LATEST UPDATES (More latest news here)
Jan.19 - Dougie gets 10 games for being taller than other players.
Jan.12 - Toronto Sun video clip on the OHL trade deadline (thanks hockey123)
Jan.11 - With the addition of Oleksiak, the IceDogs now have *5* Team Canada players on their roster.  Yes, HALF of the OHL players on the World Junior Team Canada lineup were IceDogs.
Jan.11 - IceDogs locked in and loaded: read article here.
Jan.11 - OHL: Championship or bust; IceDogs up ante by adding Oleksiak: No team has ever suited up five members of Team Canada at once, so that should provide some idea of what's on the line for the Niagara IceDogs. Coach-GM Marty Williamson, whose team has not run away with the Ontario Hockey League's Eastern Conference as much as everyone giddily anticipated in the preseason, made an 8-for-1 deal Monday for hulking 6-foot-7 defenceman Jamie Oleksiak.  Read more here.
Jan.10 - IceDogs make big trade for defenseman in getting Oleksiak from Saginaw.
Jan.5 - Congratulations Team Canada!  Our 4 IceDogs on the team helped Canada to a Bronze medal finish at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship, defeating Finland 4-0 with Visentin grabbing the shutout and being named player of the game!!
Dec.24 - Merry Christmas !!
Dec.15 - Huge win for the Dogs!  The IceDogs defeated Erie 7-0, with Agozzino racking up 5 points (2G/3A), Pacan 4 points (2G/2A), Broderic Kelly netting his first OHL goal, and Festerini collecting his first career shutout.  Way to go IceDogs!!
Dec.14 - All 4 IceDogs make Team Canada!  Congratulations to Freddie and Dougie Hamilton, Ryan Strome, and Mark Visentin - all 4 have solidified positions on Team Canada for the upcoming World Junior Hockey Championship!
Dec.8 - Dougie Hamilton signs contract with the Boston Bruins - congratulations Dougie!
Dec.5 - City council approves $50M for new arena:  An arena to be used for hosting entertainment, sports, shows, etc, was approved with a 9-3 vote in favor of the new facility.  One councilor did not vote due to conflicts of interest, councilors Kushner, Washuta, and Williamson opposed the new facility, the other councilors and the mayor voted in favor.  Councilor Burch suggested a u-shaped facility to cut down on construction costs, and suggested it would hold between 4500-5300 seats.  Lots of talk in the arena talk forum over this and everything leading up to it.
Dec.3 - Please bring a can of non-perishable food to tonight's game vs. Barrie!  CYO will be holding a food drive in support of their Coach4Food program so fans are encouraged to bring a non-perishable food donation to deposit in the bins on their way in to the game.  Thank you!!!
Nov.23 - No new arena for city, IceDogs leaving?  There's a new group of people who wish that this city remain stagnant and are opposed to an entertainment facility being built.  This anti-arena group is made up of only a handful of (mostly seniors) people, yet they are being so vocal with out city council, they alone could destroy all the work done to building a modern entertainment facility in this city.  If you would like the IceDogs to stay, and want a new arena to watch them in (as well as well watching a variety of other events) and haven't told your local councilor we need a new arena, then shame on you.  This is NOT one of those things were 'other' people will do the speaking out for you.  YOU need to email your councilor and tell him/her that this city needs a new arena.  Not just for the IceDogs, but to attract all sorts of other sporting and non-sporting events.  If you visit this site and sit back passively, and all the councilors here from is this anti-arena group, and the Dogs leave town, then you get what you deserve.  Yes these are harsh words, but someone  who doesn't let their politicians know what they want, doesn't deserve what others are fighting for.  Only a small handful of people are actively writing their councilor on this subject.  If you are one of them, then kudos to you, and thank you.  You have to KEEP writing.  On the other hand, if all you've done is read articles and put in a lot of hope, and haven't spent the measly 5 mins it takes to write an email, you can kiss this team goodbye after the end of this season.  Council NEEDS TO HERE FROM YOU NOW.  They're voting on it very soon.  Email address of your local councilor (write to your own, or write them all!) can be found here.  Sitting back passively *WILL* result in the arena plan being squashed, and the Dogs leaving town.
Nov.6 - How a new arena could change the city?  Here's first-hand words from a city that recently went through it!
Nov.8 - Kuhnhackle gets 20 game suspension for clean hit:  Discussion here.
