Dogs finishing stong as playoff draw near

With a weekend split against Houston Areos, the Long Beach Ice Dogs cling to third place in the Western Conference of International Hockey League as the regular season winds down.

The Ice Dogs (43-29-7) played two very different games against the Aeros (40-28-9) at the Long Beach Arena. After a listless 3-1 loss on Friday that snapped a seven-game win streak, the Ice Dogs bounced back with a 4-1 win on Saturday.

"I don't think we came out with the right intensity last night," said defenseman Mike Crowley after Saturday's win. "We went into it kind of waiting to see what was going to shake out during the game rather than trying to set the tempo."

Houston set the tone early in Friday's game, scoring a goal only 33 seconds after the opening face-off. The lone Dogs tally came from Pavel Torgaev with less than a minute to play in the first period.

The game was sealed in the second period, as Houston notched two goals that silenced the home crowd of 4,866.

The Dogs posted 27 shots and went 0-6 on the power play in the loss.

The Dogs rebounded in Saturday's final regular season home game with an impressive showing, beating the Aeros 4-1 before 9,617.

"We were ready to play tonight," said John Van Boxmeer, the Ice Dogs' head coach. "We played with a lot of passion and intensity, which we didn't do last night."

The game marked the return of winger Scott Thomas to the lineup after missing more than 20 games with a sternum injury. The Dogs also received the services of defenseman Philippe Boucher, on loan from the Los Angeles Kings.

Trailing 1-0 after the first period, the Dogs notched three goals in a second period offensive explosion. Winger Vladimir Vorobiev's power play tally at 5:23 began the rally, followed by two goals from center Doug Ast that earned the Dogs a 3-1 lead.

"We knew after losing last night that this was a huge game," Ast said. "Everyone played hard tonight, it was a lot of fun."

Thomas, who had a goal and two assists in the game, capped scoring on the power play at 9:13 of the third period.

"My line played really well tonight," Thomas said. "I just tried to stick to my job and they really carried me throughout the game."

Long Beach has already clinched a playoff berth butn their seeding could change based on the play of Houston and the Utah Grizzlies.

The Dogs hold a four-point lead over Houston for third place, and trail the Grizzlies by one point for second place in the Western Conference with only three games remaining in the regular season.

"All we can do is try to win the next three and see what happens," Crowley said.