ROANOKE, VA. – The Rail Yard Dawgs extended the series on Monday night, beating the Peoria Rivermen 4-3 in Game Three of the President’s Cup Final at the Berglund Center. Nick Ford netted a hat trick with his goals spanned across just 5:45 of the second period, while Brant Sherwood scored the game-winning goal for the Dawgs.
The Dawgs outshot the Rivermen 17-9 in the first period, but neither team could light the lamp. Roanoke had two power play chances, while Peoria had one, but both teams stalled when it came to finding the opening goal. The game was tied scoreless entering the first intermission.
Peoria had an early power play in the second frame, and Alec Hagaman buried a close range shot from the left goal line to open the scoring at 1:17. Ford’s first blast came from a feed by Jeff Jones at 6:37 to knot the score at 1-1. Ford scored another on a nearly identical pass by Jones, this time with much more space to blast the Dawgs into the lead at 11:03. Just 79 seconds later, Ford poked the puck out of the Roanoke zone to create a breakaway chance, lifting his forehanded shot past Peoria’s Jack Berry to complete his incredible second period hat trick. Peoria would answer, with a Kasey Kulczycki net scramble score at 14:12, and a J.M. Piotrowski laser with 40 seconds left in the period to tie the score back at 3-3 entering the final period.
Roanoke came up short on another power play early in the period, as both goaltenders for both teams kept the game knotted up. Finally, Sherwood was able to stuff home a pass by Mac Jansen that gave the Dawgs the lead for good at 10:06. Roanoke would have another power play and plenty of empty net chances denied, but the defense stood strong in front of a raucous crowd of 4,577 fans to send the series to a Game Four tomorrow night.
Roanoke’s Sammy Bernard stopped 22-of-25 shots, while Berry made 32 saves on 36 shots faced. The Dawgs were 0-for-5 on the power play, while the Rivermen went 1-for-3.
The Rail Yard Dawgs will host Game Four of the President’s Cup Final on Tuesday, May 3 at Berglund Center at 7:05 p.m. EST. Tickets for Tuesday’s game are available now online and at the Berglund Center box office, and you can watch the games on the Haley Toyota Rail Yard Dawgs Hockey Network on HockeyTV or listen via Mixlr. The 2022 President’s Cup Playoff run for the Dawgs is sponsored by Haley Toyota.
Photo Credit: Tim Lester Images / Field Pass Hockey