It’s Hockey Season In Roanoke! Rail Yard Dawgs Season Preview (10-17-23)
By : Joey Raymond
All Photo Credit: Katie Lovell-LMS Network
This time of year is always special around the ‘Star City’, but this year has some extra excitement attached to it. Hockey, and more importantly around here, the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs are back! This year they get to raise the banner for a championship. The anticipation around opening night is huge. Roanoke fans truly believe it’s been a long time coming, having made the playoffs and fallen short on multiple occasions. This year is different though, with a ton of returning faces and a well-deserved extension for the head man. Opening night this year is October 20th. The Dawgs have planned a massive celebration where they will raise last year’s banner, and give out the championship rings that come along with it.
So How Did We Get Here?
The Dawgs came into the 2022 season off of a heartbreaking loss in the 2021 championship game against the Peoria Rivermen. In what was already a Cinderella run, the Dawgs did not expect to be in the playoffs, let alone, the championship game. They came into that playoff run as the last wild-card team. The Rail Yard Dawgs had to run the table against the best teams in the league at that point. They upset the number one seed Knoxville Ice Bears, then swept the Huntsville Havoc en route to a championship bid against the Peoria Rivermen. The Dawgs would only win one game in that series and had to watch them lift the President’s Cup on their ice. That left a bitter taste in the Dawg’s mouths.
That bitter taste would follow Roanoke throughout the 2022 season. This time the Dawgs made a big statement by the end of the season. This time, the Dawgs got the fourth-best seed in the playoffs. They took complete advantage. They went on to sweep the five-seeded Evansville Thunderbolts. Afterwards came the Peoria Rivermen. The Dawgs wanted a win, and badly. To lose to the Rivermen this time was not an option. The Dawgs split the first two games of the series and then won the last game of the series in Peoria. After losing on their home ice just a season before, returning the favor felt that much sweeter. Roanoke would then head into the championship game again, this time against the Birmingham Bulls. Again, the Dawgs would split the first two games of the series, this time though, the Dawgs would get two home games to finish the job. The Berglund Center was bursting at the seams as the Dawgs would win both games in overtime, clinching the title at home. Business finished.
What Can We Expect This Year?
The Dawgs are coming into this year on a complete high. They finally reached the top of the mountain, winning the cup. As far as personnel goes, the Dawgs haven’t changed much. Out of the entire roster, the training camp roster only has 6 new faces. That doesn’t happen much. We see it all the time, after a team wins a championship, they typically get gutted. Players retire or leave for different opportunities. The Dawgs, however, have kept the core together. That’s a really good sign for Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs fans. Not only that but the Dawgs added fan favorites Travis Armstrong and Nick DeVito as assistant coaches, under an already proven coaching staff under head coach Dan Bramner. Oh and by the way Dawgs fans, they gave Coach Bramner a well-deserved contract extension through the 25-26 season. They’ve added some bright young talent to complete the core the Dawgs already have, adding guys like Alex Norwinski, Xavier Filon, and Owen McDade, to name a few. They should fit in quite nicely with the play style of the Dawgs.
In short, Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs fans have a ton to not only be grateful for but to be hopeful for. This core has played together and has grown together in a lot of ways already. The fact that they were able to keep a huge chunk of the core together, and improve in areas regardless, is going to be key coming into this season. I would put these ‘dirty dawgs’ as favorites early in the year. There are other promising teams in the league, but early on, it looks like the Dawgs are in a good position to be the first team to repeat since 2018 and 2019 when the Huntsville Havoc did it.
