Thomas goes out on a high
It could be a while before Akil Thomas suits up for the Niagara IceDogs again.
The 19-year-old captain leaves the team Monday to attend Hockey Canada’s selection camp in Oakville for the World Junior Championships. But before he left, Thomas gave his teammates and a sold out crowd at the Meridian Centre something to remember him by.
Thomas fired the game-winning goal with less than a minute to play to give the IceDogs a 6-5 win over the Sarnia Sting in Ontario Hockey League action Saturday at the Meridian Centre.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “It was so much fun tonight. It felt like the playoffs last year and I thought we played well.
“It was a really fun game and I’m lucky to end it off like that.”
Thomas can’t wait to get started on his quest to make Team Canada and play in the 2020 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship, in Ostrava and Trinec in the Czech Republic.
“I’m super-excited,” he said. “I’ve been dreaming of this for a long time and been watching them every year. Now I’m just trying to process that it could be me now. It’s kind of surreal and I’m going to do my best to make the team.”
Thomas has fond memories of watching the junior tournament over the Christmas holidays when he was younger.
“I lived in Florida growing up but I came to Toronto every Christmas and obviously it’s the only thing on TV in Canada at Christmas,” he said. “I grew up watching it, every game with the family.
“It feels like the NHL the way everyone has so much passion for it.”
Thomas said the team is scheduled to have three practices and two exhibition games before the squad is selected.
“It happens pretty quick,” he said. “I just have to play well and give it my best.”
If he makes the squad, Thomas will be gone for a month.
IceDogs coach Billy Burke is obviously going to miss Thomas, but would love to see him experience suiting up for Team Canada.
“You can’t put into words or quantify how much he does for this team on the ice, off the ice,” Burke said. “He does video with young guys, works with centres on face-offs. He’s just an unbelievable person.
“On the ice, I can trust him in any situation. I’ve seen him grow into a man.”
Thomas’ goal capped a wild and entertaining game that saw just everything from good goals, to bad goals, to video challenges, to even a fight between Niagara’s Andrew Bruder and Sarnia’s Sean Josling.
“It was a very exciting game,” Burke said. “Obviously, not exactly how we would have wanted it, but I thought the guys came out with tremendous effort and did a great job right away.”
The IceDogs grabbed a 2-1 lead after one period on goals by Ivan Lodnia and Oliver Castleman sandwiched around a goal by Sarnia’s Colton Kammerer.
Both teams seemed to be in ornery moods after coming off losses in their previous outings. The IceDogs fell 5-1 to Sault Ste. Marie Thursday while the Sting dropped a wild 11-8 decision to Saginaw.
“You’re going to have lulls like that,” Burke said. “We had about a nine-game stretch where we were pretty good. We came home and had that letdown unfortunately but a sold-out rink tonight was electric right from the anthem so the crowd really pushed us along, especially in the third there where we were down.”
All hell broke loose in the second as the teams combined to score five goals in less than four minutes. It could have been more but the IceDogs had a goal nullified on an off-side after a video review. The teams headed into the third tied 4-4.
Sarnia grabbed a 5-4 lead early in the third on a controversial goal that was originally waved off, then called a goal after a video review. Niagara then challenged the goal for goaltender interference, but the goal stood. A few minutes later there was another review on a Sarnia shot but it was ruled no goal.
Lodnia later tied the game at 5-5 with his second of the night.
Ice cubes: Landon Cato, Giancarlo Stanton, Ryan Campbell and Lucas Theriault did not dress for the IceDogs . . . More than 4,000 stuffed animals were thrown on the ice after the IceDogs first goal in support of Community Care of St. Catharines and Thorold and the United Way . . . The press room no longer has to rely on a whiteboard to provide pre-game information for the media. A TV monitor is now used to display the information. Very impressive . . . Elijah Roberts collected an assist for his 100th OHL point . . . Niagara’s Kyen Sopa and Giancarlo Chanton have been invited to Switzerland’s U20 selection camp beginning next week.
IceDogs 6 Sting 5.
BPSN Star of the Game: IceDogs captain Akil Thomas with the winning goal at 19:12 of the third period.
Niagara IceDogs: Thomas (15); Ivan Lodnia 2 (14, 15); Oliver Castleman 2 (10, 11); Andrew Bruder (7);
Sarnia Sting: Sean Joshling (23); Jameson Rees (15); Erik Hjorth (6); Colton Kammerer (3); Marek Burka (2).
Game stats: Shots on goal: By Niagara on Ethan Langevin (30), by Sarnia on Tucker Tynan (42); Power plays: Niagara 1-for-2, Sarnia 0-for-3; Penalty minutes: Niagara 15, Sarnia 13.
Attendance: 5,345.
Up next: The IceDogs host the London Knights Thursday, Dec. 12 versus the London Knights.
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