IceDogs drop a pair
The Niagara IceDogs dropped a pair of games to the Guelph Storm over the weekend. Photo by: VIVID EYE PHOTOGRAPHY.
Niagara IceDogs head coach Billy Burke isn’t overly concerned after the IceDogs dropped a pair of Ontario Hockey League exhibition games over the weekend to the Guelph Storm.
The IceDogs began the weekend with a 6-4 loss in Guelph Friday followed by a 2-1 defeat at home Saturday before a capacity crowd of 1,000 as permitted by COVID guidelines.
“Obviously, we want to win every game that we play,” Burke said. “There’s no doubt we definitely wanted to win both games against Guelph, but saying that, there are more important things than just wins and losses right now.
“We still committed to playing these young guys in all different situations. Even though we didn’t get the results we wanted, there were still a ton of positives and also some things we need to continue to clean up to make sure that we’re really hitting our stride come the start of the regular season.”
Rookie Pano Fimis scored his first goal for the IceDogs in the Saturday game while goaltender Josh Rosenzweig turned in a solid effort with 41 saves.
Braeden Bowman and Matthew Poitras replied for the Storm.
Friday in Guelph, Declan Waddick, Rodwin Dionicio, Cam Snow and Jonah DeSimone scored for the IceDogs, who led 4-2 late in the third before Guelph stormed back with four goals in the last five minutes of play versus rookie netminder Joseph Costanzo.
“I thought Costanzo played a great game,” Burke said. “It was his first OHL start and it was on the road in Guelph, so a ton of positives definitely. He did a great job of keeping us in it.”
Burke would like to see the IceDogs tighten up in their own end, particularly late in games.
“We’ve been competitive in every game, unfortunately in our three losses we’ve blown two third-period leads, so whether that’s pre-season or not, it’s something that we’re going start to adjust today.”
The IceDogs are in Kitchener Friday and home to the Rangers Saturday for their final two exhibition games before the regular season begins Thursday, Oct. 7 in Barrie.
“I have no problem with this extended preseason,” Burke said. “Usually we’d be ramping up for the regular season now. It really is a good benefit for us. We’ve all been pouring through the video yesterday and today. We’ll definitely be spending a little bit longer in the video room than we did last week and just keep building and continue to tidy up things, particularly away from the puck. You can still definitely see some minor hockey habits in the guys, and that’s totally normal, so we’ll keep watching video and keep going through situations.”
Ice cubes: GiantFM and Country89 is now the team’s exclusive radio broadcast partner. The stations will be delivering live coverage of all IceDogs’ games this season live on GiantFM and Country89. Fans can also listen live by downloading the stations’ apps or visiting them online at: https://www.giantfm.com/ and https://www.country89.com/.
The voice of the IceDogs will be Ted Lehman.
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