2023/24 IceDogs Season Highlights – First Win of the Season
NIAGARA, ON – This offseason we’re going to be taking a look back at some of the highlights of the 2023/24 Niagara IceDogs season, alongside revisiting some Milestone Moments as we did last week! These series’ will be alternating every week, and what better way to start off this one than by taking a look back at our first win of the season, October 14th at home against the Kingston Frontenacs.
This article could very easily have been about another game earlier on, as the Dogs were on the wrong side of three different one goal games, two of which went into overtime. The season opener in London against the Knights, in which the IceDogs outshot the home team 35-28, ended in a tough 2-1 loss. A week later, Mississauga came to town and played a thrilling game which came down to the wire, before a Steelheads empty netter made it 2-0 with just over a minute to go. The next two games were overtime heartbreakers against Barrie and Erie respectively. The game against the Colts in particular, as the guys stormed back from a 6-3 deficit in the third period to tie the game and send it to the extra frame, but were unable to finish the job. All this culminated and came to a head on a Saturday night in mid October, where the IceDogs were back in front of the home crowd and hungrier than ever to get the monkey off their backs.
The boys got off to a hot start in the first period, jumping all over Kingston and dominating the shots on goal and time of possession in the frame, but were unable to capitalize on two power plays and remained deadlocked at one at the intermission. To make matters worse, a penalty early in the second frame left the IceDogs down a man after a period where they felt they should have been ahead on the scoreboard. But this team would not be discouraged; Gavin Bryant scored a brilliant shorthanded goal to open the floodgates and give Niagara a well deserved lead. They did not look back from there; Kevin He scored again later in the period, and the IceDogs took a two goal lead (and a 28-13 advantage in shots on goal to boot) into the final stanza.
A lead is great, but all that matters is if you can hang on to it when it counts, and that was the challenge the Dogs faced heading into the third period. Kingston was not just going to roll over and give up, so a strong final frame was needed to close this game out. They were tested early; Kingston came out determined to claw their way back and had a 6-1 shot advantage less than 6 minutes into the third, but Owen Flores stood tall and turned every single one aside. Some penalty trouble for the Frontenacs culminated into a power play goal for Kevin He, his second of the game, and Evan Klein added an empty netter as the IceDogs closed the game out with authority, leaving no doubt who deserved that win with a gutsy and determined performance. Flores earned first star honours stopping all 23 shots he faced as the team put the first tick in the win column for the 2023/24 season with the 4-0 victory against the Kingston Frontenacs!
