Cole Gives the Ice Dogs a Black Eye in 3-2 Loss

Danton Cole scored two third-period goals Saturday to lead the Utah Grizzlies to a 3-2 victory over the Ice Dogs at the Sports Arena.

It was Cole who scored the tying goal in the third period Monday, when the Grizzlies defeated the Ice Dogs, 5-4, in an overtime shootout.

This time, Cole not only tied the score at 2-2 with a disputed goal, but scored the winner.

Ice Dog goaltender Dave Littman claimed that a Grizzly player was in the crease for Cole’s first goal at 8:55 of the third.

One minute later, eight seconds after Hubie McDonough went to the penalty box for tripping, Cole scored again on a slap shot that went into the upper-left corner.

“In the third period, we kept taking penalty after penalty after penalty after penalty after penalty,” Coach John Van Boxmeer said of Los Angeles’ five third-period penalties. “And we were dying. You can’t give a good team like Utah so many chances.”

The Ice Dogs had a power play for most of the last minute of the game, and even pulled Littman, but Utah effectively disrupted their perimeter passing to hold on for the victory.

“Any time you have been on the road for so long and you come back home, you’re worried about complacency,” Van Boxmeer said. “We didn’t have the intensity we needed.”

The Ice Dogs returned from nearly three weeks on the road, where they played seven games and compiled a 4-2-1 record. That was good enough to keep them in first place of the International Hockey League’s Southwest Division, tied with Las Vegas going into the game.

For the Ice Dogs, there was Todd Gillingham and little else.

In what used to be a goon league, Gillingham was a goon’s goon. But there he was scoring two goals in the second period--mostly by just hanging around the crease.

Twice the puck came his way, twice he seemed to fend it off as much as shoot it. Twice it slid under Jamie McLennan’s glove for a goal.

He scored eight goals last season but can’t remember scoring two in one professional game.

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Ice Dog Notes

Attendance was not announced for the game, but there was an estimated crowd of 3,000. The Ice Dogs had announced 9,753 for their home opener, although actual attendance appeared to be less. . . . The Ice Dogs play Minnesota (3-6-1) today at 3 p.m. at the Sports Arena. The Ice Dogs defeated the Moose, 6-1, in the home opener.