‘Gutsy’ road win for IceDogs

“Gutsy” is how Billy Burke defined the Niagara IceDogs win Sunday afternoon in Sudbury.

With defencemen Liam Ham, Elijah Roberts and Drew Hunter already sidelined with lower body injuries, rookie Lleyton Moore did not return to the bench to start the third period after first blocking a shot and then taking a high hit from the Wolves pesky forward Darian Pilon in the middle stanza.

The good news, the IceDogs had a comfortable four-goal lead when Moore left and that was the margin of victory in a 5-1 final.

“He (Moore) had a pretty good cut over his eye, that started to swell, and we didn’t want to take any chances,” IceDogs head coach Burke said.

“He’s also going to have to start wearing his shot-blockers, but that was a gutsy win by our guys.”

Veteran blue-liner Johnny Schaefer immediately stepped in to stick up for Moore and dropped the gloves with Pilon.

“That’s why Schaef ’s (Schaefer) is so popular in our dressing room,” said Burke. “Good for him. Our bench immediately responded when Johnny did that. That’s what veterans do.”

Bradey Johnson continues to fill in admirably on defence for the ’Dogs as they finished the game with only three regular blue-liners — Daniel Bukac, Billy

Constantinou and Mason Howard.

Colton Incze rebounded from a sub-par start last Friday in Mississauga with a 34 save performance in Sunday’s win.

“That was a one-off last week in Mississauga,” said Burke. “We knew Colton would have it in him, he was in great position all day and made some big saves for us.”

Oliver Castleman paced the offence with two goals and one assist, with a plus-4 rating.

Bukac added his first goal in an IceDogs uniform, while Phil Tomasino and Ivan Lodnia also chipped in with singles.

The victory gave Niagara five of a possible six points in the first two games of its three-game road trip which concludes Wednesday night in Erie.

“Too bad Mississauga won or we could have been back in first place (Central Division), but five of six points we’ll take that any weekend,” Burke said.

The IceDogs return home Thursday night when they host the Ottawa 67’s. Puck drop at Meridian Centre is set for 7 p.m.