Nov.4 - Congratulations to Dougie Hamilton for being named defenceman of the month!
Nov.2 - Dogs acquire Kuhnhackl from Windsor:  More here.
Oct.4 - Ryan Strome signs three year entry-level deal with the NY Islanders.
Sep.24 - Alex Friesen has been sent to the AHL.  Read about it here.  Chances are much larger now, that his time in an IceDogs uniform has come to an end.
Sep.18 - Dougie Hamilton playing with Zdeno Chara at the Boston Bruins camp.  Read all about it.
Sep.9 - Dogs already ranked 2nd in CHL pre-season listing and this blog has us ranked 1st in the East.
Sep.1 - Some photos of the Black & White game from training camp are online here.
Sep.1 - Hockey Night iN St. Catharines photos online here.
Jun.25 - Theoret drafted to Islanders:  Mitchell Theoret joins Ryan Strome in being drafted by the NY Islanders.  Theoret was selected by NY in the 7th round.  Congrats! (thanks Bleechers for the info)
Jun.25 - Former IceDog Andrew Shaw drafted 139th overall by the Chicago Blackhawks. (thanks 61jr)
Jun.25 - Former IceDog Andrew Fritsch selected in the 6th round by Phoenix.  (thanks ckg927)
Jun.24 - Strome to Islanders (4th pick) and D.Hamilton to Boston (9th pick):  Congratulations to Ryan Strome who was selected in the first round of the NHL draft, going 5th overall to the NY Islanders, and to Dougie Hamilton who was chosen 9th by the Boston Bruins.  Talk here!
Jun.17 - Goalie of the Year: Mark Visentin:  Mark Visentin of the Niagara IceDogs was presented with the OHL Goaltender of the Year Award at the OHL Awards Ceremony at the Hockey Hall of Fame on Wednesday June 8, 2011. Posted: June 09, 2011.  Video link
Jun.17 - Bobby Smith Trophy: Dougie Hamilton:  Dougie Hamilton of the Niagara IceDogs was presented with the Bobby Smith Trophy as the OHL's Scholastic Player of the Year at the OHL Awards Ceremony at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto on Wednesday June 8. Posted: June 09, 2011.  Video link
Jun.10 - ICEDOGS TRADE SCHWINDT + PICKS FOR BEUKEBOOM:  Soo Greyhounds GM Kyle Dubas completed a trade this afternoon with the Eastern Conference’s Niagara IceDogs.  In the deal the Hounds sent 19-year old defenseman BROCK BEUKEBOOM to the IceDogs in exchange for 19-year old defenseman MIKE SCHWINDT, Oshawa’s 2nd Round pick in the 2013 OHL Priority Selection, Barrie’s 2nd Round pick in the 2014 OHL Priority Selection (conditional) and Niagara’s 5th Round pick in the 2014 OHL Priority Selection (conditional).  Article here discussion by Dogs fans here.
May.25 - NHL.com article on Dougie Hamilton

May.9 - St. Catharines council votes in favor of going forth with constructing a new arena (aka 'entertainment complex') "in principle".  What does that mean?  Well if you don't know then you're like many of the councilors, who needed it explained to them by a somewhat frustrated Len Stack (and thank Gawd he did).  What it means is that they are willing to cover funds necessary to research the specific information required to continue on with the project.  What the next step is, is itself, a confusion.  Many councilors were having a hard time coming to a decision because a lot what happens in the 'moving forward' process is dependant on what site is chosen for the new building.  Current location (of the Garden City / Rex Stimers arenas) or the lower level parking lot (aka. lower lot).  Those in charge of granting P3 funds (federal government money) will undoubtedly want to know something as basic as "well where the heck are you planning on building the thing".  Building on the current site brings 2 major problems:  right off the bat, where are the IceDogs going to play during construction time?  And after it's built - what about parking?  There's not enough right now for 3,000 let alone 5,000.  The city could 'acquire' adjacent land to use as parking.  The lower lot, while having TONS of positives, seems to have one negative: the ground underneath is somewhat unstable.  Sure, it would be a bad idea to build a rink where at the end of the first year, a player could tap the puck at one end of the rink, and without assistance, GAIN SPEED as it continues towards the other end.  Once large structures are built level, it's nice for them to stay that way.  One would think this is all overcome simply by digging a bit deeper to find more stable soil.  Apparently it's such a task that it would significantly raise the construction costs.  The advantages of the lower lot site though, are huge.  It clears up our eyesore of a skyline (as our downtown is seen by the 406), there's tons of open space already there.  It puts the arena right in the same area as the new arts center, it's closer to the "nicer" area of St. Paul where restaurants are, there's a multi-level parking garage close by, it's directly off the highway.  Heck, knock out the St. Paul St. buildings on that side up to William St. and they could even put part of the arena RIGHT ON St. Paul St.!  Of course, that's easy for one person with no logistical background to say.  "Sure just start knocking down existing buildings...".  Anway.  Most of the councilors agreed that this city does in fact need a new entertainment facility, but once numbers (ie: money) was talked about, many got cold feet.  They could not foresee that it would be more harmful for the city NOT to build this.  Any councilors backing out of this project are also showing they're not committed to making downtown work.  There's been a downtown 'revitalization' project going on for... heck, forever.  The simple fact is, there's nothing there that will put large groups of people in the area at any one time.  Well, that is if you don't count large groups of drunks ever Friday/Saturday night.  5,000 people twice a week all winter long for hockey, and 6,000 or more for concerts year-round; that's a nice group of people to be having on a regular basis. 
