing scrum, and both teams would score during the 4-on-4 action that followed. Knoxville’s Tyler Williams netted the lone goal in transition from the right-wing circle at 10:50 to bring the visitors back within one goal. It wouldn’t take Roanoke long to answer, as Alvo’s heavy slapshot at 11:39 would push the advantage back to two goals at 3-1. That two-goal cushion would hold entering the final period for the Dawgs.
An early elbowing penalty by Roanoke’s Gehrig Lindberg would invite Knoxville captain Jimmy Soper to fight the Dawgs’ defenseman at 1:26, then Helland went after a Roanoke skater and Alvo dropped the gloves with the Ice Bears’ enforcer just nine seconds later. There were 26 combined penalty minutes between those four players, but the score remained 3-1 by the time both penalty boxes had emptied. The Ice Bears would empty their net in the closing moments, and Kelly would get on the end of an Austen Swankler feed to cap off the scoring in the final 15 seconds of the game. The Dawgs advanced to 16-2-3 on home ice on the season.
Talor Joseph stopped 27-of-30 shots faced in net for the Ice Bears. Roanoke was 0-for-4 on the power play, and Knoxville went 0-for-2 on its chances.
The Rail Yard Dawgs hit the road on Saturday, February 15 against the Knoxville Ice Bears at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:05 P.M. EST in Tennessee. Single game tickets for the season are on sale now online and at Berglund Center box office.
Photo Credit: Michele Hancock