It’s all about balance for IceDogs
IceDogs forward Jack Studnicka has 17 goals and 33 points in 21 games since being acquired in a trade with Oshawa. PHOTO BY: VIVID EYE PHOTOGRAPHY.
With the Niagara IceDogs finally healthy, head coach Billy Burke and his staff have some work to do.
With an embarrassment of riches up front, the IceDogs are searching for the proper way to employ their forwards and believe that have come up with a formula they are comfortable with.
“We have a ton of talented players, especially on forward, and I’m really liking the balance of the lines now,” Burke said. “It gives us the ability to feel confident to play four lines.”
The IceDogs have tried to load up two top lines, but have always come back to the balanced approach.
“We’ve found that we have a better attack when we can roll out three scoring lines,” Burke said. “It seems right now we’re able to do a good job of grinding teams down and a big part of that is that we have legitimate goal scorers on our top three lines. Having that kind of depth and balance and firepower where you can spread it out over three with a real good complimentary guy, that is the best way to maximize our offence.”
The IceDogs are currently using the following forward units: Jason Robertson, Jack Studnicka and Ivan Lodnia; Matthew Philip, Ben Jones and Kirill Maksimov; Oliver Castleman, Akil Thomas and Philip Tomasino; Kyen Sopa, Bradey Johnson and Jake Uberti with Noah DiSimone as the 13th forward.
But Burke said nothing is set in stone, and circumstances may dictate some tweaking of that philosophy.
“It is in the back of our minds if we get down and need to tie a game with a couple of minutes to go, we certainly have that ability to load up one or two lines,” he said. “There’s always going to be competition. If one guy thinks his work is done because he is on a certain line, he’ll find out quickly that’s not the case. Guys are going to keep pushing from the bottom up.”
With so many legitimate goal scorers, Burke said the coaching staff called a meeting earlier this season to make sure everyone was on the same page.
“Guys are going to have to sacrifice and put ice time and personal accolades on the back burner for the betterment of a team,” he said. “The players want to win a championship and we want to win a championship.
“The guys are buying in and accepting a little bit of a lesser role because there are so many great players to go around. It’s a real good reflection of the leadership and character of the players. Everyone has checked their ego and is in it to win it.”
The IceDogs, who have won four in a row and five of their last six, are at North Bay Friday, Barrie Saturday and home to Sarnia Sunday at 2 p.m.
With three games in two-and-a-half days, the IceDogs were given Monday and Tuesday off before returning to work Wednesday.
“It is a fine balance. The guys are being pros at practice and working their butts off and backing it up in games working within a structure and playing together,” Burke said. “They’ve earned these days off. We’ve found if you drag on three or four practices before a game the guys are almost a little burnt out before the weekend even starts so it’s import to keep them fresh.”
Ice cubes: Goaltender Stephen Dhillon was named the Ontario Hockey League Player of the Week for the second time this season and fifth time in his career. The Buffalo native posted a 1.00 goals-against average, .966 save percentage and earned back-to-back shutouts backstopping Niagara to a 4-0 record. Dhillon earned his 90th victory overtaking Marc Visentin for the franchise record for career wins and a day later broke Visentin’s record with his 31st victory of the season.
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