ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) – – The Rail Yard Dawgs (20-18-3) couldn’t find their groove on Friday night, falling 4-3 to the Fayetteville Marksmen (16-17-5) at Berglund Center. Joe Widmar had three points (1 G, 2 A), Noah Finstrom and Gustav Müller added goals, and Austyn Roudebush saved 20-of-23 shots faced in net for the Dawgs.
The first two minutes of the action were a bit dicey for Roanoke, as Fayetteville missed an open net on a cross-crease pass to Sam Anzai, and Sam Dabrowski also hit the post on an early chance. The Dawgs settled in a bit from there, as John Aonso had a shot hit the post as well, and Roanoke outshot the Marksmen 9-7 throughout the period. Both teams also had one power play chance each, but the game was still scoreless at the end of 20 minutes.
Both teams opened up the offenses a bit more in the second period, with the Dawgs outshooting the Marksmen 14-9 in the frame. A missile by Roanoke’s Travis Broughman from the right wing dinged off the crossbar early in the period, but the Dawgs did find the game’s opening goal eventually. Aonso’s shot from just inside the Fayetteville blue line was tipped along by Finstrom at 8:10 to give Roanoke the lead. It didn’t take long for the Marksmen to tie the score, as a 2-on-1 odd-man rush allowed Cooper Fensterstock to notch his first SPHL goal at 9:58 to make it a 1-1 game. Roanoke killed off another Fayetteville power play chance, as neither team could snag the lead by the time the horn sounded for the second intermission…