IceDogs season preview
The Niagara IceDogs open the 2021/22 Ontario Hockey League season Thursday in Barrie. Photos by: VIVID EYE PHOTOGRAPHY.
The Niagara IceDogs head into the 2021/22 Ontario Hockey League season flying somewhat under the radar.
The Kingston Frontenacs and Barrie Colts are expected to be the class of the league — ranked fourth and fifth respectively in the Canadian Hockey League’s recent top 10 rankings — while the IceDogs are coming off a 2019/20 season that saw them finish with just 18 wins in 63 games before the play was shutdown in March of 2020 by the COVID pandemic.
Fast forward a year-and-half and the IceDogs have put together a solid nucleus of promising, young players and appear to be on the upswing of their rebuild.
“First of all, I think it will be an exciting team,” Niagara coach Billy Burke said. “Obviously, we’re young on the whole and complemented by a strong group of older guys so I think we will be fast team, hopefully a team that can defend well with good goaltending, and get some timely scoring by committee.”
So what is a realistic expectation for this group then?
“Obviously we aim high and have high expectations for ourselves, but in terms of setting a specific goal or something for the team, not really,” Burke said. “I think we just want to continue to get better, make sure come the second half and into the stretch we are playing well. In terms of big-picture things, I think we’re just going to go slow, have a good start and see where things lay.
“We definitely feel that we have enough here that maybe we can be a real dark horse team.”
The IceDogs have played six exhibition games (3-3) and been in camp for more than one month, but Burke has still noticed some signs of rust with players coming off such an extended period without game action.
“Our structure is great but now we need to make some plays within it,” he said. “I think we’ll see some of that stuff where guys kind of think less and react a little bit more. Even though we’ve had an extended training camp, I still think in the first couple of weeks of this season you’ll still see some habits that need to continue to be ironed out.”
The IceDogs begin the regular season Thursday in Barrie versus former coach Marty Williamson before returning home Saturday to host the Oshawa Generals in their home opener.
The following is a position-by-position look at the 2021/22 Niagara IceDogs.
Goaltenders (3)
Tucker Tynan, Josh Rosenzweig, Joey Costanzo
“We’re certainly in no rush to do anything; I could see us carrying three all year,” Burke said. “We’ve been very impressed with all our guys and it starts with Tucker. He comes back and has improved upon where he was, which is just outstanding. From an injury side of things, it’s good to see, but from development, to see him come back and not only be where he was two years ago, but be even better than that, that’s been awesome.”
Rozenzweig and Costanzo will share the playing time behind Tynan, who is the clear No. 1.
“Rosenzweig may be the biggest surprise how he’s come back,” Burke said. “He’s grown, his maturity, and his on-ice play has taken tremendous strides.”
Costanzo was selected by the IceDogs in the second round of the 2021 OHL draft and would appear to be the goalie of the future.
“It’s very difficult to be a 16-year-old goalie, you don’t see a lot of 16-year-old goalies for a reason,” Burke said. “He’s earned it, he deserves to be here. Very talented, hard-working smart guy who has a bright future.”
Defence (8)
Mason Howard (OA), Dakota Betts (OA), A.J. Cook (OA), Isaac Enright, Landon Cato, Rodwin Dionicio, Alex Leonard, Andrew Wycisk.
“What I’m most impressed with our guys is all of them have the ability to be modern day guys very much,” Burke said. “You need guys that aren’t just shut down (defencemen) and can’t handle the puck. You need to be able to do both, to go both ways, and I think we’re very lucky with that.
“I think we have eight guys here that deserve to play every single night, that are strong defenders have good instincts, and when you have a good group of D that we feel we have, it can really become the engine of our team.”
Look for Howard and Betts to be part of a leadership group while Dionicio may be the most noticeable rearguard with his strong skating ability and willingness to jump into the play.
Forwards (15)
Anthony Agostinelli, Brice Cooke, Jonah DeSimone, Cam Butler, Cam Snow, Ryan Struthers, Cam Peters, Pano Fimis, Dylan Roobroeck, Ethan Sims, Juan Copeland, Danil Gushchin, Jake Uberti, Aidan Castle, Declan Waddick.
Uberti has been a standout in pre-season while Gushchin is a dynamic forward with outstanding offensive instincts. Toss in solid returning veterans such as Cam Butler and Cam Peters, to go along with promising youngsters such as Cooke, Castle, Fimis and Copeland, and the IceDogs appear to have a solid mix up front.
“We’ve been pretty lucky. We have depth now, we have scoring again,” Burke said. “It allows us to have balance, not have to build one line, and then hope for the best. We feel we can score through four lines.
“So when you have strong goaltending and a belief that you can score goals, it’s a good feeling to have as a team. I think our forwards need to continue to work on their team defence and their team play away from puck.”
Burke said Howard and Enright are banged up and listed day-to-day while Agostinelli (shoulder) is week-to-week.
“There is nothing serious long-term,” Burke said.
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