Rail Yard Dawgs Win In A Overtime Thriller On New Years Eve (12-31-23)

By: Joey Raymond

Headline Photo Credit: Katie Lovell-LMS Network

Roanoke, VA –Happy New Year’s Eve everyone! After rattling off six goals last night against the Huntsville Havoc, the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs are back at it against arch-rival, the Knoxville Ice Bears. Both of these squads excel in defense and that should make for a very interesting battle between the lines tonight in the Star City. Knoxville comes into this game on kind of a skid, dropping the last five games in a row, and only getting one out of a possible 10 points. Roanoke has a lot of momentum coming into this matchup, with a record of 7-3-1 over the last 11 games. However, when these two teams meet you can pretty much throw out the records because these two teams don’t like each other. Last December was the infamous “Goalie fight” game, so look for there to be a lot of ferocity between these two squads.

First Period Recap:

The infamous New Year’s Eve game in Roanoke starts with a fairly large crowd in attendance, as usual for this game. As the big hits came and went and bodies flew down the ice, roughly seven minutes into the game, we still had no movement in the stat sheet. We knew coming into this matchup that defense would reign supreme and the first ten minutes were a prime example of that. Three minutes would pass and Roanoke would strike first. They’d find themselves in a three-on-two situation that they would take full advantage of, taking an early 1-0 lead. The shot disparity with five minutes left in the first is immense. Roanoke has 15 shots on goal in comparison to Knoxville’s 3. However, that wouldn’t count the Ice Bears out. Right at the 5-minute mark Knoxville would catch a break in Roanoke’s defense, managing to fire a shot past Austin Roudebush that went into the back of the net. That would tie the game up at 1-1. Not even 20 seconds would pass before we would see our first penalties and fight of the game. As a result, both teams would have to play short-handed, and we’d see 4 4 hockey for two minutes. Both teams would remain scoreless after the two minutes ended. Only a few seconds later Knoxville would go sit in the box again, this time alone, giving Roanoke a shot with a man advantage. Roanoke wouldn’t take long to score on the power play, only letting 50 seconds pass before firing a rocket into the net and taking a 2-1 lead. The last couple minutes of the period would come and go without another score, but the energy in the arena was palpable.

Second Period Recap:

​The Dawgs get the puck to start the second period and immediately start their offensive onslaught again, getting a couple of shots toward the net. Roanoke’s aggressive nature out of the break would come with consequences about four minutes into the period. The Dawgs would get called for interference and that would put the Ice Bears on the power play. The Dawgs would successfully kill the penalty but not before missing several short-handed goal chances. As that penalty expired, we’d see another penalty get enforced. Both teams would be sent to the box for the second time in this game. Once again, no movement would be made on the stat sheet as a result of the four-on-four. As soon as four-on-four hockey was done, Knoxville would take another seat in the penalty box, putting Roanoke on the power play again. Unfortunately for Roanoke, they wouldn’t be able to score on this power play, as they did the previous one. Knoxville would take advantage of the momentum from the penalty kill, scoring only briefly after killing the power play to tie it back up at 2-2. The rest of the second period would be quiet on both sides, with no penalties or goals for the rest of the second.

Third Period Recap:

​Overall both squads come out slow to start the third period. Amongst several turnovers, big hits, and shots on goal the first four minutes of the period are fairly quiet. Six minutes into the period we’d see our first penalty in the period. Knoxville would go on the power play and take full advantage, scoring almost as soon as it started, taking their first lead of the night with a score of 2-3. Don’t count the Dawgs out though as not but a couple of minutes after they’d get a breakaway chance and bury the puck on the goalkeeper’s stick side to tie it back up at 3-3. Knoxville would try to swing momentum back in their favor with just over 10 minutes left in the period. The Ice Bears would fire a shot that would squeak past Roudebush and into the net to give the Ice Bears the lead back, with a score of 3-4. The Berglund Center is in stunned silence after the goal. Thankfully for the fans, they wouldn’t need to wait too long for a response from Roanoke. Four minutes would pass from the previous goal when the Dawgs would find gold and score to tie us up again at 4-4. The game would end landlocked at 4-4, even though the Dawgs would come close to scoring on multiple chances.

Overtime Period Recap and What’s Next:

​Per SPHL rules we’ll have three-on-three hockey in a 5 minute overtime period. It would only take a whopping 22 seconds before Roanoke would get a massive slap shot off of the stick of Dominiks Marcinkevics that would find the back of the net. This would give Roanoke a much-needed overtime win with a score of 5-4.

​Both of these teams will get a couple of days to recuperate after playing a grueling three games in a row. Roanoke and Knoxville will both get a chance to play again on January 5th. Roanoke will get to stay at home where they have been red hot as of late and get to host the Birmingham Bulls. Knoxville on the other hand will travel down to Fayetteville and play the Marksmen. After the three-game set the Dawgs just took complete control of fourth place in the standings of the SPHL. Roanoke still has a lot of work to do if they want to continue to move up in the standings, as the next-highest team is still 5 points ahead of them.