IceDogs come up short in Barrie, North Bay
Josh Rosenzweig made both starts in goal for the Niagara IceDogs this weekend. Photo by: OHL IMAGES.
It was a frustrating weekend for the Niagara IceDogs.
The IceDogs managed only one point out of a possible four with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Barrie Colts Saturday and a 7-2 defeat at North Bay Sunday afternoon.
The IceDogs, 8-19-5-1, continue to bring up the rear of the Ontario Hockey League standings with 22 points. They trail the Oshawa Generals by eight points for ninth spot in the Eastern Conference standings and the Sudbury Wolves by nine points for the eighth and final playoff spot. The IceDogs own three games in hand over Oshawa and two over Sudbury.
Sunday in North Bay, the Battalion raced out to an early 3-0 lead in the first period en route to their 25th win of the season. The Battalion lead the Central Division with 51 points.
“I thought we were pretty good considering we had a 2 p.m. start,” IceDogs coach Ryan Kuwabara said. “They have a very good team and if you make some mental errors they will capitalize on them. We had some good looks but couldn’t put one away on our power play opportunities we had in the first.
“We just tried to play a simple game today to try and limit those mistakes.”
After exchanging goals in the second, the Battalion put the game away with three goals in the final period.
Kyle Jackson and Kyle McDonald each had two goals for North Bay whole Matvey Petrov, Dayln Wakely and Alexander Lukin added singles.
Dom DiVincentiis faced only 14 shots for the win.
Kevin He and Zakary Lavoie replied for Niagara.
Josh Rosenzweig, coming off a superb effort Saturday in Barrie, got the start in goal for the IceDogs and was peppered with 42 shots.
Saturday in Barrie, Juan Copeland’s seventh of the season early in the third tied the game at 3-3.
The Colts won it in overtime when Evan Vierling netted his 18th of the season 3:45 into the extra frame.
“We had a good game in Barrie overall, we keep learning and getting better as a team,” Kuwabara said. “We were able to battle from behind to tie it up in the third and had some really good chances also but didn’t put the puck in the back of the net.”
Andrew LeBlanc and Daniel Michaud also scored for the IceDogs.
Connor Punnett, Jacob Frasca and Beau Jelsma replied for Barrie
Rosenzweig made 34 saves in net.
The IceDogs are home to Owen Sound Wednesday before travelling to Mississauga Friday and Peterborough Saturday.
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