ROANOKE, VA. – The Rail Yard Dawgs held on in the final minutes after a dominant first two periods, beating the Knoxville Ice Bears 3-2 on Thursday at Berglund Center. Austyn Roudebush set the all-time franchise wins record for goalies with his 22nd win as a Dawg, stopping 18-of-19 shots before he featured in the first goalie fight in team history. Dillon Radin, Travis Broughman, and Mac Jansen scored for Roanoke.
The first period was all Roanoke, as the hosts outshot Knoxville 23-4 in the opening frame. Radin scored on a power play at 6:16 to give the Dawgs an early lead. A Knoxville power play tally by Dean Balsamo off of an insane pass by Justin MacDonald tied the score at 1-1 at 8:40. Just 35 seconds later, Broughman redirected a Jansen feed to reinstate Roanoke’s lead at 2-1. The Dawgs took that lead into the intermission.
Roanoke kept its foot on the gas pedal in the second period, as Jansen hammered home a rebound at 5:08 to give the Dawgs a two-goal cushion. Both teams had power play chances go awry, and Knoxville goaltender Trevor Babin kept the visitors in the game. It was 3-1 in favor of Roanoke heading into the final period.
The third period got chaotic, as Roudebush and Babin met at center ice following a massive hit whistled for interference against the Roanoke goalie. Roudebush got the better of Babin, while Roanoke’s C.J. Valerian and Knoxville’s Kyler Matthews also dropped the gloves. Valerian was tagged with an instigator penalty, and Knoxville received a 5-on-3 power play. MacDonald quickly scored at 7:15 to cut the deficit to 3-2. Heroic efforts by the Dawgs down the stretch clinched the win for the hosts.
Talor Joseph stopped 4-of-5 shots faced in relief for Roanoke, while Babin recorded 38 saves on 41 shots faced and Kristian Stead stopped 4-of-4 shots in net for Knoxville. Roanoke was 1-for-5 on the power play, while the Ice Bears went 2-for-4.
Roanoke will hit the road tomorrow night, December 2 at 7:15 P.M. EST to face the Fayetteville Marksmen at Berglund Center. 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