IceDogs go with the Flo
Owen Flores was at it again for the Niagara IceDogs Sunday.
The 20-year-old goaltender, who has been a model of consistency and brilliance this season, turned back 43 shots as the IceDogs held off the Brantford Bulldogs 4-3 in Ontario Hockey League action in St. Catharines.
Flores was at his best with the game on the line in the third period, allowing only one goal as the Bulldogs outshot the IceDogs by a whopping 16-4 margin in the final frame.
“I felt great, especially with the rivalry down the road,” Flores said. “We play them a lot and every game matters so we take it seriously.”
Flores has stepped up his game in his overage season.
“I think it’s kind of just time. Goalies take a little longer to develop. Obviously in the first few years you’re just getting used it and then when you’re in your third and fourth and maybe fifth year, everything seems a little slower,” he said.
The IceDogs took a 4-2 lead into the third period and held on as the Bulldogs pressed and finally got to within one with eight seconds remaining.
“I thought we got on our heels when we had that two-goal lead and we slipped there a little bit as far as putting games back-to-back together. We forgot what it was like to hold on to the lead, and then we got on our heels too much and relied on Owen,” IceDogs coach Ben Boudreau said.
Flores, who was making his 17th straight start, improved his record to 14-7-2.
“Show me a good coach and I’ll show you a good goalie,” Boudreau added. “I know that expression has been around for a long time but in order to win anything in your life, you’re going to have to find a way to stop the puck and Owen Flores is going to make your team look good and cover up a lot of mistakes.”
Boudreau feels Flores is playing as well as anyone he has ever played with or coached.
“I’ve been fortunate to win quite a bit as a head coach —I’ve won a championship — and we’ve had a lot of great goalies through there but Owen is right up there as far as his impact on this team.”
Flores might have had an easier game had the IceDogs capitalized with the man advantage. Niagara looked out of synch going scoreless in three opportunities on the power play.
“Well, we just weren’t shooting the puck. You can’t score unless you shoot,” Boudreau said. “We’re trying to be too cute and again you gotta find a way to get the puck to the net and I didn’t think we did that.
“They did a good job of keeping us to the outside and you know they frustrated us. At the end of the day you just gotta get pucks to the net and hopefully you get a lucky one somewhere like that and if you’re not shooting you don’t have those breaks.”
The IceDogs improved to 17-9-1-1, equalling their win total from all of last season.
“We did it in 40 games fewer than an entire season,” Boudreau said. “Every single one of them feels just as good as the other one. I think it’s a good sign that our organization is on the right track. The culture that we’re establishing here is being driven by a young core group and the fact that we got last season’s win output in 40 games fewer is a huge sign that this is a positive step in the right direction.”
The IceDogs now play their next seven games on the road before returning home New Year’s Eve versus Peterborough.
“We’ve got a long-term goal of making the playoffs and we go about trying to achieve it in small increments every single week, by being .500 or more every week,” Boudreau said. “They’re all going to add up and we’ve only lost one weekend. We’re looking at the road trip just as a three-game segment, and then a two-game segment, and then another two-game segment as we go along.”
Ice cubes: Rafek Dianov, Mathieu Paris, Charlie Hotles, Nick Frasca and Darcy Dewatcher (warm-up only) did not dress for the IceDogs . . . Former IceDog Zakary Lavoie earned an assist on Brantford’s second goal . . . Blake Arrowsmith scored his first as an IceDog . . . Ethan Czata 2 (8,9); Ryan Roobroeck (20); Alex Assadourian (5) and Noah Van Vliet (2) scored Friday in a 5-4 win over Brampton.
STATS PACK
IceDogs 4 Bulldogs 3
Owen Flores of Niagara and Nick Lardis of Brantford.
Niagara IceDogs: Alex Assadourian (6); Blake Arrowsmith (5); Sean Doherty (4); Braidy Wassilyn (4).
Brantford Bulldogs: Nick Lardis (25); Jake O’Brien (14); Cole Brown (13).
Game stats: Shots on goal: By Niagara on David Egorov (27), by Brantford on Owen Flores (46); Power plays: Niagara 0/3, Brantford 2/3; Penalty minutes: Niagara 8, Brantford 8.
Attendance: 3,267.
Next up: The IceDogs go on a seven-game road trip starting in North Bay Thursday.
With files from the Armchair GM’s Sports Network.
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