IceDogs’ expectations rising with camp
Team returns with more experience and a deeper roster
There is a buzz at the Niagara IceDogs training camp and a word that hasn’t been heard recently — depth.
The buzz is a roster almost intact after last year’s playoff run, which ended with a loss to the Hamilton Bulldogs. The Bulldogs went on to dispose of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the final and the OHL in the Memorial Cup.
On paper, the Bulldogs easily disposed of the IceDogs 4-1, but a closer look tells a different story. The first three games went into overtime. A bounce here, a deflection there, and it’s not ridiculous to think Niagara wasn’t far away from being up 3-0, as opposed to down 2-1.
In Game 4, Niagara led 2-1 heading into the third period before Hamilton fired three unanswered goals for the 4-2 win.
The clincher was even closer. Hamilton led 3-0 heading into the third before the IceDogs battled back to the cut the margin to 3-2 with goals from Johnny Corneil and Ben Jones. Jones scored with 2:26 left in the third. Niagara pressed for the equalizer with the goalie on the bench but before Hamilton’s McKenzie Entwhistle finished them off with an emptynetter 23 seconds from the final buzzer. And all that came after Niagara dominated the veteran Hamilton squad in the regular season.
“We played them extremely hard in that series,” said Joey Burke, the IceDogs general manager. “It bodes well for the young group we have here. During the regular season, if you heard one team was ongoing to win five of six games, most people wouldn’t have guessed the IceDogs.”
Hamilton will have to retool
the roster, after losing stalwarts such as Welland native Connor Walters, who will attend Brock University and play for the Badgers. The IceDogs, not so much.
Most of the roster from the playoff run is intact. Twentyyear-olds Corneil, Sam Militec and Adrian Carbonara are gone. Every other key player should be back.
In a move indicative of the roster depth, defenceman Justin MacPherson was traded to the Kitchener Rangers in mid-August for a third-round pick in 2020, a third-round pick in 2022 and a conditional fifth-round pick in 2023.
At 6-foot-1 and 170 pounds and in his third OHL season, MacPherson is a solid blueliner. Nonetheless, the IceDogs could afford to deal him — not for another roster player, but for picks, which are money in the bank at the trade deadline.
“If we weren’t so deep on the back-end, Justin McPherson is a guy you love to keep,” Burke said. “We are older and deeper, and everybody needs their playing time and minutes. The trade opened up the logjam a little bit and gives us some picks to work with for some future moves. There is no crystal ball, but it should bode well for us.
Newly acquired import defenceman Daniel Bukac has a lot on the line this season. After an outstanding rookie campaign with the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL, he was drafted 204th overall by the Boston Bruins. Last season, the native of the Czech Republic ran into injuries and played 34 games without scoring a goal. He was released by the Wheat Kings in June and picked up by Niagara just before the import draft.
“Bukac should be fun to watch,” Burke said. “Any time you have a 6-foot-5, right-shot, drafted defenceman — that’s a nice guy to bring in for sure.
“We brought in Elijah Roberts last year, and we have depth with (Liam) Ham and (Drew) Hunter. We drafted Lleyton Moore, and Billy Constantinou is going to have a really nice year for us.
“I think all these guys are going to bring it and it should be a fun year.”
In net, the IceDogs are in good shape with both the starter, Stephen Dhillon, and backup, Colton Incze, returning from last season. Dhillon is in his fourth year with the team and headed to the Montreal Canadiens training camp as an undrafted player. Incze played in 22 games last year, up from 14 the year before and showed promise.
With the forwards, the top two lines will likely be as good as any in the league. Ben Jones, Krill Maksimov, Akil Smith form the nucleus, and head coach Billy Burke can use the team’s depth to mix and match wingers for whatever look he wants
Jones, Maksimov, and Smith are all NHL draft choices (Las Vegas, Edmonton, and Los Angeles respectively) and headed to big league training camps in September.
So is forward Ivan Lodnia. When it became clear that Lodnia wanted out of Erie, Burke swooped in and acquired him for Danial Singer and a 2019 fifthround pick in an another offseason move.
Singer has a real knack for scoring goals and finished last season with 26. However, he starts this season in Erie with an eight-game suspension after failing a drug test for an undisclosed prohibited substance last spring with the IceDogs.
Lodnia, 19, scored 22 goals and collected 37 assists last season for the Otters. Born in the U.S. after his parents and older sister moved from Ukraine with only $100, he has scored 62 goals in his OHL career with Erie. Minnesota drafted him in the third round. He also played six games with Iowa in the American Hockey League last season after the Otters missed the playoffs.