ROANOKE, Va. (WSET) — he Rail Yard Dawgs (3-3) finally ran out of that late game magic they had possessed for so much of the 2023-2024 season on Saturday night, falling 3-1 to the Huntsville Havoc (4-1) in Game Three of the 2024 President’s Cup Semifinals at Berglund Center.
Dominiks Marcinkevics scored the lone goal for Roanoke The win sends the Havoc back to the President’s Cup Final for first time since 2019, and Huntsville will face the second-seeded Peoria Rivermen in a best-of-three series.
Both teams had good chances in the first period of action, with the Dawgs registering the best two looks of the opening frame.
The Havoc had two power plays in the first period while Roanoke had one, but it was Marcinkevics who stuffed home a rebound on a CJ Stubbs shot that had been saved to open the scoring at 13:49. Huntsville had an 11-7 shots on goal advantage, but Roanoke led at the first intermission.
Huntsville dominated the first 15 minutes of the second period, outshooting the Dawgs 8-2 during that span and keeping Roanoke pinned in to its own defensive zone.
A 2-on-1 for the Havoc allowed Benito Posa to smash home a rebound after Doug Elgstam’s shot was saved to tie the game at 1-1 at the 4:25 mark.
The Dawgs would respond when they got their second power play of the night at 16:09, and had the final eight shots on goal of the period.
But the Havoc kept the Roanoke onslaught out of their net and the score was still tied after 40 minutes.
