Five Questions: Niagara IceDogs

The Niagara IceDogs could certainly merit more than the standard five questions we’ve been asking throughout the series, but for the sake of consistency, we’ll limit it to just five.

It’s a season of new beginnings in Niagara as the IceDogs try and put a 12-win campaign in the rear-view mirror.

Five Questions looks at a team with some newly-recruited talent looking to establish winning habits in the Garden City.

1. What can the IceDogs do with a fresh start?

While 2022-23 was a trying season for the IceDogs, a new campaign is on the horizon. The Niagara fans are some of the most loyal in the league and the IceDogs have the benefit of playing in a great facility at the Meridian Centre, located with access to all of the amenities of downtown St. Catharines. Head coach Ryan Kuwabara will have a clean slate to work with from Game #1, with a pre-season ahead where he and his staff can evaluate what they’ll have to work with in a Central Division that might be a little less built-up in 2023-24. North Bay and Barrie both lose some firepower as a result of graduating veterans while the Mississauga Steelheads remain one of the younger teams in the league, albeit a talented one. The IceDogs won’t have an easy start of things, faced with a home-and-home set against the reigning Western Conference champion London Knights on Sept. 29th and 30th.

The @OHLIceDogs have received a commitment from second overall 2023 #OHLDraft pick and @ALLIANCE_Hockey U16 AAA Player of the Year Ryan Roobroeck.

DETAILS 📰: https://t.co/e0CxnNVooR pic.twitter.com/9iiuo3Wir0

— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) April 27, 2023

2. Can 2022-23 additions Lavoie and Assadourian help the Dogs establish a consistent offence?

The IceDogs made, well, a lot of moves during the 2022-23 campaign, but managed to add some promising pieces in forwards Zakary Lavoie from the Mississauga Steelheads and Alex Assadourian from the Sudbury Wolves. The former, selected seventh overall by Mississauga in 2020, joined the IceDogs in December and scored 18 goals in 41 games, with eight of those coming on the power play. Assadourian attended Development Camp with the Toronto Maple Leafs last month after seeing his productivity jump upon joining Niagara. After posting eight points (3-5–8) in 32 games with Sudbury to start the season, Assadourian finished out the year with 33 points (9-24–33) over 34 games with the IceDogs. Both players will be important pieces for Niagara as they look to establish a consistent offensive game early in the season.

Alex Assadourian ties it! 👀

The @OHLIceDogs draft-eligible forward has five goals and 12 points in his last nine games 🔥 pic.twitter.com/8quCAM8EFI

— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) February 3, 2023

3. Is Kevin He an OHL star on the rise?

Talk to any IceDogs fan and they’ll rave about the play of Kevin He as a rookie last season. In a season where good news was sparse for Niagara’s team, He gave the fans a great deal of hope for the future as he put up 21 goals, 13 assists and 34 points in 66 games. Expect the former 25th overall draft pick to be front and centre on Niagara’s forward ranks this coming season.

Kevin He scores the Teddy Bear Toss goal!🧸

(🎥: @ohlhockey) pic.twitter.com/4F0YJoaQ20

— BarDown (@BarDown) November 28, 2022

4. What sort of impact will Roobroeck and Czata have?

You always want to be careful placing tremendous expectations on 15 and 16-year-olds coming into the Ontario Hockey League, but the Niagara IceDogs have the luxury of two first round picks entering the fold. Second overall choice Ryan Roobroeck brings a towering 6-foot-3 frame into training camp while fifth overall selection Ethan Czata, who was reportedly on the first round radar of a few other OHL teams, will no-doubt inject some creativity into the Niagara attack. A late 2007-born talent not eligible for the NHL Draft until 2026, Roobroeck led the ALLIANCE U16 ranks with 51 goals and 79 points for the London Jr. Knights last season. He appeared in five games with the GOJHL’s London Nationals, scoring three times. While the two young forwards will no-doubt be given opportunities in key situations, the IceDogs do have enough returning vets up front to shelter them from shouldering too much responsibility as they get accustomed to the OHL pace. The IceDogs have also received commitments from 2023 selections and Vaughan Kings teammates Artem Frolov (28th overall) and Ivan Galiyanov (68th overall).

Congratulations to Ethan Czata and Ryan Roobroeck who have been invited to Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence summer meetings for the 2023 World U17 Hockey Challenge🇨🇦#NiagaraNow pic.twitter.com/1bXs8HGIvs

— Niagara IceDogs (@OHLIceDogs) July 26, 2023

5. Who will carry the load on the blue line?

The IceDogs carried three overagers on their back end last season. Now that David Jesus, Gerard Keane and Nathan Ribau have moved on, the Dogs entered the offseason with a ton of minutes to fill and only a few returning bodies to do it with. A pair of 18-year-olds in Bronson Ride and Andrew Wycisk are likely part of the plan going forward while 2004-born Ryan Vannetten is also a returning piece. The Dogs picked Slovenian blueliner Urban Podrekar fourth overall in the CHL Import Draft and just today added the physical presence of Daniil Sobolev in a trade with the Windsor Spitfires. Sobolev was a fifth round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 2021 and looks to be an overage option having not signed with the pro club. It could very-well be a by-committee approach on the Niagara blueline as they try and cut down on the workload their goaltenders endured last season, surrendering a whopping 42.7 shots-per-game.

TRADE: We have acquired Daniil Sobolev from the Windsor Spitfires in exchange for 3 draft picks.

🗞️ | https://t.co/qiH5z3JnZb #NiagaraNow pic.twitter.com/V09MT9EZ2C

— Niagara IceDogs (@OHLIceDogs) August 2, 2023

Five Questions is put together by Josh Sweetland (@joshsweetland). Follow along throughout the summer for an offseason look at all 20 OHL clubs.