For Immediate Release:

February 20, 2020

DAWGS TRIPPED UP BY RIVERMEN IN SHOOTOUT, 3-2

Roanoke earns point for thirds straight game

ROANOKE, Va. – The Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs erased a two-goal deficit and forced overtime but ultimately fell to the Peoria Rivermen in a shootout, 3-2, Thursday night at Berglund Center.

With Peoria leading, 2-0, in the second period, the Dawgs worked the puck below the goal line in the attacking zone. Brant Sherwood extracted it from the boards and fired a puck toward the front of the net. It banked off of Rivermen goaltender Eric Levine’s pads and into the net, putting the Dawgs on the board.

The Dawgs would tie things up in the third as Travis Armstrong sent a stretch pass down the boards on the right wing. Marcus Ortiz gathered it and hit Josh Nenadal cutting toward the net. Nenadal wrapped the puck around the net and beat Levine to the far post, evening the score at two.

In overtime, Peoria’s Nick Neville had a clean break toward the net but was hauled down from behind and thus granted a penalty shot. He carried the puck in and deked to his forehand but Austyn Roudebush tracked it and stopped the shot with his left pad to keep the score tied at two.

The game eventually progressed to a shootout and both goaltenders held the opposition off the scoresheet through the first three rounds. It was Peoria’s Regan Nagy who broke the tie in the fourth round and that would be it as Levine shut the Dawgs down in all five of their attempts. The Rivermen took the extra point and the shootout victory, 3-2.

Peoria got its two-goal lead on a Mitch McPherson goal in the first period and when Zach Nieminen cashed in on a four-on-four situation in the first minute of the second.

Roudebush made 33 saves on 35 shots in the shootout loss and Sherwood and Nenadal’s goals paced the Roanoke offense. The Rail Yard Dawgs earned a point for the third straight game but moved to 13-20-7 in the shootout loss. Peoria improved to 29-6-4 with the win. Roanoke will again host the Rivermen on Friday night. Puck drop at Berglund Center is scheduled for 7:05 PM.

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BOX SCORE

*Photo Credit: Mark Sawyer, Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs