MACON, GA. – The Rail Yard Dawgs started out fast and never looked back, sealing a weekend sweep with a 6-2 victory over the Macon Mayhem on Saturday night at Macon Coliseum. Brady Heppner, Dominiks Marcinkevics, Billy Vizzo, Matt O’Dea, C.J. Valerian, and Stephen Alvo all scored for Roanoke.
The Dawgs scored less than 90 seconds into the game, as Heppner tallied a rebound goal at 1:29. Marcinkevics added on at 9:52, assisted by Vizzo and Jimmy Elser, who had his first professional point. Macon cut the deficit in half on a long-range blast by Bryan Etter at 12:30, but Roanoke went back ahead 3-1 at 15:33 as Vizzo’s body deflected a Jarrard Vroman shot into the Macon net. A beautiful tic-tac-toe passing play sprung O’Dea for a top shelf score at 16:45, and the Dawgs led 4-1 at the first intermission after outshooting Macon 24-7 in the opening period.
Roanoke had two power plays early in the middle stanza and continued their dominance in the first half of the second period, but didn’t capitalize. Macon’s Josh Benson made an unreal save to deny Roanoke’s Travis Broughman, breathing some life into the Mayhem. A Rourke Russell power play score at 15:02 brought the Mayhem back within a pair of goals entering the final frame.
The third period belonged to Roanoke, as Valerian fired a puck into the Macon cage at 6:02 to make it 5-2 in favor of the visitors. Alvo’s first goal as a Dawg came from distance to cap off the night at 16:46. 13 different skaters recorded at least a point for Roanoke in the win.
Austyn Roudebush stopped 27-of-29 shots for the Dawgs, while Josh Benson made 34 saves on 40 shots faced for Macon. Roanoke was 0-for-2 on the power play, while the Mayhem went 1-for-2.
Roanoke will be back at home to take on the Fayetteville Marksmen next Friday, November 4, at 7:05 p.m. EST, and you can watch the game on HockeyTV or listen for free on Mixlr. Season tickets and single-game tickets are available by calling the Rail Yard Dawgs office, visiting the ‘Tickets’ page on our website, or by visiting the Berglund Center box office.
Photo Credit: Ashlie Brammer