‘It’s a struggle knowing that you don’t have a sword in the fight’
Saturday night’s Ontario Hockey League game at Meridian Centre in St. Catharines was over soon after it started for the host Niagara IceDogs.
The Kingston Frontenacs scored on their first shot eight seconds into the opening period and found the back of the net on their next shot as well on the way to an 8-1 victory.
It was Niagara’s second loss in as many nights, fourth in a row and seventh in nine games.
“This is by far the toughest stretch in my coaching career, and I’ve been a part of over 700 games in my career,” head coach Ben Boudreau said. “I can’t remember a stretch like this, so I feel for the players, I feel for our staff right now.
“This is a tough time to come to the rink every single day as the season dwindles down.”
He suggested Kingston’s strong start put his team behind the eightball with its early lead, and that is where it stayed the rest of the game.
“You get scored on your first shot of the game, and from there everything goes wrong. You get scored on your second shot, your belief goes right out the window,” Boudreau said. “You spend the next 58 minutes in a game with no belief that you can crawl back.
“That’s a tough 60 minutes to be a part of. We’re defeated mentally even before we start the game.”
The prescout of the Frontenacs was how they get in front of the net, and Kingston certainly lived up to its billing as it evened the season series versus the IceDogs at two wins apiece.
“We gave up three goals within five feet. It’s a compete factor, it’s a talent factor, something we can’t match the other team,” Boudreau said.
“They wanted it more and they found a way to make more plays. It’s a struggle knowing that you don’t have a sword in the fight,” he added.
“The best analogy I can say, I believe sometimes we feel like we’re riding a donkey in a thoroughbred race right now. Every team we face is bigger, they’re stronger, they’re faster and these are games down the stretch they’re getting ready for the playoffs and they should win.”
However, that doesn’t mean the IceDogs are conceding they won’t make the playoffs for the fourth season in a row.
“From a coaching standpoint, you have to try to inspire and make them believe that they’re good enough and make them believe that they can play,” Boudreau said. “But, when scored on on your first two shots and you’ve been outscored by this team 18-1 over six periods, it’s tough to fabricate that belief when you really have to believe it.
“But, at the same time, you cannot accept that. You can understand it but, as a coach, you can’t accept it. You find a way to get to the drawing board on Monday because we don’t want to keep going where every home game is an embarrassment like that,” he said.
“And that’s calling it what it was, it was an embarrassment tonight.”
Kingston outshot Niagara 33-26 before an announced crowd of 4,549. The Frontenacs finished the game 2-for-5 on the power play, while the IceDogs were 0-for-3.
Gabriel Frasca, with a natural hat trick, Jax Dubois, with a pair, Linus Hemstrom, Luke McNamara and Christopher Thibodeau scored for Kingston. Ryan Vannetten broke Mason Vaccari’s bid for his first shutout of the season and second of his career, scoring his fourth goal of the season with 10 seconds remaining in the game.
Charlie Robertson allowed five goals on 14 shots before being relieved by Owen Flores, who surrendered three goals on 19 shots.
On Friday, Ryan Roobroeck set a franchise record for goals by a 16year-old with his 22nd of the season. He broke the record held by one-time captain Akil Thomas and Kevin He, who also scored in the 7-2 road loss to the Mississauga Steelheads.
Niagara hosts the Ottawa 67s on Thursday before hitting the road for games against the Barrie Colts on Saturday and the North Bay Battalion on Sunday afternoon.
’Dog Biscuits Niagara opened head-to-head play versus Kingston with 4-0 and 4-1 victories before being blown out, 10-0 … Michael Podolioukh, C; Masen Wray, LW; and Andrew Wycisk, D, did not dress for Niagara … Kingston has four National Hockey League draft picks: Quinton Burns, D, St. Louis; Paul Ludwinski, C, Chicago; Ethan Miedema, LW, Buffalo; and Roman Schmidt, D, Tampa Bay … Singing the national anthem was the choir from Fitch Street Public School in Welland.