ROANOKE, Va. – The Rail Yard Dawgs roared to life in Game Two, thrashing the top-seeded Knoxville Ice Bears 5-1 on Saturday night at Berglund Center. Gehrett Sargis scored twice, while Nick DeVito, Travis Armstrong, and Brant Sherwood added goals for Roanoke.
The Dawgs rolled from the opening puck drop, as DeVito wrapped around the Knoxville net and backhanded the puck for the game’s opening score at 3:44. Just over five minutes later, Armstrong forced a turnover as he was coming out of the penalty box, and on the same sequence tipped a Bryce Martin shot home to make it 2-0 Roanoke. The Dawgs held that lead into the first intermission.
The second period was all Roanoke, even though the Dawgs managed just one goal. They outshot the Ice Bears 16-4 in the frame, and Sargis added his first goal after a turnover right by the Knoxville net at 3:27. The Dawgs had plenty of other chances in the period, but entered the second intermission with a 3-0 advantage.
Sherwood had narrowly missed a few shots in the game, but was finally rewarded at the 1:45 mark of the third period with a shorthanded goal. At 6:06, Sargis added his second goal of the game to put Roanoke ahead 5-0. The Ice Bears did grab a consolation goal, tallying a power play score at 15:40 via Jared Nash, but the night belonged to the eighth-seeded Rail Yard Dawgs.
Sammy Bernard saved 23-of-24 shots for Roanoke, while Knoxville’s Jimmy Poreda stopped 31-of-36 in net. The Ice Bears went 1-for-7 on the power play, while the Dawgs went 0-for-4 on their man advantages.
Roanoke is on the road for Game Three tomorrow at Knoxville with a spot in the President’s Cup semifinals on the line. Puck drop is slated for 5:05 p.m. EST.