IceDogs advance to second round
The Niagara IceDogs didn’t have to pass up on firsts — let alone, seconds — at Easter dinner Sunday. Instead of spending the afternoon on the bus heading to Oshawa for Game 6 of their Ontario Hockey League Eastern Conference quarter-final versus Generals, they firmed up dinner plans by taking care of business on their home ice the night before.
Special teams played a big role in a 5-2 victory that gave the IceDogs the best-of-seven series four games to one and a berth in the second round. Niagara went 3-for-6 on the power play and a penalty kill backed by Stephen Dhillon and a shot-blocking defence shut out Oshawa on five opportunities with a man advantage.
“It went exactly how we hoped it would,” Billy Burke said after winning his first playoff series as a head coach in the Ontario Hockey League. “You win Game 1 and 2 at home, you split on the road and you win in five.
“We did not want to go back to Oshawa. This was Game 7.” Niagara was up 3-1 heading into the third period, and the coaches warned the IceDogs not to let up “We told the guys at the end of the second period that we’re on the verge of ending some guys’ careers,” Burke said. “We need to understand how serious that is. “They have veterans on their team, and they’re not going to roll over, and they didn’t.”
Players who haven’t been household names on the scoresheet once again came through for the IceDogs. Defenceman Liam Ham shared first-star honours with forward Akil Thomas by netting his second goal of the post-season, while forward Oliver Castleman and blueliner Willy Lochead found the back of the net for the first time in the playoffs.
“Cass (Castleman) has had a great month here for us, and I think he’s going to keep it going,” Burke said. Castleman said hard work is starting to pay off for him.
“Everything is going my way, and the puck is going in,” he said. “It feels good doing all the little things right now.
“Good things are happening.”
The 18-year-old from Gloucester, Ont., now a part of Ottawa, was glad the IceDogs wrapped up the series in five games.
“It feels unreal, especially to have Easter off,” he said.
That said, the IceDogs didn’t feel any more pressure heading into Saturday night’s game than they did preparing to take the ice in the first four games of the openinground series.
“No, we just played our game, we knew they would be coming out hard and strong,” Castleman said. “We knew if we just played our game, we could get the win.”
The coach singled out the defence for praise as the IceDogs advanced to the semifinals for the first time in three seasons.
“I think our D did a great job, obviously playing defence but chipping in points and goals as well,” Burke said. “I think that’s a real big part of our success, and why we were able to score four, five goals on these guys almost every game.
“When you can get D that can defend and chip in on offence as well, it really rounds out your offence.”
Burke, who succeeded Dave Bell as head coach after eight seasons as
an assistant coach, shared credit for the series win with his coaching staff.
“We have a tremendous staff, we’re very tight, very open,” he said. “We watch a ton of video.
“We a have a real good relationship, and I think the players see that and, obviously, the players do everything.
“I’m unbelievably lucky to have this group of guys for my first year.” Shots on net in a scoreless first period were 10-9 in favour of the visitors.
Fourth-seeded Niagara and No. 5 seed Oshawa combined for 19 shots — Generals, 10; IceDogs, 9 — and four goals in the middle frame. Niagara took a 3-1 lead into the third period on power-play goals from Ham and Castleman and an even-strength marker from Lochead.
Kyle MacLean scored for Oshawa. Kenny Huether scored on a wide wrap-around beating Dhillon stick side to make it a one-goal five minutes into the third period. An insurance goal from Thomas – his team-leading fourth of the playoffs — was allowed to stand following a lengthy video review. Kirill Maksimov rounded out the scoring on the power play with his first goal of the playoffs.
The IceDogs have yet to miss the
playoffs since the franchise relocated to St. Catharines from Mississauga in 2007, and this was the sixth Niagara-Oshawa series over those 11 seasons. The Generals have won three — semifinals,
2008; quarter-finals, 2013; semifinals, 2015 — and the IceDogs two — semifinals, 2011; quarter-finals, 2012. Last time the IceDogs advanced past the opening round of the playoffs was in 2016 when they made it to the Eastern Conference final before being swept by the eventual Memorial Cup champion London Knights.
’Dog Biscuits: Adrian Carbonara, RW; Kyle Langdon, C; Daniel Nardi, D; Johnathon Schaefer, D; were out of the Niagara lineup. Mitchell Brewer, D; Mitchell Hewiton, Lw: Renars Krastenbergs, LW; Mario Peccia, G; Cole Resnick, LW; did not dress for Oshawa … Langdon was serving the fourth game of a sixgame suspension for a blindside hit in Game 1 of the series, Renars Krastenbergs was out serving the second game of a three-game suspension for cross-checking incident in Game 3 … The 2018 OHL Priority Selection draft will be conducted online Saturday … Oshawa has the most Memorial Cup championships with five, while teams based in Niagara have won four: St. Catharines Teepees, 1954, 1960; Niagara Falls Flyers, 1965, 1968 … Singing O Canada was the choir from Grand Avenue Public School in Grimsby.