Hockey / Special teams aid Ice Dogs to win in Springfield

Special teams aid Ice Dogs to win in Springfield

Date:  Source: NAHL Fairbanks Ice Dogs

FAIRBANKS—Head coach Trevor Stewart had a mixed reaction to special teams accounting for half of the Fairbanks Ice Dogs’ success against the host Springfield Jr. Blues in Friday night’s North American Hockey League series opener.

Left wing Cameron Cook’s short-handed goal and defenseman Jakob Stridsberg’s power-play deposit helped the Midwest Division leaders to a 4-2 victory at the Nelson Center in Illinois’ capitol city.

“It’s good anytime you can chip in goals on special teams,” Stewart said by cellphone, “but we gave up two goals as well on the penalty kill.

“We need to be better at that (tonight),’’ he added.

Left wing Tyler Tomberlin and center Clay Cross scored during even-strength situations and goaltender Gavin Nieto recorded 25 saves for the Ice Dogs, who improved  to 34-7-3 for 71 points in the standings.

 Fairbanks also has the best record in the 22-team, Tier II Junior A league. The Ice Dogs are slightly ahead of the South Division-leading Wichita Falls (Texas) Wildcats, who are 33-9-4 for 70 points.

Cook generated the first goal of the series, as his short-handed marker occurred at 11:12 of the opening period from assists by defenseman Luke Orysiuk and center Evan Somoza. 

Sam Craggs converted a power play for Springfield at 3 minutes into the second period to make it 1-1. Kyle Meeh and Anthony Scarsella had the assists.

The Ice Dogs finished 1 for 5 on the power play and the successful attempt came from Stridsberg at 4:04 of the third period. Ryner Gorowsky and Todd Burgess, linemates and the NAHL’s respective No. 2 and No. 1 scorers, assisted on the game-winner.

Tomberlin, 53 seconds later, stretched the lead to 3-1 with Adam Anderson’s assist.

Josh Bell scored on a power play for the Jr. Blues at 7:21, aided by Matt Long and Brennan Blaszczak. 

Cross gave the Ice Dogs a 3-0 record this season against the Jr. Blues by scoring at 17:35 of the third with assists from defensemen Aaron McPheters and Stridsberg.

Nikko Della Maggorie stopped 30 shots for Springfield, which slipped to 23-16-4 for 50 points and into a tie with the Janesville (Wisconsin) Jets for third place in the Midwest.

Fairbanks downed Springfield 3-2 and 7-0, respectively, on Jan. 15 and 16 in the Big Dipper Ice Arena. The Ice Dogs and Jr. Blues face off at 4:05 p.m. AST today.

 

Dog Bytes

Burgess raised his league-leading points total to 72, courtesy of 27 goals and 45 assists in 44 games. Gorowsky has a 25-40-65 scoring line in 43 games. ... Nieto continues to lead the NAHL with a 1.77 goals against average to go with his 24-5-1-0 record and .927 save percentage. The native of Yorba Linda, California, also has a league-best six shutouts.