IceDogs Beaten by Battalion
NORTH BAY, ON – The Niagara IceDogs battled hard but fell to (28-26-3-4) in a tight 4-3 loss against the North Bay Battalion on Thursday night at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens in North Bay.
North Bay struck first, opening the scoring just over four minutes into the game when Ihnat Pazii capitalized on a feed from Lirim Amidovski and Nick Wellenreiter. The Battalion added to their lead late in the first with a power-play marker from Jacob Therrien, sending Niagara into the first intermission trailing by two.
The IceDogs came out firing in the second period, determined to claw their way back into the game. Andrei Loshko got the IceDogs started at 7:05, burying his 34th goal of the season off a beautiful setup from Alex Assadourian and Jack Brauti. Niagara kept the pressure on and found the equalizer later in the frame, as Braidy Wassilyn found the back of the net on a beautiful individual effort to tie things up at two goals apiece heading into the third.
North Bay unfortunately regained the lead on another power-play goal early in the final period, with Jacob LeBlanc netting what would stand as the game-winner at 7:30. The Battalion added an insurance marker just under three minutes later, as Zach Wigle capitalized off a rush to extend the lead to 4-2.
Niagara showed resilience right to the final buzzer, with Ryan Roobroeck cutting the deficit to one with a late goal at 17:28, assisted by Alex Assadourian and Andrei Loshko. Despite a strong push in the dying moments, the IceDogs couldn’t find the equalizer.
The IceDogs will look to bounce back as they return home for a matchup with the Kingston Frontenacs on Sunday, March 9th at 2:00 PM.
Stay tuned to niagaraicedogs.net for all the latest updates and game coverage.
