IceDogs come up short twice
Gavin Bryant after scoring Saturday night. Photo by: ZOE PARRY.
Niagara IceDogs head coach Ben Boudreau had no problem finding the silver lining in a pair of weekend losses.
The IceDogs topped the Barrie Colts at home Thursday before losing 3-2 in Guelph Friday followed by another 3-2 loss to the Saginaw Spirt at home Saturday.
“You try and find a positive with every negative,” Boudreau said. “The negative is we lost two of three games, the positive is how we played those three games. From where we’re at now as a team, we have to fight for every single goal we score, but we’re playing the right way. I think we only had one bad period out of the nine.
“I thought we deserved a better fate. We stuck up for each other, we played for each other. It’s a brand new system. We’ve learned how to prepare, we learned how to play for each other and that gives me a lot of positive signs going forward.”
Boudreau pointed to the power play as one area in desperate need of a quick fix.
“We need to find a way to find a goal on the power play,” he said. “That could be the difference in a game and that’s been a sore spot so far this season that has been letting us down. We have to find a way to get one of the extra goals on the power play.”
Boudreau feels any gains the IceDogs make will be made as a group.
“We don’t have any (NHL) draft picks, don’t have those separation breakers that a lot of the teams have. We’re doing it by committee right now. We’re not looking to any one individual to win us the game,” he said.
The IceDogs fell behind 2-0 to the Spirit Saturday after one period. A brief, but intense brawl broke out 11 seconds into the second period that saw four players ejected, including Niagara’s Ryan Humphrey and Connor Federkow.
Boudreau loved the emotional his players showed.
“I want to do the exact opposite of settle them down on the bench, I want them to use their raw emotion and play for one another,” he said. “That brawl there, that was guys fighting for each other, they were fighting for the coach or the other team, they were fighting for each other and it sparked a short-handed goal.”
Indeed, Gavin Bryant netted scored about a minute after order was restored to cut the lead to 2-1. Kevin He then scored a late goal to tie things up 2-2 after 40.
Former IceDog Rodwin Dionicio netted the winner early in the third, becoming the third ex-IceDog to score a winner this season versus his former team. Pano Fimis of Erie and Andrew LeBlanc in Sarnia were the others.
Boudreau feels the best is yet to come for his charges.
“If there wasn’t any belief we would win that score would have been lopsided and they would have given up a long time ago. They fight to the very end because they know they’re a good hockey team, they know they’re a good group.”
The IceDogs, 4-11-4-1, sit 10th in Eastern Conference, seven points out of a playoff spot.
With files from https://www.armchairgmsports.com
STATS PACK
Spirit 3 IceDogs 2
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Niagara IceDogs: Kevin He (10); Gavin Bryant (6).
Saginaw Spirit: Zayne Parekh (7); Hunter Haight (7); Rodwin Dionicio (6).
Game stats: Shots on goal: By Niagara on Andrew Oke (25), by Saginaw on Owen Flores (31); Power plays: Niagara 0/6, Saginaw 1/7; Penalty minutes: Niagara 28, Saginaw 27.
Attendance: 4,502.
Up next: Home to Brantford (9-7-3-1) Thursday.
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