The Niagara IceDogs picked up their third win of the weekend, and third consecutive win against the Brampton Battalion as they defeated the Troops 3-1 in a close battle Sunday afternoon at the Powerade Centre.

Brampton opened the scoring at the 4:01 mark of the first period as Sam Carrick put one past Mark Visentin, unassisted, to give the Battalion an early 1-0 lead.

If there has been a most improved player for the IceDogs this season, it has to be Johnson Andrews. Coming off a spirited scrap last night against Sudbury’s Kyle Tarini, Andrews kept up his tenacious play by scoring the first goal for Niagara on a beautiful play in front of the Battalion net to tie the game 1-1.

Andrews has been on somewhat of a streak lately, and his noticeable improvement and confidence on the ice has helped the Dogs immensely.

The rest of the first period was scoreless, and the two teams went into the dressing rooms with an even score of 1-1.

The second period was scoreless, with the shots being 19-16 in Brampton’s favour. Whenever the these teams meet, it seems to be a goaltender’s battle as neither team manages to score a high number of goals against one another. The score remained at 1-1 after 2 periods of play.

It took over 31 minutes for another goal to be scored, and it was a fluky one at that. Battalion goaltender Patrick Killeen came out of his net to play the puck, making a pass that landed right on the stick of Niagara’s Marco Insam, who made no mistake in putting it into the empty net to give the Dogs a 2-1 lead midway through the third.

The Battalion pulled Killeen for a last-ditch effort to tie the game, but IceDogs assistant captain Alex Friesen pocketed the empty net goal to give the IceDogs three consecutive wins against Brampton, and a perfect 3-0 weekend.

Niagara plays two home games next weekend; the first game taking place on Thursday, March 11, as they host to their potential playoff opponents, the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors, with the puck drop set for 7:30 p.m. The Belleville Bulls will then take a turn visiting the Gatorade Garden City Complex on Saturday, March 13, at 7:00 p.m. These games will be the last two IceDogs home games of the regular season, so hurry up and get your tickets from any IceDogs ticketing location!

- Jeff Blay, Media Relations


Scoreboard:
1. BRA Carrick, (19) , 4:01    
1. NIAG Andrews, (7) (Moes, MacEachern), 7:33    
3. NIAG Insam, (9) , 11:15    
3. NIAG Friesen, (21) , 19:47 (EN)

Three Stars:
1. NIAG 29 - Mark Visentin
2. NIAG 17 - Marco Insam
3. BRA 16 - Sam Carrick

Honourable Mention: Johnson Andrews - 1G, tremendously improved play as of late.