IceDogs drop sixth straight
Ryan Roobroeck scored his 24th of the season to set a franchise mark for most goals in a rookie season Sunday as the Niagara IceDogs dropped a 9-3 decision at North Bay. Photo: OHL IMAGES.
The struggle continues for the Niagara IceDogs.
The IceDogs dropped a 9-3 decision at North Bay Sunday, their sixth straight defeat and eighth loss in their last 10 games. The club has been outscored by a whopping 43-9 margin over their last six games.
The IceDogs are last overall in the Ontario Hockey League standings with a 16-36-6-1 record and are all but mathematically eliminated from the playoffs with nine regular season games remaining.
“I thought we were competitive, and again, right now we’re playing a lot of our young guys and a couple of the mistakes we made early in the first period were young mistakes that are made when you’re trying to develop a team structure,” IceDogs coach Ben Boudreau said.
The Battalion led 2-0 after the first period and then pumped in four straight in the second to take a 6-0 lead before Niagara finally got on the board with goals from Gavin Bryant and Ryan Roobroeck.
“They scored pretty quick and it turned into a situation where you’re left without a lot to battle for halfway through the game,” Boudreau said. “The will to compete when they get a lead that feels insurmountable starts to wain.”
Roobroeck’s goal, his 24th of the season, set a franchise mark for most goals in a rookie season. The record was previously held by Chris DeSousa and Marco Insam (the definition of a rookie has since changed from when Insam was a rookie). DeSousa scored 23 goals in his 17-year-old season, while Insam scored 23 goals in his 18-year-old season. Roobroeck has accomplished the feat at 16 years of age and sits second among all rookies in goals and first among all 2007 born players in goals. He is fourth among all rookies in points and sits second behind Jake O’Brien for most points among all 2007 born players.
“The line of Roobroeck, Kevin He and Gavin Bryant scored two of the three goals and were a plus-two in a 9-3 game, I think that’s something to celebrate,” Boudreau said. “You try and take the small victories out of developing our young guys.”
Rookie Ethan Czata also scored while rookie defender Artem Frolov played a season-high 28 minutes.
“It’s a painful process sometimes when you play young guys this much but you hope you’re better for it in the future,” Boudreau said.
Boudreau and his staff must now out find a way to keep the club’s confidence up down the stretch.
“That’s the challenge every single day,” he said. “Their spirits right now seem to be broken. We don’t have any problems getting up for the games, it’s just when it gets into the tough times to keep everybody going.
“You try and do absolutely everything you can to keep their spirits up.”
Charlie Robertson faced 45 shots in goal.
Dalyn Wakely had two goals for North Bay while Ethan Procyszyn, Andrew LeBlanc, Jacob Therrien, Justin Ertel, Trevor McDowell, Owen VanSteensel and Sandis Vilmanis added singles.
The IceDogs game Saturday in Barrie was postponed due to unsafe ice conditions and will be played Tuesday, March 19 in Barrie.
The IceDogs are Ottawa Friday and Peterborough Sunday.
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