Steelheads outlast injury-depleted IceDogs
Uberti, De Simone, Martin play best game of the season
Billy Burke knows most successful teams have to face adversity at some point in the season, but he didn’t expect the Niagara IceDogs to be facing it less than four weeks into the 2018-19 campaign.
The IceDogs were playing without arguably their three top defencemen Friday night in Mississauga, and it was homeside Steelheads that prevailed 5-4 in overtime.
“If you were to tell me Elijah Roberts, Liam Ham and Drew Hunter would all be out of the lineup by October, it would certainly not be ideal,” said Burke, the second-year Niagara head coach.
“It’s a huge loss, but every team that wants to win a championship goes through adversity at some point. These tough times build experience and builds character.”
Forward Bradey Johnson was told Friday morning he would be moving back to play defence, and Burke was impressed with the third-year player.
“Having Bradey, him being a very smart, reliable, defensive forward — we felt he would be able to do a good job for us,” Burke said. “He was outstanding for a guy that found out this morning he was going to be asked to go play defence in the OHL.”
The first period featured seven goals as Mississauga scored four goals on their first 10 shots to take a 4-3 lead into the intermission.
Stephen Dhillon replaced starter Colton Incze to begin the second period.
“We were able to jump out to a quick 2-0 lead, and we thought guys were going to be rolling, and then it was just one of those unfortunate nights were everything they shot went in,” said Burke.
After a scoreless middle stanza, Kirill Maksimov would score his second goal of the game 6:51 into the third period to tie things at four, but despite killing off a 5-on-3 late in regulation time, Cole Carter’s power-play marker with 1:09 left on the clock in the extra-period proved to be the game-winner.
“The amount of heart, determination and character on the 5on-3,
and the penalty kill in overtime, guys were blocking shots with their face, they were just throwing themselves and sacrificing, so a lot of positives on that end,” Burke said.
Lost in the defeat was the play of Niagara rookies Jake Uberti, Jonah De Simone and secondyear forward Ian Martin, said Burke.
“A real positive was Uberti, De Simone and Martin. They played their best of the game season,” he said. “Big energy, they were physical, playing hard in the offensive-zone, one of the bright spots was that line.”
The (3-2-1-) IceDogs now return home to face the Barrie Colts Thursday on Stan Mikita Tribute Night. Puck drop at Meridian Centre is set for 7 p.m.
’Dog Biscuits: Ham is listed as day-to-day and could return Thursday night, while Hunter and Roberts are listed as week-toweek. All three Niagara blueliners are battling lower-body injuries ... Dhillon made 24 straight saves before being beat in overtime ... Maksimov and Ben Jones extended their point streaks to six games in the loss.