HUNTSVILLE, AL. – The Rail Yard Dawgs (11-6-1) shut down the Huntsville Havoc (16-4-2) on Thursday night, taking home a 3-1 win at the Von Braun Center. Jacob Kelly, Billy Roche, and Owen McDade each scored goals, and Austyn Roudebush stopped 21-of-22 shots in net for the Dawgs as they took down the league’s first-place team on the road.
Roanoke generated plenty of pressure in the game’s early minutes, and it didn’t take long for the visitors to capitalize. McDade split a pass deep into the Huntsville zone to Jimmy O’Kane, and O’Kane’s centering feed was slammed home by Kelly at 2:21 to give the Dawgs a 1-0 lead. On the ensuing shift after the opening goal, Roanoke’s Johnny Macdonald nearly added another goal when he dinged the crossbar from the left-wing point. The Dawgs would kill off one Havoc power play and would be forced to stop a breakaway chance by Huntsville’s Cole Reginato, but the one-goal lead remained for Roanoke at the first intermission.
Huntsville would quickly get on the board in the second period, as Noah Finstrom flipped a half-breakaway chance to the roof of the net to tie the game at 1-1 at the 2:36 mark. The Dawgs would take the lead back at 12:45, as Roche smashed the puck into the cage on his own rebound chance following a 2-on-2 rush by him and Mac Jansen. Roanoke got its first power play chance late in the frame, and a McDade rebound tally with just 0.4 seconds left on a shot by Macdonald gave the Dawgs a 3-1 lead heading to the final 20 minutes of regulation.
The third period saw the Dawgs lean into their defense, only mustering three shots on goal of their own, but preventing the desperate Huntsville attack from launching any comeback as the Havoc were limited to just eight shots on net. Roanoke had two more power play chances and Huntsville had one, but the closest the Havoc got to trimming the deficit came on a wide-open chance in the low slot that Roudebush once again shut down. The win marked the 10th win over the last 13 games for the Rail Yard Dawgs.
Mike Robinson stopped 21-of-24 shots faced for the Havoc. Huntsville went 0-for-2 on the power play, while Roanoke went 1-for-3 on its chances.
The Rail Yard Dawgs will return home on Friday, December 27 against the Huntsville Havoc at Berglund Center. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:05 P.M. EST in the Star City. Single game tickets for the season are on sale now online and at Berglund Center box office.
Photo Credit: Jorge Rufino