May.9 - St. Catharines council to vote on new arena today.  This is a VERY important event taking place tonight.  They'll be voting on whether or not to officially go forward with the project.  It should be kept in mind that this is NOT just a hockey arena.  The entire region needs such a facility to host a wide variety of entertainment, including concerts, trade shows, home shows, sporting shows, figure skating, curling, etc.  The city has never had a mid-sized building to host such events.  Frankly, it's somewhat amazing this project wasn't deemed necessary DECADES ago.  But as the saying goes, better late then never.
May.3 - Hamilton and Strome Invited to NHL Scouting Combine:  Niagara IceDogs forward Ryan Strome and defenceman Dougie Hamilton have both been invited to the NHL Scouting Combine, taking place in Toronto from May 30 until June 4.
APR.29 - Important News About New Arena - Vote Will Take Place May 9 - City council will be voting on May 9th to proceed with the hiring of an arena management company. The company would act as a consultant while the next steps are being completed and then would manage the new arena if it is approved. This vote is EXTREMELY important.  Read more here to see how you can help!!!
APR.28 - Visentin named OHL Goaltender of the Year !  Read here!
APR.26 - Thanks for another great season IceDogs and our best wishes to the overagers who have played their last games in the OHL:  Wilson, Archibald, and Billingsley.
APR.15 - The webmaster is back from Cuba nursing a brutally itchy sunburn but will be at the arena tonight to hopefully watch the Dogs beat out Oshawa in round 2 of the 2010/11 OHL playoffs.  The winner of this series will advance to play Mississauga in the conference finals.  Game time 7PM.  GO DOGS GO!
APR.1 - Congratulations to the IceDogs for sweeping Brampton in round 1 of the 2010/11 playoffs.  Our offense was firing all cylinders and Visentin was solid in net as we outscored Brampton 18-3 over the four game series.  Next victim:  winner of Oshawa/Kingston series.
MAR.21 - ICEDOGS TO FACE BATTALION IN 1ST ROUND:  Schedule:  Game 1 - Thursday, March 24 at Niagara, 7pm Game 2 - Sunday, March 27th at Brampton, 2pm Game 3 - Tuesday, March 29th at Niagara, 7pm Game 4 - Thursday, March 31st at Brampton, 7pm Game 5 - Saturday, April 2nd at Niagara, 7pm* Game 6 - Sunday, April 3rd at Brampton, 2pm* Game 7 - Tuesday, April 5th at Niagara, 7pm*  * - if necessary
MAR.19 - DOGS FINISH SEASON WITH A BANG!  The IceDogs didn't just defeat Kingston 8-4 - Jenkins also scored his first OHL goal, and Strome had 4 points allowing him to climb to FIRST PLACE in the OHL point scoring race!  Thanks to all the fans who gave Billingsley loud cheers during the pre-game festivities, and for all the fans who came out with their signs in support of him.  And thank you IceDogs (the team and entire organization) for a TREMENDOUS season!  Lets carry on the energy all the way through the playoffs!!
