Paris pots winner versus Petes
Mathieu Paris is making up for lost time.
The Ottawa native missed 23 games with a knee injury but returned to the lineup earlier in this month and has made an immediate impact.
Paris netted the winner with less than four minutes to play to lift the Niagara IceDogs past the Peterborough Petes 3-2 before a sold-out crowd of 5,300 fans Tuesday night in St. Catharines.
Paris, who returned to the lineup Dec. 12 at North Bay, now has seven points in his last five games.
“It feels good to get my legs back under me and get into the rhythm of a game and now I’ve been contributing,” Paris said. “It feels nice.”
Paris, who turns 20 New Year’s Day, admitted it was difficult to watch the game from the press box while he convalesced.
“It’s hard to sit out. It’s hard to watch when a team’s playing well and it’s just hard to miss out on that kind of stuff, but it feels great to be back,” he said. “I think just the team winning and the spirits being high in the room, I think that’s what kept me going and got me motivated every day to get out of bed, go to the rink, do my stuff and stay positive all year.”
Paris was off the ice for eight weeks and then spent two weeks skating and getting back into shape.
“I did a lot of rehab every day with our athletic therapist and every day doing workouts for my knee just to strengthen that muscle so it could be stable,” Paris said.
IceDogs coach Ben Boudreau said Paris has taken advantage of increased ice time.
“He got elevated to a top-line role and he found a way to make a difference,” Boudreau said. “Scoring the game winner, that’s what good players do and we reward those players when you can.
“He’s hot right now and he’s coming into his own.”
The IceDogs fell behind 2-0 in the first before rallying with a pair of quick goals before the end of the period.
Overall, Boudreau was pleased with the defensive effort following a pair of sub-par performances in Michigan over the weekend.
“We changed all three defensive systems. We spent 70 minutes in practice,” Boudreau said. “With the season being half over we had to look at ourselves in the mirror and find out what kind of identity we have. We’re a high-scoring team with two very good goalies but we don’t have too many defensive stats we’re proud of and we found a way to systematically change that.
“It was the first game in a long time we’ve kept it to two or under (goals against). It was great to see we didn’t need seven goals to win.”
Boudreau said the players appreciated playing before the first sell-out crowd of the season.
“We were very cognizant of the support that we had in the stands, that was unbelievable,” he said. “It was a real big buzz inside the room and we wanted to find a way to play for them.”
Former IceDogs captain Gavin Bryant scored a goal for the Petes and also mixed it up in a scrum at the end of the game before ending up in a shouting match with Niagara goalie Owen Flores as he left the ice.
Ice cubes: Jack Brauti (suspended, one of two), Darcy Dewachter, Charlie Hotles and Rafek Dianov did not dress for the IceDogs.
STATS PACK
IceDogs 3 Petes 2
Niagara forward Mathieu Paris and Owen Sound forward Gavin Bryant.
Niagara IceDogs: Ethan Czata (16); Braidy Wassilyn (6); Mathieu Paris (2).
Peterborough Petes: Gavin Bryant (7); Carson Cameron (6);
Game stats: Shots on goal: By Niagara on Easton Rye (35), by Peterborough on Owen Flores (33); Power plays: Niagara 1/4, Peterborough 0/6; Penalty minutes: Niagara 19, Peterborough 22.
Attendance: 5,300 (sell out).
Next up: The IceDogs are at London Friday, at Owen Sound Saturday and home to Windsor Sunday at 2 p.m.
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