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Niagara IceDogs
File:NiagaraIceDogs.PNG
City	St. Catharines, Ontario
League	Ontario Hockey League
Conference	Eastern
Division	Central
Founded	2007-08
Home arena	Gatorade Garden City Complex
Colours	Red, Black, White
General manager	Dave Brown
Head coach	Mario Cicchillo
Affiliate	St. Catharines Falcons Jr. B
Franchise history
1998-2007	Mississauga IceDogs
2007-Present	Niagara IceDogs

File:Snapshot20080210120630yo9.png

Niagara IceDogs in action at home versus Barrie Colts.

The Niagara IceDogs are a major junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League based in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. The franchise was originally known as the Mississauga IceDogs and founded in 1996. The team was relocated to St. Catharines and played its inaugural season in the Niagara region during the 2007-08 OHL season after spending 9 seasons in Mississauga. The team is owned by Bill and Denise Burke.

History

On July 12, 2006, Eugene Melnyk, who owned the Toronto St. Michael's Majors, bought the Mississauga IceDogs. After the 2006-07 season, Melnyk sold the IceDogs, and moved the Majors to the Hershey Centre in Mississauga. The team approached the City of St. Catharines about moving the team into Jack Gatecliff Arena. St. Catharines City Council voted on a leasing arrangement on April 23, 2007, which passed. The OHL Board of Governors approved the deal on June 5, 2007.

2007-08 season

The IceDogs entered their first season in Niagara ranked in the CHL's top ten, but soon fell out of the league's top rankings. The team played their first regular season home game against the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors in front of a sellout crowd on September 21, 2007. The IceDogs won the game, defeating the Majors 4-1. Over the course of the season, the IceDogs developed a major rivalry with the Mississauga Majors. In December, right-winger Stefan Legein represented Team Canada at the 2008 World Junior Ice Hockey Tournament and earned a gold medal in the process.

On January 8, 2008, the IceDogs acquired goaltender Sebastian Dahm from the Sudbury Wolves in exchange for goaltender Andrew Loverock, defenseman Chris Van Laren, a 3rd round draft pick in 2009 and a sixth round draft pick in 2010. Dahm finished the season with the IceDogs, earning a record of 20-6-0-0, a GAA of 2.53 and a save percentage of 0.917. The IceDogs finished the regular season with 82 points, three shy of Brampton for the central division title.

2008-09 season

The IceDogs began the 2008-09 season considerably younger than they ended the previous season. Gone were the likes of goaltenders Sebastian Dahm (age) and Lucas Lobsigner (university), forward Jordan Foreman (age), captain Mike Swift (age), defenseman Matt Corrente (AHL), leading scorer Luca Caputi (AHL), World Junior Gold Medalist Stefan Legein (retirement), and 1st round NHL draft pick Alex Pietrangelo (St. Louis, NHL). Additionally, veteran defensemen Josh Day and Scott Fletcher began the year at AHL traning camps, but were released and rejoined the IceDogs, overager Jason Bergeron was cut in training camp, and overager Mike MacIsaac was released a few games into the season. The core of the roster was made up of 16, 17, and 18 year olds and were plagued by inconsistent play at the start of the year.

Coaches

Mario Cicchillo was promoted from assistant coach in 2006-07 for Mississauga, to become the first coach of the Niagara IceDogs after it was announced that head coach Mike Kelly resigned to accept a senior advisory position with the team. Additionally, he has also been named the head coach of the Ontario Under 17 team.

• 2007-Present Mario Cicchillo

Players

NHL Alumni

• Alex Pietrangelo

NHL Draft Picks

• 2008- Alex Pietrangelo, 1st round (4th overall) St. Louis

Award winners

• 2007–08 – Michael Swift, Leo Lalonde Memorial Trophy – Overage Player of the Year
• 2007–08 – Alex Friesen, Ivan Tennant Memorial Award – Top High School Academic Player
• 2007–08 – Denise Burke (Team President), OHL Executive of the Year

Current roster

Goaltenders
Number		Player	Catches	Position	Birth Year	Place of Birth	Acquired
29		Mark Visentin	L	G	1992	Waterdown, Ontario	3rd round (2008)
33		John Cullen	L	G	1991	Hamburg, New York	FA (2008)

Defencemen
Number		Player	Shoots	Position	Birth Year	Place of Birth	Acquired
4		Jay Gilbert	R	D	1991	Port Stanley, Ontario	4th round (2007)
6		David McMullen	R	D	1991	Kingston, Ontario	7th round (2007)
7		Mike Schwindt	R	D	1991	Mount Forrest, Ontario	13th round (2007)
10		Alex Pietrangelo- STL (2008)	R	D	1990	King City, Ontario	1st round (2005)
11		Josh Day	L	D	1988 (O.V)	St. Johns, Newfoundland	Trade SSM (2006)
12		Reggie Traccitto	R	D	1989	Oakville, Ontario	Trade LON (2007)
18		Matt Maione	L	D	1990	Toronto, Ontario	12th round (2006)
22		Drew Schiestel- BUF (2007)	L	D	1989	Hamilton, Ontario	3rd round (2005)
27		Scott Fletcher	R	D	1988 (O.V)	Haslett, Michigan	Trade SAG (2007)
32		Shayne Rover	R	D	1992	Newmarket, Ontario	2nd round (2008)