MAR.19 - DON'T BODYCHECK!  The recent suspension to Billingsley has PROVED that the OHL will suspend a player for what even the OHL said was a CLEAN HIT.  Simply due to the fact that the hitter came into contact with the hitty's head, he was suspended (for 10 games).  ANYONE WHO HAS EVER PLAYED CONTACT SPORTS OR WHO KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT PHYSICS knows that a player going in to throw a hit CAN NOT determine, upon the point of impact, what body parts of his body are going to collide with what parts of the opponent's.  Billingsley's contact to Prince's head was completely accidental (and Prince was even more at fault for the contact to the head than Billingsley - being down low cutting through center, head looking down at the ice, faulty chin strap) - so since players are now being suspended for accidental contact of parts of THEIR body with parts of their OPPONENTS body... the only way to ensure you won't be suspended for accidental contact, IS NOT TO BODYCHECK.  There's always the chance that your opponent will put himself in a position for his own head to get hit, causing the YOU to be suspended.  Can anyone else see where this is going?  Players DRAWING hit to the head penalties?  Don't take the chance of the OHL suspending you IceDogs - DON'T HIT !!  You can't determine what body parts will collide with what after impact.  Every time you body check you're rolling the dice on a lengthy suspension.  It required the league to replay the hit FRAME BY FRAME IN SLOW MOTION to determine it was a hit to the head - HOW THE HECK DO THEY EXPECT PLAYERS TO KNOW THAT WILL HAPPEN, AT FULL SPEED, AHEAD OF THE TIME!?  I'm not saying don't suspend players for hitting to the head WHEN INTENTION was there.  By all means, throw them out of the league when it's proved the intended to injure or go after the head.  But for accidental collisions like this, especially when the opponent set himself up to be hit in the head, and added to the injury by having a chinstrap that allowed his helmet to come off?  It's just not worth the risk for an OHL player to through bodychecks anymore.  Don't do it guys, don't do it.
MAR.19 - WHY DOES HOCKEY ALLOW BODY ARMOR TO BE PASSED OFF AS PADDING?  Has anyone thought that injuries may be caused by ROCK HARD ELBOW PADS and ROCK HARD SHOULDER PADS?  Back in the years of when this webmaster played hockey, PADS WERE *PADDED* !  It was like guys were wearing hard pillows on their shoulders.  What players have now is not much less than metal armor.  There's no cushion when your head comes into contact with it - you might as well be smacked with a baseball bat.  Don Cherry has even commented numerous times in the past, that it's this rock hard equipment adding to the injuries.  There's 2 people hit in a bodycheck, so why is the padding created to protect only one of them?  So why isn't the OHL banning pads that aren't actually made up only of PADDING?   It may be someone's guess that money talks.

MAR.18 - OHL HITTING RULES ARE THE REASONS FOR INJURIES:  Checking from behind, hitting to the head / head checking penalties have done nothing except teach players to shrug off their what used to be natural sense of defense.  When players used to go into the corners, they'd take a look first to see if someone on the other team was coming in to plaster them.  When they skated with the puck, they'd do so with their eyes up.  Now, they're skaing with their heads down, going into corners blindly, and have given up their defensive awareness, because they think the rules will protect them from being hit.  It would be a good guess that there's MORE head injuries to players now, than there was 10 or 20 yrs ago.  These new rules are causing our players to be carefree out there, and they're getting hurt because of it.
MAR.16 - Billingsley gone for rest of season and possibly first 2 rounds of playoffs due to laying a *perfect* bodycheck on Prince of the Ottawa 67's.  Prince's chin strap came off and he hit his head on the ice.  Sure Billingsley's shoulder came into contact with Prince's upper body, but their entire torso's connected flush!  And Billingsley is taller than Prince, and Prince was skating low WITH HIS HEAD DOWN WITH A LOOSE CHIN STRAP!  PERFECT TEXTBOOK BODY CHECK BILLINGSLEY - DON'T LET THE SUSPENSION GET YOU DOWN.   The clowns that are in charge of running this league are destroying it.  Er... should read:  HAVE destroyed it.  These rules in place are intended to do nothing more than keep players from hitting each other AT ALL.  It's meant to get the players second guessing EVERY TIME they think about hitting, which will just result in no hitting.
MAR.12 - Congratulations Ryan Strome on the game winning goal in overtime last night and getting his 100th and 101st points of the season!  (Dogs beat Ottawa, in Ottawa, 3-2 in OT).  @ Kingston Sunday afternoon.
MAR.12 - IceDogs match 2007/08 season # of Wins:  With their OT win in Ottawa last night, the Niagara IceDogs have tied their record for most wins (42) in a season, first set by the inaugural 2007/08 team during their first year in Niagara.
