ROANOKE, Va. – The Rail Yard Dawgs (19-11-4) took a massive early advantage against the Huntsville Havoc (24-8-4), then coasted to a 5-3 win on Thursday night at Berglund Center. Tommy Munichiello, Carson Gallagher, Nick Ford, Justin Cmunt, and Andrew Harley all scored in the win for Roanoke.
The Dawgs were rolling from the opening puck drop, getting out to an early lead in the first period. Munichiello’s rebound goal after Billy Roche’s shot was initially saved put Roanoke on the board at 3:43. Gallagher was up next for the hosts, as the SPHL’s January Player of the Month tipped in Gehrig Lindberg’s shot from the right-wing point to make it 2-0 at 8:20. Just 48 seconds later, Joe Widmar got out on a 2-on-2 rush with Ford, and Ford won the foot race to the back post to steer home a perfect centering feed by Widmar that made it 3-1. That forced the Havoc to pull star goalie Mike Robinson for their backup, Troy Kobryn, before the first period was even at the halfway point. Huntsville would tally a power play goal at 12:44 on a Phil Elgstam shot from the high slot, but the Dawgs answered 21 seconds later when Cmunt uncorked a missile from above the left-wing circle for his first goal with Roanoke. It was a 4-1 lead for the Dawgs after 20 minutes.
Austyn Roudebush stopped 28-of-31 shots faced in net for the Dawgs. Mike Robinson stopped 3-of-6 shots faced before he was relieved by Troy Kobyrn, who stopped 25-of-27 shots faced in net for the Havoc.