Forwards
Number		Player	Shoots	Position	Birth Year	Place of Birth	Acquired
8		Alex Friesen	L	C	1991	Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario	2nd round (2007)
9		Andrew Agozzino	L	LW	1991	Kleinburg, Ontario	1st round (2007)
13		Freddie Hamilton	R	C	1992	Toronto, Ontario	1st round (2008)
14		Johnson Andrews	L	LW	1991	Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario	5th round (2007)
15		Andrew Shaw	R	C	1991	Belleville, Ontario	11th round (2007)
16		Dylan MacEachern	L	LW	1990	Mississauga, Ontario	6th round (2006)
17		Marco Insam	R	RW	1989	Selva Gardena, Italy	2nd round import (2008)
20		Thoms Middup	R	RW	1990	Richmond Hill, Ontario	Trade KGN (2008)
21		Matt Piva	R	C	1988 (O.V.)	Maple, Ontario	Trade MIS (2008)
23		Andrew Merrett	R	RW	1989	Ottawa, Ontario	5th round (2005)
24		Chris DeSousa	L	C	1990	Mississauga, Ontario	1st round (2006)
25		Matt Sisca	L	C/LW	1990	Woodbridge, Ontario	8th round (2006)
26		Jamie Howard	L	LW	1989	St. Catharines, Ontario	13th round (2005)
28		Victor Terreri	R	RW	1991	Mississauga, Ontario	FA (2008)

Team records

Team Records for a single season
Statistic	Total	Season
Most Points	85	2007-08
Most Wins	42	2007-08
Most Goals For	272	2007-08
Least Goals For	272	2007-08
Most Goals Against	214	2007-08
Least Goals Against	214	2007-08

Individual player records for a single season
Statistic	Player	Total	Season
Most Goals	Luca Caputi	51	2007–08
Most Assists	Michael Swift	62	2007–08
Most Points	Luca Caputi	111	2007–08
Most Points, rookie	Chris DeSousa	36	2007-08
Most Points, defenceman	Alex Pietrangelo	53	2007–08
Best GAA, goalie	Sebastien Dahm	2.53	2007-08
Goalies = minimum 1500 minutes played

Season-by-season results

Regular season

Legend: OTL = Overtime loss, SL = Shoot Out Loss

Season	Games	Won	Lost	OTL	SL	Points	Pct %	Goals For	Goals Against	Standing
2007–08	68	42	25	0	1	85	.625	272	214	2nd Central
2008-09	In Progress

Playoffs

• 2007–08 – Defeated Mississauga St. Michael's Majors 4 games to 0 in conference quarterfinals.
  Lost to Oshawa Generals 4 games to 2 in conference semifinals.

Uniforms and logos

The IceDogs colours are red, white, black and silver. The Home jersey is white with red, black, and white stripes on the bottom and black and red diagonal stripes on the sleeves with two crossed dog bones on each shoulder. The Away jersey is black with red, black, and white stripes on the bottom and red and white diagonal stripes on the sleeves with two crossed dog bones on each shoulder. Both jerseys are tie-ups. The Niagara logo is a Bull Terrier playing hockey in hockey gear. The team wears red and black CCM gloves and CCM helmets (black or white) depending upon their jersey colour. In 2008-2009, the IceDogs launched a third jersey, which is currently being worn by the team during warmups. It is a red jersey, featuring the Bull Terrier logo on top of a large N.

Arena

The Gatorade Garden City Complex is a publicly owned and operated facility and is the main arena in St. Catharines. It is located at 8 Gale Crescent. The IceDogs play in the Jack Gatecliff Arena of the complex, formerly known as the Garden City Arena. The arena's capacity is 3,145 including standing room. It is commonly referred to by fans as 'the Jack.'

The original arena was built in 1932, making it one of the oldest arenas in the CHL. It was previously used by the St. Catharines Teepees, St. Catharines Black Hawks, and the St. Catharines Saints and is the home to the St. Catharines Jr. B Falcons. Renovated in 1996, it was named after local sportswriter Jack Gatecliff. The Jack Gatecliff Arena name has now been applied to the pad that the IceDogs play on, while the name of the facility itself was changed on September 19, 2007.

See also

• List of ice hockey teams in Ontario

External links

• Niagara IceDogs Official web site
• Ontario Hockey League Official web site
• Canadian Hockey League Official web site
• Niagara IceDogs Fans Site Unofficial web site