MAR.10 - IceDogs own best player voting:  Alex Friesen was listed in 4 of the categories, and IceDogs players were listed the most, being listed in 12 of the 16 categories of best players in the OHL, voted on by coaches.  View the list here!
FEB.23 - Take the IceDogs bowling!  Pictures here!
FEB.21 - Some great IceDogs Family Day pictures are up here!  Re-cap from forum member Morticia: "Had a great time today with the Ice Dogs. Family skate from 11-12:30 the the skills competition from 1-3. Team Denise had a come from behind win over Team Bill. Looks like Bill and his boys will be serving Denise and her boys tomorrow night at the Mandarin. Awesome display of skills. Mitchell Theoret was most accurate shooter.. 4 targets in 5 shots. Jay Wilson took home hardest/fastest shot at 95/mph. Tim Billingsley took home the fanciest breakaway shot with a trick puck on a string. Jesse Graham won fastest skater. Im going from memory here, so if I have forgotten anyone, it wasnt intentional..lol"
FEB.19 - IceDogs bench boss Marty Williamson suspended for 5 games:  Read all about it.  And this is what it was all about.
FEB.17 - IceDogs bus trip for the fans to Kingston, March 13:  Only 70 bucks to Kingston and back, and your ticket!  Check out Kingston's new arena!  Info here.
FEB.16 - Visentin wins CHL goalie award for second straight week: TORONTO -- Niagara IceDogs netminder Mark Visentin won the Canadian Hockey League's top goaltender award for the second consecutive week Tuesday.  Read TSN article.
FEB.16 - At the top spot in the OHL Power Rankings this week are the Niagara Icedogs (77.472), who have been playing a virtual game of leapfrog with Mississauga for this top spot in recent weeks.  Read more.
FEB.15 - Vizzy named player of the week
FEB.15 - Strome for MVP?  Read here.

FEB.5 - The organist has arrived!  You might have noticed there has been less electropop/hiphop music being played at the games recently, and more traditional hockey rock and roll and organ music.  That's because there's been a live organist!  Check out this thread to speak to our in-house keyboardist!
FEB.5 - A playoff spot has been clinched by the Dogs!
JAN.22 - Interesting fact:  This year in 43 games, the dogs already have more points (61) than they did in all of last year! (60)  [thanks Dogpile]
JAN.20 - Lower prices on bus trips!  Want to catch an IceDogs away game or two?  Read here!
JAN.8 - Globe and Mail article on Visentin here.
DEC.22 - IceDogs ranked 4th in the country!   Read all about it!
DEC.22 - Teddy Bear Toss photos are online - thanks Lois!
DEC.21 - Visentin shines with a shutout in 8-0 win in World Junior pre-tourny game:  Read all about it!
DEC.20 - IceDogs mid-term report card by forum regular B-Rad is here!
DEC.15 - Visentin makes Team Canada!  Yes, the IceDogs #1 goaltender has made Team Canada in the World Jr. Hockey Championship tournament that is held ever year just after Christmas.  This year it is being held just down the QEW in Buffalo NY.  Congratulations on behalf of all IceDog fans to Mark Visentin for making the team!
DEC.11 - Reggie Traccitto on The Price Is Right!  Yep, you read correctly - view it here!
DEC.8 - Dogs make trade with Barrie for Archibald:  The Niagara IceDogs have acquired overage forward Darren Archibald and goaltender Dalton McGrath from the Barrie Colts in exchange for goaltender John Chartrand, a 5th round pick in the 2012 OHL Priority Selection and a 10th round pick (Guelph's) in the 2011 OHL Priority Selection.  Read all about it.

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PREPARING FOR BATTLE ...

NOTABLE QUOTABLE:
What is the rivalry versus Mississauga like?  Michael Swift - "They probably think they're better than us, by walking in and kicking us out of our old arena and now they're playing in it. But now we're the ones laughing at them because we just beat them four straight and they're starting their summer and going home. It's a little different because you always look at it that they came into the home that we'd been in for the past four years, but we can't be too mad because it's the best thing that's happened to most of us. It would have been nice to finish the career there but the change has been unbelievable, I wish I could have been down here for the past four years. "

Whoever's in charge of designing a new rink for Niagara - Here's A PERFECT NEW ARENA LAYOUT!!

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