ROANOKE, Va- Moral was high on the ice and in the stands at Berglund Center Saturday night as the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs swept the Evansville Thunderbolts in Round 1 of the 2023 President’s Cup Playoffs with a 4-0 shutout. Dawg’s goalie Austyn Roudebush was on fire, stopping all 32 shots he faced.
Both teams, looking for that first goal, hit the ice with energy and speed. Things got moving after Evansville goalie Zane Steeves was taken off-ice with a hand injury, and Lucas Fitzpatrick stepped in. Towards the end of the first period, a breakaway from Roanoke’s Gehrett Sargis resulted in the first goal. After two more goals for the Dawgs in the second period from Matt O’Dea and Billy Vizzo, it was smooth sailing the rest of the game. Gehrett Sargis found Alex DiCarlo to bring the score to 4 in the third period. The last few minutes of the game saw some escalated penalty box action. According to the game stats, efforts in the last three minutes resulted in 28 combined penalty minutes. Twenty-four for Evansville and four for Roanoke. Even after that, both teams met in the middle, after the clock ran out, congratulating each other, proving that these guys respect each other no matter which team they are on.
Check out all the action in the photo gallery from Field Pass Hockey’s Michele Hancock.
