MACON, GA. – The Rail Yard Dawgs (5-5-2) held off the Macon Mayhem (2-4-3) in a back-and-forth game on Saturday night, grinding out a 3-2 win at the Macon Coliseum. Ricky Boysen scored the game-winning goal, Noah Finstrom and Travis Broughman added goals for Roanoke, while goaltender Brody Claeys stopped 22-of-24 shots faced in net for the Dawgs.
The opening period featured two distinct halves – one dominated by Roanoke, and the other dominated by Macon. The Dawgs outshot the Mayhem 9-2 in the first nine minutes, and a Macon turnover would turn into the game’s first goal at 8:25. Broughman forced the puck off of a Mayhem skater and immediately drove towards the middle of the offensive zone before unleashing a shot that gave the Dawgs a 1-0 lead. Macon would respond quickly, partly due to two successive power play chances. At 12:24, Macon’s Conor Witherspoon redirected a shot from the right-wing side into the Roanoke net to tie the game. Despite the host start for Roanoke, both teams ended the period with 11 shots on net each, and the score was tied at 1-1.
Déjà vu was the best way to describe the middle frame, as Roanoke once again wrestled control of the game, only for the Mayhem to bring themselves right back into it. A transition play started by Andrew Harley and Khristian Acosta allowed Acosta to center the puck into the low slot at 2:56 to put Roanoke back in front 2-1. The Dawgs kept the Mayhem from threatening the Roanoke zone for most of the frame. However, another late power play in the second period would give Macon life. A puck that was meant to be a centering feed by Macon’s Justin Thompson deflected to the back of the Roanoke net off a Dawg’s skate to tie the game at 2-all with just over a minute left in the period. It was a 2-2 game after 40 minutes.
Period number three is finally where the Dawgs would find their groove and not let up. Roanoke outshot Macon 18-2 in the final 20 minutes, and the game-winning goal would come just shy of the halfway point in the period. After Macon’s Mark Messier was called for a boarding minor following a hit to Roanoke’s Trey Fechko, Roanoke broke out on a 3-on-1 transition chance late in the power play opportunity. The goal would officially come one second after the power play expired, as some tidy tic-tac-toe passing by Marcus Fechko and Ryan Reifler teed up Boysen for the eventual game-winning tally at 8:27. A sequence for Macon’s Justin Thompson with five minutes left in the game was cause for concern, as he reacted awkwardly and crashed to the boards after a puck hit him in his face, which saw him leave the game on a backboard. Both teams had late power play chances once the Macon rookie was attended to by medical staff, but the Dawgs were able to secure the 3-2 result for their second consecutive road victory down in Georgia.
Josh Boyko stopped 34-of-37 shots faced in net for Macon. The Dawgs were 0-for-3 on the power play, while the Mayhem went 2-for-4 on their chances.
The Rail Yard Dawgs will stay on the road to face the Macon Mayhem on Sunday, November 23, at the Macon Coliseum at 3:00 P.M. EST. Season ticket packages and group tickets are on sale by contacting the Rail Yard Dawgs’ front office. Single game tickets for the season are on sale now online and at Berglund Center box office.