The Niagara IceDogs and Guelph Storm closed out 2011 with a hard fought battle that saw the visitors emerge victorious by a score of 4-1 in front of a sell out crowd of 3,145 Saturday night in St. Catharines.

The first period saw some great goaltending as the IceDogs and Storm combined for 30 shots, but no goals as the teams entered the first intermission scoreless.  Niagara outshot Guelph 17-13 in the frame.

It looked like the game might remain scoreless through 40 minutes, until Andrew Agozzino opened the scoring with his 20th of the season with less than one minute to go in the second, making it 1-0 in favour of the IceDogs after two.

The third period would prove to be a different story however as Guelph would find the back of the net four times, the last time in the empty net to make it a 4-1 final in favour of Guelph.

Chris Festarini was solid in goal for Niagara despite taking the loss, breaking a personal four game winning streak, stopping 34 of 37 shots.

The Niagara IceDogs next hit the ice next Friday, January 6th at the Gatorade Garden City Complex at 7pm as they play host to the visiting Owen Sound Attack.

The entire IceDogs organization would like to thank all their fans for a great 2011 and we look forward to an even better 2012!

Scoring Summary
2. NIAG A. Agozzino, (20) (S. Shipley, B. Beukeboom), 19:05   
3. GUE J. Auger, (1) (R. Horvat, T. Bertuzzi), 1:49   
3. GUE F. Menard, (11) (S. Kosmachuk, Z. Leslie), 14:23 (SH)  
3. GUE C. McNaughton, (15) (J. Dickinson, Z. Mitchell), 17:38   
3. GUE S. Gaskin, (6) , 18:20 (EN)