Thursday Night Dog Race on-ice between IceDogs and Greyhounds
NIAGARA, ON – The Soo Greyhounds were in town for their only visit to the Meridian Centre this season to take on the IceDogs in a cross conference canine battle. Niagara came up short despite a strong performance from Owen Flores with a two-goal win plus the empty netter, in front of 3,042 at Meridian Centre on cold Thursday Night.
Starting Goaltenders: Owen Flores (NIAG), Charlie Schenkel (SOO)
After an opening 10-minutes the Greyhounds were able to score two quick goals controlling the first half of the opening period.
The IceDogs were able to generate a few shots on net and put one past Schenkel off a faceoff play where Daniel Michaud swept in his 20th of the season to get the home crowd going on this Thursday night. 2-1 score for the visitors after the first period despite a few late chances for Niagara.
No scoring for much of the middle period until Zak Lavoie created a Soo turnover at the blue line and went in on a 2on1 with Ryan VanNetten, who would take the pass and bury his 2nd goal of the season evening the game at two apiece.
Soo took the lead on a shot that went five-hole to go up by a goal. Flores was down for a few seconds as he looked to tweak something but remained in the game.
To open the 3rd period the Greyhounds would finish off an odd-man rush to extend their lead but on the follow through a stick would clip Owen Flores in the neck. The IceDogs goaltender remained down for a few minutes but remained in the game.
Niagara pulled the goaltender with 1:45 remaining in the period needing a pair of goals to tie the game. Soo would add an empty net goal to seal it shorthanded and take this canine battle by a 5-2 score. Owen Flores stopped 43 shots in the game.
Three Stars
- SOO Justin Cloutier (2 Goals)
- SOO Caeden Carlisle (Game-winning Goal)
- NIAG Ryan VanNetten (1 Goal)
Team Stats
Powerplay: NIAG: 0/4, SOO: 0/3
Shots: NIAG: 27, SOO: 48
Goal Scorers
- SOO J. Cloutier (12) A: R. Thompson, M. Duarte
- SOO J. Fantino (9) A: O. Allard
- NIAG D. Michaud (20) A: A. LeBlanc
- NIAG R. VanNetten (2) A: Z. Lavoie
- SOO C. Carlisle (5) A: M. Virgilio, O. Allard
- SOO B. McConnell-Barker (28) A: K. Watson
- SOO J. Cloutier (12) A: R. Thompson, M. Duarte
