Youth was served Wednesday night when the injury-depleted Niagara IceDogs took the ice against the host Brantford Bulldogs with six 16-year-olds in the lineup.
While two of them accounted for Niagara’s offence — Ryan Roobroeck, his 10th goal of the season; Rafek Dianov, his first, in his first Ontario Hockey League game — an IceDogs team that made the trip with only 10 forwards and five defencemen still fell short of snapping a losing streak. A 3-2 loss was their sixth in a row and 21st straight versus their Canine Cup rivals.
Despite the loss, head coach Ben Boudreau liked how his team played.
“It was a valiant effort that we could be proud of,” he said. “When we talk about finding a way to look at yourself in the mirror at the end of every game and be proud of what we brought to the table, I thought everybody was bought in. I thought everybody played extremely well and did what they could.
“When you can control that, you should be happy with the outcome of the game, whether you win or you lose.
For us, finding a way to get everybody on the same page and battle just to give us a chance with the amount of bodies we had was pretty amazing in itself.
Injuries to several veterans gave first-year players, including some last-minute call-ups such as Dianov, opportunities to showcase their skills, and Boudreau likes what he is seeing.
“When you look at the 16-year-olds, these are the guys we are going to rely on in a year or two to carry our team to where it needs to be,” he said. “When they’re ripe and they’re ready to go, we won’t see these losing streaks continue so much.
“To see them have success at such an early age is very encouraging for everybody to see.”
Dianov, a 16-year-old, left-shooting forward, was taken by Niagara in the 13th round of this year’s draft with the 243rd overall selection. The Moscow native, who spent the last two seasons playing triple-A hockey in Toronto, joined the team as a call-up earlier in the day.
Boudreau called Dianov’s remarkable debut in major junior an “amazing story.”
“For him, it will be something he will remember for his entire life. I think that’s great,” the coach said. “At the same time, if you want to score you got to go to where the puck is going, and I think he scored when the puck was two inches from the goal line.
“When you find yourself close to the net, you’re going to find yourself with opportunities to score and I think that was a great message to show everybody.
“You want to get rewarded, you have to go to where the pucks are going.”
Niagara was outshot 39-23 and both teams were held scoreless on the power play: IceDogs, 0-for-5; Bulldogs, 0-for-6.
IceDogs goaltender Owen Flores was named the star of the game after making 36 saves and tying Brantford forward Calvin Crombie with a game-high six minutes in penalties. Each was assessed a double minor when pushing and shoving in the crease escalated into a fight early in the second period.
“I thought they came over and head-butted him, which started the whole fracas. I thought we came out of that unfavourable, so I didn’t agree with those calls,” Boudreau said. “I thought tonight he did a great job of playing based on his emotions.
- Article was updated
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“I know it’s tough to do that every night, but we know what he’s capable of and I thought he gave us everything he had tonight.”
Nick Lardis, with two goals, and Crombie scored for Brantford, which won its second in a row and has earned at least a point in nine of its last 10 games.
Niagara (4-15-4-1) visits the Kitchener Rangers (19-7), the league’s winningest team, on Friday and hosts the Peterborough Petes in a 2 p.m. puck drop Sunday at Meridian Centre in St. Catharines.
’Dog Biscuits: The Bulldogs are 21-0 versus the IceDogs since Niagara edged the then-Hamilton Bulldogs on Nov. 10, 2019, on the road.
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