Roanoke Rolls Past Quad City 7-1, Advances To Next Round In The SPHL Playoffs (4-13-24)
By: Joey Raymond
All Photo Credit: Katie Lovell-LMS Network
Roanoke, VA –It’s a winner-take-all matchup in the Berglund Center as the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs welcomed the Quad City Storm in game 3 of the first round in the SPHL playoffs. Roanoke was put up against the ropes last night as the Storm led for roughly 55 of 60 minutes in that game. It took goals within seconds of each other from Steven Alvo and Alex DiCarlo to give the Dawgs the late lead. They would hold on despite being down 4 men to 6, thanks to a late power play for Quad City. With everything on the line tonight, and only one team to survive and advance, it would take a lot of mental fortitude and physical toughness to win tonight’s game.
It would only take four minutes of play before the Dawgs would find themselves with an opportunity. Owen McDade and Alex DiCarlo would skate hard down the ice where they found themselves in an odd-man rush. DiCarlo would drag the defender towards him, allowing McDade to sneak free and rocket the puck into the net, giving the Dawgs a 1-0 lead. That would only be a sign of what was to come for Roanoke. The magical duo of Alex DiCarlo and Owen McDade would strike again only a few minutes later. This time the goal would come off the stick of Alex DiCarlo, as Roanoke takes a 2-0 lead. After the goal, the Berglund Center would erupt, reaching a fever pitch as the clock winded down on the first period.
The second period the Dawgs would start in a bit of a pickle. Aidan Girduckis got called for a double minor high sticking penalty after just 2 minutes into the period. This meant a 4-minute power play for the Storm. Quad City would not take long to take full advantage of the power play, scoring on an open chance up the middle from Logan Nelson. Thanks to the double minor penalty, the Storm would stay on the power play for another 2 minutes. Roanoke did manage to kill the second half of the penalty without allowing a goal. The game continued and with 12 minutes left, the Dawgs would find themselves on the power play thanks to a tripping penalty courtesy of Quad Tommy Tsicos. That’s when chaos would break loose.
During the power play, the Storm would find themselves in more trouble as Alex Pommerville committed an interference penalty with only a mere 14 seconds left on the power play. Quad City would kill the first penalty, and while trying to kill the second, gets called for a third penalty. The Storm’s Doug Blaisdell would commit a slashing penalty, giving the Dawgs a 5 on 3 advantage for 48 seconds. The Storm managed to kill the second penalty, but a minute into the kill, the Dawgs would score again. Almost automatic on the power play, Brenden Pepe would find himself with the puck, and fire a shot into the net to give the Dawgs a 3 to 1 lead.
In the third period, the Dawgs would put their foot on the pedal and not look back. Roanoke would be quick to strike in the third, only allowing a minute to pass before the puck found the back of the net. CJ Stubbs had found himself in a perfect position to shoot the puck underneath the goalie on the glove side to give the Dawgs a 4-1 lead. Roanoke wasn’t even close to being done. Almost immediately following a penalty kill, Quad City would take another seat in the penalty box thanks to a blatant cross-checking penalty from Eliott St-Pierre. The Dawgs would take that momentum and before Quad City could even blink, Roanoke’s Brenden Pepe would fire a shot into the net from about a foot in front of the blue line, giving the Dawgs a 5 to 1 lead.
Continuing to dominate the period, with 5 minutes left Roanoke’s John MacDonald and Quad City’s Patriks Marcinkevics would find themselves in the penalty box after getting into a scuffle. As a result, both of them got to spend 2 minutes roughing. During the penalty, the Storm would pull their goalie, which would prove to be a fatal mistake. Roanoke would fire an empty netter from the opposite side of the ice off the stick of Billy Roche. The empty netter would be Roanoke’s 6th goal, giving them a 6-1 lead. Under a sea of ‘warm up the bus’ chants the 7th Roanoke goal would come not too long after, as CJ Stubbs would find a space under the goalie to give the Dawgs a 7-1 lead.
The clock would finally put the Storm out of their misery before Roanoke could score again. With the win, Roanoke moves on to the next round of the SPHL playoffs, and unfortunately for Quad City, they’ll head home as their season comes to an abrupt end. The Dawgs will spend tonight celebrating, but not for long. When asked about when the team would shift their eyes to the next series, head coach Dan Bremner responded with one word, “tonight.” As far as who their opponent is, we won’t know until April 14th. This Roanoke team likely doesn’t care, as they’ll be ready to take on anyone.
