Dogs Down The Steelheads

Mississauga, ON – The Mississauga Steelheads returned to action Thursday night, making their first trip to St. Catharines to take on the Niagara Ice Dogs. Dylan DeMelo, Stuart Percy, Brett Foy, Riley Brace and Mississauga’s newest Steelhead Dylan Smoskowitz took to the ice in front of Tyson Teichmann, making his second straight start.

The Steelheads went on the offensive immediately, as Brett Foy and Captain Stuart Percy welcomed Dylan Smoskowitz to the Steelheads, assisting on his first goal in the blue and white. The Steelheads and Ice Dogs would trade powerplays, however strong penalty kills at both ends of the ice would prevent any further goals in the period. Mississauga would go into the break with a 1 - 0 lead, outshooting Niagara 10 – 9.

Period 2 opened up with Niagara’s Brock Beukeboom taking an early delay of game penalty, however with the Steelheads unable to capitalize, Niagara’s Dougie Hamilton would tie the game at 1 following the advantage.  Mississauga would re-gain the lead just over a minute later however, as Riley Brace put home his second of the season; assists went to Dylan Smoskowitz and Brett Foy. Following some fisticuffs between Alex Cord and Mitchell Theoret, the Ice Dogs would even the score for a second time, as Mike Robinson put home his first OHL goal, with assists coming from Ryan Strome and Brett Ritchie. The second period would continue to get chippy, with a number of penalties called, however both PK units were up to the challenge keeping the game knotted at 2 after the second period; the Steelheads held the slight edge on shots, 22 – 20.

Broderick Kelly would open the third with a goal just over a minute into the period. The Steelheads would work to put one past Christopher Festarini, however Niagara’s netminder would stand strong, turning away all 12 of Mississauga’s third period shots. Festarini’s 33 save performance would be good enough to hold off the Steelheads, and Niagara would ride 18 third period shots to a 3-2 victory.

Broderick Kelly’s first goal of the season earned him the game’s third star; Mississauga’s Dylan Smoskowitz’s 2-point debut was good enough for the second star, and Christopher Festarini’s performance in net was good enough to earn him the first star of the game.

The Steelheads return home tomorrow night as they host the Barrie Colts at 7:30 PM. Great tickets are still available in person at the Hershey Centre box office, and online at Ticketmaster!

For more information, please visit our website at www.mississaugasteelheads.com or follow @OHLSteelheads on Twitter.

Stephen Tihal
stihal@mississaugasteelheads.com