It was a night of firsts for the Niagara IceDogs: first home game for defenseman Brock Beukeboom, and first game in an IceDogs uniform for goaltender Christopher Festarini. But while these debuts were integral to the team’s play, special teams were a major factor in the game, as the match featured the league’s first-ranked power play versus the second-ranked penalty kill in the OHL.

The first period was a display of Brampton goaltender Keegan Wilson’s skill, as the Mississauga native stopped all 18 shots faced, several of which were quality chances. A fight between Mitchell Theoret and Matt MacLeod following a thunderous hit on Cameron Wynn by Theoret with 4:47 left in the period set the tone for the rest of the game, a physical contest that saw a player on either team sit in the penalty box for a total of 34 minutes.  

Early in the second period Brampton’s Marcus McIvor was sent off for interference.  With the man advantage Ryan Strome showed a fantastic display of his stick-handling ability that resulted in the puck sliding under Wilson for his sixth goal of the season. The IceDogs continued to keep the pressure on the Battalion and with a little more than five minutes left in the period, Billy Jenkins scored his first goal of the season off of a pass from Myles Doan.

But the second period wasn’t all peachy keen for Niagara; just when the IceDogs were preparing to vacate their bench for the locker room with a two-goal lead, a scramble in front of Festarini’s net led to a goal with three seconds left in the period by rookie Patrik Machac, his fifth of the season, to make him the Battalion’s new goal-scoring leader and cut the IceDogs’ lead in half.

The third period was a true test of Wilson’s skill, as several shots stopped were goal-worthy but his side-to-side movement was nearly impeccable. However, a shot from the point by sophomore Jesse Graham was deflected past Wilson by Luke Mercer for his first of the season. It was the IceDogs’ second power play goal of the game.  

To cap off a tremendous display of offense by the IceDogs in the third period, Alex Friesen scored his second of the game off of a great pass from fellow overager Andrew Agozzino with just over a minute left in the game.  

Niagara will look to win their fifth in a row when they take on the 5-5-1 Sudbury Wolves in St. Catharines on Saturday.

SCOREBOARD
2. 3:35 NIAG Strome (6) (PP) (Friesen, F. Hamilton)
2. 14:55 NIAG Jenkins (1) (Doan, Wigle)
2. 19:57 BRA Machac (5) (PP) (Robinson, Lane)
3. 10:31 NIAG Mercer (1) (PP) (Graham, Pacan)
3. 18:35 NIAG Friesen (4) (Agozzino)

-Jen Heisel, Media Relations