IceDogs clinch Eastern Division title
The Niagara IceDogs wrapped up the Ontario Hockey League regular season in grand fashion, topping the North Bay Battalion 8-2 Sunday afternoon at the North Bay Memorial Gardens.
The win, combined with a 7-4 victory at Barrie Saturday, was the sixth win in a row for the IceDogs.
Niagara finished the season with a 44-17-7-2 record, good enough for the Central Division title and second overall in the Eastern Conference.
IceDogs head coach Billy Burke was thrilled with how the club responded down the stretch.
“It’s fantastic to go on a nice win streak when we knew we had to get it done to clinch the division,” he said. “You could tell today the guys came out with a purpose. There was a complete buy-in from top to bottom in the lineup and they got it done.
“We’re all very proud of what the guys have accomplished.”
The IceDogs now meet the Battalion, who finished seventh in the Eastern Conference three games under .500, in a best-of-seven quarter-final playoff series. Games 1 and 2 are in St. Catharines Thursday and Saturday at 7 p.m.
Burke said the fact the IceDogs knew they would likely square off versus the Battalion didn’t enter their thought process as they prepared for Sunday’s game.
“We just wanted to play a strong road game and win,” he said. “It was very important to us to win the division. We wanted to come in play a good game.”
Burke said the division crown is a means to an end.
“It’s a nice feather in our caps with everything we went through and how hard we worked. The banner will be hanging there forever and we’d like to have a few more there beside them.”
The IceDogs, who jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first period, got two goals from Bradey Johnson while Ben Jones, Jason Robertson, Philip Tomasino, Elijah Roberts, Ivan Lodnia and Akil Thomas, who signed a three-year entry level contract with the Los Angeles Kings this weekend, added singles.
Stephen Dhillon made 34 saves for the win.
Justin Brazeau, Brad Chenier and Matthew Struthers replied for North Bay.
Saturday in Barrie, the IceDogs fired 58 shots at Barrie net miner Kai Edmonds en route to victory.
Robertson and Jack Studnicka collected two goals each while Lodnia, Tomasino and Daniel Bukac added singles.
Jason Willms had two for the Colts while Ryan Suzuki and Tyler Tucker also scored.
Single-game tickets for the 2018-19 Eastern Conference quarter-final home games on sale now at all Niagara IceDogs ticketing locations.
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