A Knight to remember for IceDogs

Hayden Jeffery and the Niagara IceDogs defied the standings, defied the odds and perhaps even defined logic Saturday night, pulling off one of the most memorable wins in franchise history.

Called up from the St. Catharines Rankin Construction Falcons for his first home start, the 18-year-old goaltender turned in a magnificent performance, kicking out 40 shots, as the IceDogs upset the league-leading London Knights 6-4 to put an end to a 12-game losing streak before a sold-out crowd at the Meridian Centre.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Jeffery, who 24 hours earlier led the Falcons to a 5-3 win. “It’s such a special feeling. All the guys in the room are so happy we got the win, especially to end a losing streak like that. It’s really cool to be a part of.”

It was the first win for Niagara versus London since December of 2017, a span of 10 games.

Jeffery, who was selected by the IceDogs in the 2023 Ontario Hockey League U18 draft and has been the Falcons starting netminder this season, was named the game’s first star. Following a quick interview on the bench following the game, Jeffery made his way into the dressing room where he was doused with water in celebration by his teammates.

“Oh yeah, it was awesome,” he smiled. “Everyone was just so happy. It made it seem like the team got so much closer.”

Jeffery, who made his first OHL start in a 5-1 loss at Owen Sound Wednesday, was able to share the moment with those closest to him.

“So many people came — friends, teammates, staff, the Falcons — it was really special being able to play in front of everyone,” he said. “It was a really good feeling.”

IceDogs coach Ben Boudreau was thrilled for Jeffery and the team, who have endured some frustrating nights the last several weeks.

“I don’t know if that was written on the bingo card tonight,” Boudreau said. “Taking a 12-game losing streak into the best team that this nation has seen, but it just goes to show when you play as a team, anything is achievable. And we had belief and we had a will to win tonight. 

“That’s probably one of the most relieving feelings that you could experience with what our team was going through. Honestly, if you just look on paper from what we were doing, you’d say that we had no chance to win tonight.”

Jeffery started in place of rookie Matthew Humphries, who has been thrown into action with veterans Owen Flores and Charlie Robertson out with injuries. Robertson is gone for the season but Flores is expected back for the playoffs.

Boudreau was impressed the way Jeffery handled himself.

“You don’t know why he’s playing a junior B,” he said. “He looks every day like an OHL goalkeeper. He stopped (Easton) Cowan on a breakaway, a back door one-timer, and his puck control was unbelievable. “It gives you confidence. We had confidence behind him and we had a little bit of goal scoring. We found a way to generate some offence tonight and he found a way to shut the door the rest of the way. So a complete team effort from top to bottom.”

Boudreau feels Jeffery deserves another shot in goal.

“How could you not want to see him again? The way he looks, he looks like a confident goalie, the way he would after having played a couple years in junior hockey. With such a big win facing some really tough shooters and some great playmakers, you look at it and say you’ve got to try to ride the hot hand a little bit, but that’s something that the management and the coaching staff will talk about and see what the best thing is going forward, being mindful that you still want Humphries to develop and you only have so many games left in the regular season.

“I think it’s Jeffrey’s night and as it should be. So we’ll see what happens next. But for tonight, that’s an unbelievable fairy tale moment for him to get his first win against all these world junior guys, top-ranked team in Canada. You couldn’t have asked for a better story for a kid to get his first OHL win.”

Jeffery said he is ready for whatever is up next.

“I’m not really too sure. I’m just taking it whenever they need me or whenever they’re going to call my name, I’ll be ready to go and excited for the opportunity.”

London led 2-1 after one period before the IceDogs took a 3-2 lead following 40 minutes. 

The third period saw the IceDogs extend their lead to two goals twice, only to see the Knights narrow the gap back to one. Kevin He then iced the game away, scoring into an empty net to complete the hat-trick.

Jeffery said he tried not to get caught up in the moment.

“I never tried to get too comfortable out there, because really anyone on their team can score. So you just have to focus on the next shot every single time and try not to get ahead of yourself during the game,” he said. “You have to respect the team because they have a lot of guys, everyone can shoot on their team. everyone’s got a hard shot, but you just have to treat it like any other game. You just have to go in there with the same mindset, wanting to win the game. And I thought everyone on the team had one goal, and it was they wanted to win.”

The IceDogs presented Jeffery with the game puck following the win.

“I think it’s going to just stay in my stall and bring it home to St. Catharines.” 

Ice cubes: Owen Flores, Charlie Robertson, Rafek Dianov and Charlie Hotles were scratched for the IceDogs . . .  Former Pelham Panther Noah Aboflan was scratched for the Knights. Aboflan has four goals and four assists in 32 games . . . Former Falcon Noah Read has seven goals and 19 points in 35 games for the Knights.

STATS PACK

IceDogs 6 Knights 4

IceDogs goaltender Hayden Jeffery and Knights defenceman Sam Dickinson.

Niagara IceDogs: Kevin He 3 (29,30,31); Ryan Roobroeck (36); Ethan Czata (19); Ivan Galiyanov (9).

London Knights: Sam Dickinson (24); Denver Barkley (23); Sam O’Reilly (22); Kasper Halttunen (15).

Game stats: Shots on goal: By Niagara on Aleksei Medvedev (32), by London by Hayden Jeffery (44); Power plays: Niagara 2/4, London 2/5; Penalty minutes: Niagara 19, London 17.

Attendance: 5,300 (sell out).

Up next: At Sudbury Wednesday, at North Bay Thursday.

Dear reader. If you liked this story or one of the 6,600 other stories found on our website, please consider hitting the Support Us button on the right-hand side of our home page and making a PayPal contribution to our website. Your support would be much appreciated. If you are a business owner, please consider advertising on our site. Our rates are reasonable and we provide plenty of exposure for your business. Contact [email protected] for more information.