CHL on Sportsnet: North Bay at Niagara – Game 5

The Niagara IceDogs will look to punch their ticket to the Ontario Hockey League semi-final Friday in Game 5 of their opening-round matchup against the North Bay Battalion airing on Sportsnet 360 at 7:00pm ET/4:00pm PT.

The IceDogs hold a 3-1 series edge following a 5-3 victory in Game 4 in which 2019 NHL Draft hopeful Philip Tomasino led the way with three points, including one goal and two assists, to bring his team-leading total to six points. Fellow forwards Oliver Castleman and Jack Studnicka also chipped in for the IceDogs, as did blue-liners Elijah Roberts and Drew Hunter. Between the pipes, 20-year-old netminder Stephen Dhillon turned aside 23 shots en route to his eighth career playoff victory.

It also marked the second straight win for the IceDogs after the club dropped Game 2 on home ice by a 5-2 score. That contest saw five different skaters score for North Bay, including captain Justin Brazeau, whose 61 regular-season goals led the entire OHL. The tally marks Brazeau’s lone point through four playoff appearances. Meanwhile, IceDogs left-wing Jason Robertson, who put up 117 points in the regular season to capture the Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy as the league-leading scorer, has also been snake bitten in the postseason as he’s come up with one point in four games.

A series win would mark the fourth time in the past five seasons in which the IceDogs have advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs, while an opening-round exit would chalk up the second consecutive early elimination for the Battalion, who were ousted by the Kingston Frontenacs in five games in last year’s quarter-final.

Catch all the action in Game 5 between the Battalion and IceDogs on Friday at 7:00pm ET/4:00pm PT on Sportsnet 360.