ROANOKE, Va. – The Fayetteville Marksmen scored four-straight goals in the second period and Vitali Mikhailov notched a shootout goal in the fifth round to set up a 6-5 win over the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs at the Berglund Center Tuesday.

New Year’s Eve action began evenly, with both teams getting offensive zone time, but Roanoke jumped ahead with the game’s first goal at 9:17 off a point-shot deflection. Just over a minute later, Ryan Nolan (5) intercepted a Roanoke attempt inside his own blueline and evened the game on a breakaway, but the Dawgs would take back control of the game soon after. With seven and a half minutes left in the period, the home team took a 2-1 lead and the score held through intermission.

Roanoke added to its lead and went ahead 3-1 early in the second period on a powerplay, but that would be all for the Dawgs until the final minutes of regulation. Alex Gritz (5) powered ahead and found the top of the net to finish off a neutral zone give-and-go from John Moncovich (10) and Nolan (13) and spark Fayetteville’s offense at 3:11. Near the halfway point of the period, Austen Long (7) tipped in a Moncovich (11) shot and tied the game 3-3 with a powerplay goal. Two quick goals in the final three and a half minutes of the second from Nolan and Gritz gave the Marksmen a 5-3 lead heading into the third.

Roanoke scored two goals with an extra attacker on the ice toward the end of regulation to force overtime, and Ryan Kenny made 10 stops in bonus hockey to carry Fayetteville into the shootout. Nolan and Mikhailov scored in the skills competition, and Kenny stopped 4 of 5, on top of 42 through 65 minutes to secure the win.

Fayetteville’s road trip continues with games at Peoria and Quad City before the team returns home Friday, January 10 for Video Game Night. Single-game tickets to Video Game Night and all 2024-25 home games are available at marksmenhockey.com.