Dayton's Defense Stands Tall, beats Ottawa 3-1

Barkov scored his 5th & 6th goals tonight

Dayton General Manager Bill Corfield had a goal for his team's first ten games. "We've basically broken the season into eight 10 games periods. Each period of ten games we hope to be able to see some growth in our team as the young guys mature."

Corfield has to be pleased after his team won their second in a row, a 3-1 win over Ottawa.

The Musicmen sit in a four-way tie in the Corfield Conference for 4th place with ten points after ten games.

If Dayton can sustain this pace, they will be in contention for home ice in the opening round of the 2017-18 CCHL Playoffs.

That's a big if, but so far, seven of the top eight scorers on Dayton are the "young guns." MacKinnon, Monahan, Barkov, Guentzel, Drouin, Aho and Larkin sit atop the stats sheet.

Tonight, Alex Barkov scored twice, Jon Drouin added two assists, Fedor Tyutin added two shot blocks and netminder Brian Elliot continued his strong play by stopping 32 of 33 Ottawa shots on goal, which raises his season save percentage to .894, and sees Elliot finds himself fifth among all CCHL Goaltenders.

Ottawa enjoyed only two power plays, and but was shut down by Dayton. The Musicmen converted two of their five power play opportunities as well.

"I don't know if we'll be at .500 after twenty games have been played, but so far it's about what I expected at the end of training camp. Lots of personnel changes, moving guys around in the lineup, etc. Things have settled down some for us and the future looks very bright. We just need to be patient, let our defensive prospects mature and join the fun up here - it'll happen."

One issue that Corfield will need to deal with is forward Jason Pominville's sudden demand for a trade.

"I appreciated the Musicmen acquiring me in the Shea Weber deal earlier this season. It was my understanding that I'd be working on one of the top two lines, which I was excited about. It's not worked out that way. Mack's got the top line RW and the coach seems to like Drouin on the 2nd line right wing, so that pushes me to the 3rd line. Yes, I've asked Mr. Corfield for a trade if one can be worked out where he gets a good return. I'll keep busting my ass as hard as I can until I'm told to pack my bags. If it happens, great. If it doesn't, I'll do everything I can to help this team win." said Pominville.

One unnamed source Sirius/XM's Hockey Channel suggested Corfield worked the phones earlier this evening and has a tentative deal in place with - according to our sources - another team in the Corfield Conference. The return Corfield is reportedly looking for in return is a young defenseman who has CCHL upside.

As of press time, the Musicmen had no comment on any player transactions.

Notes:

The homestand continues this week as Fort Erie comes in Friday night and Seattle will face Dayton Sunday.

Matt Irwin has been cleared for gameplay and is expected to be in the lineup Friday night. Marc Methot is considered a game-time decision.

Fedor Tyutin continues to lead the Musicmen in blocked shots with 9 blocks in ten games, which puts him in a group one behind Alex Goligoski of Springfield.

Matt Irwin, has 7 blocks in just 6 games.