Dayton's Defense stands tall against Icecats, but offense falls short in 2-1 loss...

Mike Smith stopped 34 of 36 Icecats shots on goal, and Dayton defensemen blocked 7 shots on the night but it was all for naught as Siberia defeated the Musicmen 2-1 at the Soundstage in Dayton, OH.

"That's the third best team in the Canosa Conference right there. Third in offense and third in defense overall." said Dayton General Manager Bill Corfield. "When you get 5 shots on goal over the first 40 minutes and finish with nine for the entire game, you just can't beat a team like those guys."

The game started like it was going to be a total disaster for the hometown Musicmen as Siberia scores twice in the first :51 seconds of the first period. "No, that's not how we wanted to start." said Corfield.

From that moment on, the Icecats offense their fair share of shots against Mike Smith, but no more goals would get past the Dayton netminder.

Dayton also shut the Siberia power play down, holding them scoreless on just two man advantages.

Dayton's Francois Beauchemin scored the only goal, midway through the third period, to get within 1 goal, but there would be no more scoring the rest of the game.

Matt Irwin led all players with 3 blocked shots, Girardi had 2 and Beachemin and Mark Stuart each had one each.

"Shame this kind of effort didn't produce a better outcome, but if we can play like that against the 'Cats, we should be able to play that way against everybody..." said blueliner Irwin.

What's Next/

Dayton travels to Minnesota for a 9:15pm game Monday evening.