ROANOKE, VA – The Marksmen and the Rail Yard Dawgs met for their ninth meeting of the 2018-2019 season last night. Much like all season, it was a back-and-forth affair. The Marksmen were without their star Goaltender Dillon Kelley, who was called up to the Adirondack Thunder earlier in the week. With Kelley called up to the ECHL, Nathan Perry found himself getting his second start in the SPHL. Perry came up huge for the Marksmen, making incredible saves from every area.
“Comparable to my comfort level growing with each game, I think learning about the league, opponents and my own teammates even is going to grow each game.” Perry said about how he handled last night’s game against an unfamiliar team. “The guys played great in front of me in the third period and made that win as easy as ever, so they deserve a lot of credit for laying it on the line in what was a tight game all night.”
Perry made an impressive 26 save night, keeping his team’s six game winning streak alive. While preparing for last night’s game, Perry showed a lot of confidence.
“I think for me the confidence is going to grow the more I get in the net. I think last game I had a lot of nerves and second guessed myself at times. Tonight I felt more comfortable with my playing abilities.”
Last night’s win saw the Marksmen have flawless penalty kills all night, keeping the Dawgs from scoring on any of their four power plays. The Marksmen power play unit was 50% last night, with Darren McCormick scoring on one of the two Marksmen power plays. The Marksmen managed to score three goals, with the final coming from the highly consistent Brian Bowen. Bowen’s goal sealed the win after Zach Nieminen and Jesse Schwartz tried to rally the Dawgs back. The Marksmen are back in action tonight at 6P.M. in Fayetteville.
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