The Niagara Ice Dogs have progressed to round two of the OHL play-offs by defeating the Oshawa Generals four games to two. The series started out with the Ice Dogs dominating the Generals with a two game pounding. The Generals came back winning games three and four astounding the fans as well as many OHL prognosticators.
The back to back losses to the eighth place Generals caused Coach Marty Williamson to make a few line changes. Game 5 of the Oshawa-Ice-Dog series saw the reunification of over-agers Pacan-Friesen and Agozzino on the first line.
Game five also saw a reappearance of Carter Verhaeghe. A Waterdown native, the rookie Verhaeghe worked hard this year to earn a spot in the line up most nights on a roster filled with big names like Team Canada members Strome, Visintin, the Hamilton brothers and trade dead-line Ice Dog addition Oleksiak. Deemed a healthy scratch in game four, Williamson returned Verhaeghe to the line-up- which proved to be a great decision.
Verhaeghe scored his first play-off goal Saturday night which ultimately became the tying goal of the game. When the final whistle blew, the Ice Dogs pulled ahead 3-2 in the series with their 5-3 win over the Generals. Verhaeghe was named first star.
Reuniting David Pacan with his over-age team mates made all the difference. The Florida Panthers prospect scored the first goal in Saturday’s 5-3 win over the Oshawa Generals in St. Catharines and then netted the winning and insurance goal in the third period Sunday.
While the big names on the Ice Dog roster have received lots of press throughout the season, it is the depth of the Ice Dog bench like Pacan and Verhaeghe that very well might take the team deep into the play-offs.
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