IceDogs cool off Firebirds
Juan Copeland has overcome a mediocre pre-season to get off to a strong start for Niagara IceDogs.
The 17-year-old winger fired two goals to pace the IceDogs to a 7-3 victory over the Flint Firebirds in Ontario Hockey League action Saturday night at the Meridian Centre.
Copeland, who now has a team leading four goals, was thrilled to chip in as the IceDogs climbed back to the .500 mark at 3-3-1.
“It helps the team, it helps us in general,” he said of his two goals. “Everybody contributed tonight and that helps us with our confidence, especially with Flint being a very good team, a lot of good players, a lot of drafted guys, so it really shows what we can do.”
Copeland had a solid rookie campaign with 12 goals and seems poised to have a breakout season.
“To be honest, I don’t worry about that,” he said. “I come to the game and worry what the team is going to do and where we are going to be in the standings.”
The Michigan native did admit he feels much more comfortable as a sophomore versus being a rookie.
“It definitely makes a lot of change. I feel a lot more calm. I’m used to having tight space and making moves where last year I was nervous and thinking if I was going to mess up where now if I mess up, I just go back. You don’t really have to worry about it,” he said.
Copeland, who skated on a line with Brendan Sirizzorri and newcomer Pasquale Zito Saturday, said it’s been an adjustment to play with so many new faces — IceDogs general manager Darren DeDobbelaer has made 19 trades since the summer.
“It’s tough. A couple of my closest friends were guys that got traded and I went to school with all last year. At the end of the day, you have to make the moves we need and make the moves that will help our team,” he said.
IceDogs coach Daniel Fitzgerald was happy with Copeland’s effort.
“We’ve been waiting for that to happen,” Fitzgerald said. “I think Juan would be the first to admit he didn’t have the greatest pre-season but the last few games, the last few weeks here, he’s been a lot better.
“Obviously, we look at the individual statistics but those are driven by team play. Guys are rewarded for good work within the team structure and Juan’s no different.”
The teams exchanged six goals — three for each side — in a wild first period that saw the IceDogs fire a whopping 24 shots on Flint goaltender Will Cranley.
Fitzgerald liked how his team calmed down after such a crazy opening 20 minutes.
“Even at the break in the first period we hammered in we need to stick to what we talked about during the week,” he said. “We seem to be a little hesitant at the start of games. They have a big lineup over there but we did a really good job of settling in, a really good job of getting back to doing the little things right, sticking to our game plan and it paid off in the end.
“We knew we weren’t out of the game because we have good hockey players too and we believe in what we’re doing.”
Niagara netminder Owen Flores settled down as well, shutting the door for the final 40 minutes.
“Flo has been great all year,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m sure he wants the third one back — he’s as hard on himself as anybody — but he stood in there real strong after that. We felt we had the momentum heading into the second period and wanted to keep it as much as possible. The guys did their job of the power play obviously, but Owen did a really good job down the stretch.”
Ice cubes: Landon Cato, Anthony Agostinelli and Andre LeBlanc were scratched for the IceDogs . . . Boe Piroski, Tyler Deline, Reed Gee, Braeden Kressler, Daks Klinkhammer and Nathan Aspinall did not dress for the Firebirds . . . Former IceDogs associate coach Ted Dent is the head coach of the Firebirds . . . Grimsby’s Nathan Day made 12 saves on 14 shots in relief of Cranley for the Firebirds . . . Defenceman Gerard Keane made his Niagara debut after being acquired in a trade with London earlier this week and picked up an assist, four minutes in penalties and five shots on goal.
STATS PACK
IceDogs 7 Firebirds 3
IceDogs centre Pano Fimis with a goal and two assists.
Niagara IceDogs: Juan Copeland 2 (3,4); Kevin He (3); Declan Waddick (3); Nolan Dann (2); Pano Fimis (2); Pasquale Zito (2).
Flint Firebirds: Colson Pitre (2); Luca D’Amato (1); Kaden Pitre (1).
Game stats: Shots on goal: By Niagara on Will Cranley/Nathan Day (47), by Flint on Owen Flores (34); Power plays: Niagara 2/5, Flint 0/4; Penalty minutes: Niagara 8, Flint 10.
Attendance: 3,967.
Next up: The IceDogs are home to Erie Thursday, Oct. 20th.
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