ROANOKE, Va. – The Rail Yard Dawgs (30-15-8) had the offense cooking on Friday night against the Fayetteville Marksmen (29-18-6), taking an 8-5 victory in an explosive contest at Berglund Center. Owen McDade had a five-point hat trick (3 G, 2 A), C.J. Valerian scored in his first game back for the Dawgs since November 3, Matteo DiGiulio tallied his first pro goal, and Dom Marcinkevics, CJ Stubbs, and Josh Nenadal, all added goals for Roanoke.
The visiting Marksmen got off to a quick start on Friday, and took an early lead at 4:28 on a redirect goal by Jordan Timmons in the low slot on a pass from the left wing. Fayetteville doubled its advantage at 8:53, as a power play smash by Grant Loven rippled the net to make it a 2-0 game. The Marksmen were credited with the first 10 shots on goal in the game, but the Dawgs finally started to work themselves into the game after going down by two. A long-range shot by Stephen Alvo was tipped into the net by McDade at 12:22 to cut the deficit in half. Roanoke recorded seven of the final 11 shots on goal in the first period, but trailed 2-1 at the first intermission.
The second period was started off well by Roanoke, but Fayetteville would finish off a great counterattack to push its advantage back to two goals when Tyler Barrow scored at 3:06. The Dawgs quickly answered, as a board battle won by McDade and Stubbs set up a rip by Marcinkevics at the left-wing dot to make it a 3-2 game at 4:55. Roanoke continued to mount pressure, but it took them nearly 10 more minutes to find the tying goal. After DiGiulio won an offensive zone faceoff, Brendan Pepe’s shot was redirected by the Roanoke rookie for his first pro goal at 14:17. The score didn’t remain tied for long, as another faceoff win by Nenadal would set up a great finish by Stubbs just 20 seconds later to give Roanoke its first lead, 4-3, at 14:37. The Dawgs kept the pressure on, and a rebound goal by Valerian in his return from injury would give Roanoke its third goal in the span of 64 seconds at 15:21. The Dawgs would take that 5-3 lead into the locker room for the second intermission.
Fayetteville briefly cut the deficit to one goal at 5:01, as a long-range effort by Timmons on the power play made it a 5-4 game at 5:01. The Dawgs would answer just 62 seconds later on a power play goal of their own, as Nenadal jammed in his own rebound to make it 6-4. McDade added another power play goal on a one-time laser from the right wing at 8:40, giving the Dawgs a 7-4 lead. Fayetteville’s Tyler Love would get on the board at 10:58 on his own wrister from the right wing, making it a two-goal game with roughly nine minutes left. McDade would clinch his hat trick in the closing seconds of play at 19:56 with an empty-netter, giving Roanoke an 8-5 win. The Dawgs clinched the head-to-head season series against Fayetteville for the second consecutive year with the win.
Austyn Roudebush stopped 36-of-41 shots in net for Roanoke, while Brandon Perrone saved 27-of-34 shots faced in net for Fayetteville. Both teams went 2-for-4 on their respective power play chances.
The Rail Yard Dawgs will stay home tomorrow night, March 30, to take on the Fayetteville Marksmen.