Josh Moes and Freddie Hamilton led the Niagara IceDogs in a close 3-2 loss to the Peterborough Petes Thursday night.

Petes Defender Jamie Doornbosch opened the scoring at the 7:38 mark of the first, notching his 8th goal of the season. Doornbosch is 5th in the league in scoring among defensemen.

Matt Puempel followed up with a goal a few minutes later, giving the Petes an early 2-0 lead.

St. Catharines native Josh Moes continued his pointstreak and gave the Dogs some life by netting his 4th of the season, with help from Andrew Shaw and Mike Schwindt.

The IceDogs momentum wouldn't last long as Petes scoring leader Ryan Spooner scored shortly after, grabbing his second point of the game, giving Peterborough a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes of play.

The second period was scoreless but physical, as Johnson Andrews and Luke Hietkamp squared off in a lengthy tilt that got both benches going.

The score would stay at 3-1 in favour or Peterborough, until Freddie Hamilton was awarded a shorthanded breakaway at the 6:12 mark of the third period. Hamilton sniped a beautiful shot past Petes goaltender Jason Messiaen, tallying the IceDogs first shorthanded goal of the season, and making the score 3-2.

The score would remain at 3-2 in favour of Peterborough.

Niagara will get another chance to upset the Petes at the Gatorade Garden City Complex Saturday night when they host Peterborough at 7:00 p.m. There are still great seats available - 500 seats plus standing room remaining for Saturday's home game.  Tickets can be purchased at any IceDogs ticketing location.

The IceDogs will also host the Sudbury Wolves Thursday December 17 at 7:30 p.m.

Hurry up and get your tickets, as these are only two IceDogs home games left before Christmas.

- Jeff Blay, Media Relations

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