Top ’Dog in shootout
Stephen Dhillon backstops Niagara to come-from-behind win with 56-save performance
Stephen Dhillon is an IceDog according to the logo on the front of his jersey.
But that description doesn’t do justice to all that the Niagara’s No. 1 goaltender has done this year. Just look at the numbers next to his name on the Ontario Hockey League stats pages, and there’s a much better adjective: workhorse.
As an example take the IceDogs’ home game Friday against the Hamilton Bulldogs. With 54 saves, not including two stops in the shootout, it was another night at the office for Dhillon, the league leader in both minutes played and saves made.
For those keeping score at home, Niagara’s 3-2, come-frombehind victory was Dhillon’s 55th game of the season, but the IceDogs don’t keep track of such things when it comes to their 18-year-old netminder from Buffalo. Assistant coach Billy Burke said the team isn’t the least bit worried about overworking Dhillon to the point of exhaustion.
“(Ryan) Mantha plays a lot, (Johnny) Corneil plays a lot, Stevie plays a lot,” Burke said. “He gets his net, he wants every shot in practice. He gets 60 in a game, but he probably had 200 all week in practice.”
“The guy’s a pro. He’s earned it from Day 1.”
Burke said nothing fazes Dhillon, who is now in his third year with the team and in his first as the No. 1 between the pipes.
“As long as he makes enough saves and he makes that one more save we need, it’s all good.”
Burke said the IceDogs never felt out of the game, even after falling into a 2-0 hole early in the first period.
“The general feel on the bench was it didn’t feel like a 2-0 game,” he said. “The one hits the end boards and he roofs it and a great shot on the second one.”
“We definitely felt we our chances in the first to at least make it 2-1, so we were really positive.”
Stephen Templeton, from inside the right faceoff circle, on a redirect of a ricochet off the back boards; and Welland native Niki Petti, from the top of the left faceoff circle; put the visitors up 2-0 heading into the second period.
Hamilton outshot Niagara 15-11, but the IceDogs could easily have been on the scoreboard as well. Dawson Carty stopped one sure goal and another opportunity, with the net wide open and Carty out of position, was thwarted at the last second by a Bulldogs defender clearing the puck from just outside the top of the crease.
Niagara’s persistence was rewarded early in the second period when Pavel Demin found himself just outside the crease on Carty’s glove side. He made the most of the opportunity netting his third goal of the season.
A shot from Andrew Somerville that bounced off Carty’s shoulder into the back was ruled no goal after a video review showed the puck being batted by a high stick.
No review was needed seconds later when a blast from Mantha far above the right faceoff circle clanged off the crossbar to tie the game at two-all.
Akil Thomas set the all-time season points record for a rookie with an assist on the goal. The previous record of 41 was set in 2008-09 by Marco Insam.
Hamilton outshot Niagara 51-34 in regulation while the IceDogs had a slight edge in 3-on-3 overtime, six shots to five; but neither team was able to capitalize.
In the shootout, Dhillon thwarted attempts by Michael Cramarossa and Matt Luff, while Thomas and Kirill Maksimov scored on Niagara’s two efforts.
Niagara improved to 22-32-6-4 and moved into eighth place, two points ahead of the idle North Bay Battalion in the race for the eighth, and final, playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.
North Bay plays the Barrie Colts and visits the IceDogs for a 2 p.m. faceoff Sunday at Meridian Centre.
With four wins in the five previous meetings, the Bulldogs came into last night’s game as the top dogs in the season series, though not by much. Four games in head-to-head play were decided by one goal, including a 3-2 overtime victory for the Bulldogs Nov. 16 in Hamilton.
Niagara earned a 4-3 decision in the last meeting Feb. 4 in Hamilton. ‘Dog Biscuits: Coming into last night’s game, centre Niki Petti, 19, of Welland had 18 goals and 25 and assists in 45 games, defenceman Connor Walters, 19, of Welland, three goals, 16 assists, 60 60 games; and forward Riley McCourt, 16, of St. Catharines, one goal, nine games; for the Bulldogs this season.