IceDogs take care of business
Ivan Lodnia of the Niagara IceDogs. Photo by Terry Wilson / OHL Images.
It didn’t take Ivan Lodnia long to make his presence felt.
The veteran winger scored twice after 25 games on the sidelines with a high ankle sprain as the Niagara IceDogs blanked the Peterborough Petes 5-0 in Ontario Hockey League action Saturday in St. Catharines.
Lodnia, who last played Dec.15 versus Oshawa, now has 14 goals and 36 points in 32 games.
Niagara coach Billy Burke was happy to see Lodnia back in the lineup.
“It was fantastic,” Burke said. “It’s the team Joey (assistant general manager Joey Burke) built. It’s what we’ve been looking at. We’re at basically everyone going except (Andrew) Bruder.
“It’s exciting. We’ve gone through a ton of adversity and a ton of injuries with guys at different positions and linemates so it’s nice to get a little bit of consistency and see what this team can do.”
Oliver Castleman also scored twice while Philip Tomasino netted his 30th of the season.
The IceDogs led 1-0 after one and 2-0 after two before putting the game away with three goals in the third.
Stephen Dhillon made 31 saves for his fourth shutout of the season and also set an IceDogs team record with his 90th career win surpassing Mark Visentin.
“It’s pretty special,” Dhillon said in a post-game interview posted on niagaraicedogs.net. “It’s a team effort. In all 90 wins, the boys played very well and there’s a couple more probably could have had and hopefully a couple more left in the season.
“The boys blocked shots and cleared rebounds and made my life pretty easy back there.”
The IceDogs followed up Saturday’s victory with a convincing 9-0 win at Owen Sound Sunday afternoon.
Dhillon kicked out 21 saves for his second straight shutout while Ben Jones paced the office with two goals and three assists. Jack Studnicka added a pair while singles went to Matt Brassard Kirill Maksimov, Matthew Philip, Drew Hunter and Akil Thomas. Lodnia added two assists as did Maksimov, Brassard and Jason Robertson.
“It was a great weekend for us,” Burke said. “We took care of business at home and came out focused. I thought Owen Sound came out flying in the first 10 minuets and Dhillon stood on his head. We were able to weather the storm and then got our legs under us.”
The IceDogs have won four in a row and five of their last six.
“It’s a good time to be coming together and playing well,” Burke said. “We have to be doing it the right way and we are. We’re taking care of defence, our shot counts are down, and we’re generating a lot from the defensive zone through the neutral zone.”
The IceDogs are in North Bay Friday, Barrie Saturday and home to Sarnia Sunday, March 3 at 2 p.m.
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