Ice Dogs Move Ahead in Series

Houston’s Frederic Chabot may have been the hottest goaltender in the International Hockey League going into the Aeros’ Western Conference championship series against the Ice Dogs, but he isn’t any more.

For the second consecutive night, the Ice Dogs roughed up Chabot, the IHL’s regular-season most valuable player, by defeating the Aeros, 5-2, Monday before 3,458 at the Long Beach Arena.

Chabot, who had a 10-game streak of not giving up more than three goals in a game ended on Sunday, gave up five goals for the second game in a row as the Ice Dogs won their 17th in a row at home to take a 2-1 advantage in their best-of-seven series.

“I thought that our fore checking was very good,” said Long Beach Coach John Van Boxmeer, whose team improved to 9-1 in the playoffs. “We also were getting a lot of quality shots against [Chabot].”

Stephane Morin led the Ice Dogs with his fourth goal of the playoffs and two assists. Jozef Cierny and John Byce each added a goal and assist, which was more than enough for Long Beach goalie Tom Draper, who stopped 22 shots.

Long Beach, however, suffered a blow when Daryl Williams had to leave the game because of a shoulder injury in the third period. He is expected to be sidelined at least two weeks.

Game 4 will be played in Houston on Wednesday.