Rail Yard Dawgs Dropped A Game To The First-Place Marksmen (12-23-23)
By: Joey Raymond
Headline Photo Credit: Katie Lovell-LMS Network
Roanoke, VA –After a hard-fought battle in Fayetteville, North Carolina last night that ended in the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs getting an overtime win, the Dawgs and Marksmen are set to do battle once again. This time puck drop will be in the Star City, at the Dawg house. Coming into this Christmas Eve Eve battle, Fayetteville finds themselves tied for first place, and Roanoke is in fifth place. Something to keep in mind when looking at the standings though is that Roanoke is only one point behind third-place Peoria. With that being said, the Dawgs seem to have the Marksmen’s number this year, as they’ve been able to snag five wins in the last six games against the Marksmen. That’s a good confidence building for Roanoke coming into this matchup.
First Quarter Recap:
Puck drops in the star city and we’re off! As to be expected, the game starts with several hard hits against the boards and a ton of chirping. These two teams seriously do not like each other. The Dawgs come out of the gate as the aggressors, putting up 6 shots on the net in the first 6 minutes. They’re also the first to get called for a penalty, getting called for roughing, giving Fayetteville an early chance at a power play. Roanoke successfully kills the penalty, keeping the score tied at 0-0. Only a couple minutes later, the Marksmen would get called for tripping, giving Roanoke a shot at the power play. The Marksmen return the favor, killing off that penalty. Several minutes would pass after when the Dawgs and Marksmen would get into an entire team brawl, where every player on the ice drops gloves and goes at it. Thanks to the brawl, Fayetteville gets to sit in the penalty box again, putting the Dawgs on the power play for the second time tonight. Roanoke would take full advantage of the extra man, scoring on the power play, bringing the score to 1-0. Time would soon expire on the period, but before heading to the locker room, we’d have yet another scuff between the teams. No penalties would be issued this time around though, as the teams were just ushered into the locker rooms after they broke up the fight.
Second Quarter Recap:
The second period starts slowly, with both teams not getting any shots on goal for the first couple of minutes. Around four minutes in, the Dawgs get called for a roughing penalty, sending the Marksmen on another power play. Roanoke’s penalty kill would be successful, killing off the penalty with ease. Back and forth the teams continued, as the next bit of action would come with about 12 minutes left in the period. Fayetteville would get called for cross-checking, effectively putting the Dawgs on yet another power play. Unfortunately for Roanoke, the Marksmen would be able to kill this penalty as well, keeping the score at 1-0. Only a couple of minutes after the penalty kill though, the Marksmen would need to kill another penalty. Fayetteville gets called for hooking, putting the Dawgs on the power play once again. They’d be successful at keeping the score at 1-0, killing off another penalty. With roughly five minutes left, the Dawgs would get called for a penalty, putting the Marksmen on another power play. The Marksmen would take advantage this time, finding a crack in the Roanoke defense, scoring, and tying the game at 1-1. With two minutes left in the period, Roanoke would get called for another penalty. The Marksmen would be unsuccessful in scoring this time around, ending the period, and the power play with the score still tied 1-1.
Third Period Recap:
With a tie game, this game is shaping up to come down to the wire. Early in the period, you can tell that both of these teams are tired. The squads have slowed down and are putting fewer shots on goal early on. 7 minutes would pass in the period before we’d see the first penalty of the period. Roanoke would take a seat for a tripping call. Fayetteville would make quick work of the power play, scoring and taking a 1-2 lead. Not even two minutes passed before Roanoke would get called for another penalty. Fayetteville would not be able to score on this power play, as the Dawgs killed it with ease. Time would keep ticking away along with Roanoke’s chances to win this game. The Dawgs would call a timeout with a minute and fifteen on the clock to discuss things. Roanoke would pull the goalkeeper out of the timeout to gain a man advantage. Unfortunately for Roanoke, they wouldn’t be able to score again, even with the man advantage. The game would finish with Fayetteville coming away with their first win in regulation against the Dawgs this season.
What’s Next?
After a game that saw a whopping 17 penalties in totality, the Dawgs dropped a game to the first-place Marksmen. Coming into this game, we knew this would be hard fought, but I don’t think anyone could have seen this many penalties coming. Unfortunately for the Marksmen, the Birmingham Bulls also would come away with a win so they’ll remain tied for the top spot. Roanoke seems to still be trying to find their footing. They keep trying different lines with different personnel but the offense still seems to be behind the curve. Roanoke will head down the road to Knoxville, Tennessee to face the Ice Bears on Tuesday, December 26th. That should be a great game as the Dawgs and Ice Bears always put on a good show. As for Fayetteville, they’ll wait until December 29th for their next game where they’ll also head to Knoxville to play the Ice Bears. They’ll play a home and home, playing both home and away against Knoxville.
