For immediate release

For more information, contact: Joel Silverberg, Director of Broadcasting (865) 525-7825,  joel@knoxvilleicebears.com.

Stephen Mundinger made 44 saves and the Knoxville ice Bears defeated the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs 2-1 at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum Thursday night.

Knoxville has won four of its last five games. The loss snaps a four-game win streak for Roanoke.

Daryk Dubé-Plouffe scored late in the first period by converting Knoxville’s second power play at 17:47. Carson Vance and Kyle Soper exchanged the puck at the blue line. Soper found Dubé-Plouffe in the right circle. He stickhandled the puck, skated to his left and fired a snapshot that beat Tyler Roy to give the Ice Bears the lead at the first intermission.

Tommy Munichiello scored off a rebound at 3:56 of the second to tie the game for the Rail Yard Dawgs. C.J. Valerian shot the puck from the right wall. Mundinger made the initial pad save, but Munichiello was in front of the crease to clean up the rebound and tie the score.

Brendan Dowler gave Knoxville the lead late in the period by finishing off a three-on-one for his first goal of the season. Dowler pushed the puck up to Jimmy Soper on the right wing. Soper fed it across to Brayden Stannard, who slipped it back to Dowler to put on a yawning net at 18:27 to make it 2-1 at the end of two periods.

Mundinger kept Knoxville in front by stopping all 15 shots he faced in the third period. He fought through traffic to stop Brendan Stanko’s shot through the right circle and denied Gustav Müller’s breakaway attempt. He withstood a flurry halfway through the third period and another in the final seconds as Roanoke had the extra attacker on in an attempt to tie the game. Roy finished with 26 saves for Roanoke.

The Ice Bears host Fayetteville on Friday. The Rail Yard Dawgs visit Huntsville Friday night.

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 and five-time regular season 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.

-xxx-