ROANOKE, Va. – It’s time for playoff hockey and the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs are ready to seize the moment. Sitting as the 4th seed, Roanoke will open play at Evansville on Thursday night.
The team is playing with a lot of energy and good momentum of late, with team chemistry at an all-time high. Scoring has not been an issue, with 9 players having scored double-digit goals this season. That includes team captain Mac Jansen who has 19.
While at the other end of the ice, the Dawgs tout one of the best goalie’s in the league in Austyn Roudebush. Although Roanoke will face a team it hasn’t seen this season in Evansville, the goal is to focus attention on what’s needed.
“If we take it lightly, if we think, some things should be given to us because of our regular season, then we will be done before we even step on the ice,” head coach Dan Bremner said. “So we’re going in with the mentality of underdogs all the way, it doesn’t matter whether you’re first or last, if you go in with that mentality, out work them, we will beat the teams we need to.”
“We have a lot of fire,we have a lot of energy,” Matt O’Dea said. “We’re excited, obviously, the whole unfinished business that stayed with us all year, and it’s revamping up now, so you can kind of see it in our puck intensity, and stuff like that.”
Game 2 will be in Roanoke, and if needed, will also be at the Berglund Center on Sunday.