Machala breaks out of slump
Import forward Ondrej Machala scored the winner Friday as the Niagara IceDogs edged the Guelph Storm. PHOTO BY: TERRY WILSON/OHL IMAGES
Ondrej Machala couldn’t have picked a better time to break out of his season-long slump.
The import forward had been held scoreless this season until Friday when he netted the winning goal late in the third period as the Niagara IceDogs edged the Guelph Storm 3-1 in an Ontario Hockey League game at the Sleeman Centre.
Machala’s goal came at the 16:45 mark of the third and broke a 1-1 tie.
“I’ve been feeling for him,” Niagara coach Billy Burke said of Machala. “He has been pushing and he really wanted it badly and sometimes when you push so hard it goes the other way on you.”
Burke said Machala was doing all the little things to try and help the team any way he could while he was in his funk.
“He was making sure he was defence first and he wasn’t cheating and he was a great teammate to the other guys,” Burke said. “We were giving him some penalty killing and he was doing well at that and on the power play so it was great to see him go to the front of the net and get rewarded. I’m sure the floodgates will open now and he’ll get rewarded.”
Burke said the club played a strong road game focusing on defence first.
“The first two periods especially the guys really bought into what Ted (Dent), Kris (Sparre) and I were really preaching about all day today about being patient and not wanting to go chance for chance against those guys.
“It was a real big focus on us to have a good effort in the offensive zone, make sure the defence were smart with their pinches and then to have bodies back in the neutral zone. I was really proud of the guys. They really bought in for each other and were able to grind it out.”
Following a scoreless first period Corneil opened the scoring with his second of the season near the halfway mark of the second. Guelph responded with an early goal in the third by Zach Poirier to tie the game at 1-1.
Stephen Dhillon made 24 saves for the win.
Niagara have won three straight to improve to 6-2.
The IceDogs are in Erie Saturday. They return home to the Meridian Centre Thursday versus the Mississauga Steelheads.
Ice cubes: The IceDogs have traded defenceman Andrew Somerville to the Guelph Storm in exchange for North Bay’s 14th round pick in this year’s OHL draft. The St. Catharines native was drafted by the IceDogs in the 14th round of the 2015 OHL draft.
