Frontenacs pounce on bounces in OT win over Ice Dogs

Several Kingston players ended goal droughts on Salute the Troops night.

On a night where the Kingston Frontenacs were acknowledging current military personnel, the team were able to make their shots against the visiting Niagara Ice Dogs.

Andrew Kuzma scored 2:45 into overtime to give the Frontenacs a 4-3 come-from-behind win Friday night at Slush Puppie Place.

It was Kuzma's first goal since Nov. 2 (4 games). Jacob Battaglia (2 goals in previous 8 games) and Kieren Dervin (1 goal in 8) also managed to break out of their slumps in the game.

Dervin says the last few games have been hard on the forwards.

Battaglia's goal opened the scoring in the first period that saw the Fronts start out strong.

That was something head coach Troy Mann says was great to see.

The Ice Dogs scored twice on goals by Noah Reed and Sebastien Dell'Elce in a span of 1:16 early in the second period to take a 2-1 lead.

But with the Frontenacs on the power play, Vann Williamson knocked in a loose puck with 0.3 seconds left in the period to tie the game at 2-2.

Mann believes that goal shifted the momentum back in their favour.

Then with Niagara up 3-2 in the third on the power play, Dervin capitalized on a turnover and scored short-handed on a surprised Vladislav Yermolenko (32 saves) to knot it at 3-3.

Dervin credits a tip from the team's video people for his 8th goal of the season.

Gavin Betts stopped 32 shots in the victory and Mann says he played well in his first start in 3 games.

Kingston was 1-for-4 with the man advantage while Niagara did not score on their four powerplay opportunities. 

The next game for the Frontenacs is Sunday afternoon when they entertain the Sarnia Sting at Slush Puppie Place. Game time is 4 p.m.

If you can't make to the game, you can catch all the action on Upper Canada Fuel and Burner Frontenacs Hockey with Jim Gilchrist on the call on New Country 98.9.

Story by Ken Hashizume