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For more information, contact: Joel Silverberg, Director of Broadcasting (865) 525-7825, joel@knoxvilleicebears.com.
Dino Balsamo scored twice in the shootout and the Knoxville Ice Bears defeated the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs 3-2 on Sunday afternoon at the Knoxville Civc Coliseum.
The Ice Bears (15-3-2) have no won two straight with the win. The loss snapped a three-game win streak for the Rail Yard Dawgs (9-5-6).
C.J. Stubbs scored first in the shootout for Roanoke with a backhand past Kristian Stead. Colton Fletcher tied the shootout for the Ice Bears in the fourth round by faking a shot from the slot and skating around Austyn Roudebush when he bit on the fake.
Nick Ford scored in the seventh round of the shootout to put Knoxville on the brink, but Balsamo skated across the slot and beat Roudebush up high. After Stead denied Mac Jansen in the eighth round, Balsamo scored again to galvanize the Coliseum.
Knoxville scored early with a power play goal by Andrew Bellant at 3:12 of the first. Razmuz Waxin-Engback took the puck off the left side and sent it across to the right circle, where Bellant pushed a one-timer past Roudebush for his 11th goal of the year.
Roanoke tied the game with a wrist shot by Jeff Jones at 12:17. Jones faked a shot from the left side, skated to the high slot and lifted the puck over Stead. The Rail Yard Dawgs took the lead at 9:39 of the second with a power play goal by Brady Heppner.
The Ice Bears knotted the score when Stepan Timofeyev redirected a Luke Erickson slap shot at 16:35. After a play in the slot was broken up, the puck slid to the blue line where Erickson sent a blast toward the net and Timofeyev tipped it behind Roudebush to tie the game at second intermission.
The Ice Bears successfully killed off all seven power play opportunities for Roanoke, including a four-minute double minor late in the third period and a two-minute minor for the final two minutes of overtime. Knoxville went 1-of-3 on the power play.
Stead finished with 26 saves for his sixth win of the season. It was Knoxville’s first shootout win after dropping its first two attempts. Roudebush made 20 saves for Roanoke.
Both teams will be back in action on Thursday night. Knoxville will travel to Huntsville to take on the Havoc for the third time this season. The Rail Yard Dawgs will head back home to take on Fayetteville.
ABOUT The Knoxville Ice Bears: The Knoxville Ice Bears organization began in 2002 and was an inaugural charter member of the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) in 2004. As four-time SPHL Champions, the Ice Bears are an experienced and established organization, offering the city and its’ visitors a balanced product of highlight-reel hockey, unique and exciting intermission activity and endless fan interaction, presenting the most affordable, family-friendly way to enjoy sports and entertainment. Season, Partial Season and Flex Tickets are now on sale. For more information, visit www.knoxvilleicebears.com or call (865) 525-7825.
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