The Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs and Fayetteville Marksmen have scheduled a preseason game for Saturday, October 12 at 6 PM to take place at the Cleland Ice Rink on Fort Bragg. It will be the first ever professional hockey game on a military installation.
Fort Bragg, which borders Fayetteville, is the largest military installation in the world. Over 50,000 active duty personnel are stationed at the base. Cleland is one of only three ice rinks on a military installation and is home to the Marksmen’s training camp. Marksmen owner Chuck Norris is a veteran who was stationed on Fort Bragg.
“This is a really cool idea and something that I’m excited to have our team as a part of,” said Rail Yard Dawgs President Mickey Gray. “Credit to Chuck, everybody at Cleland and the Marksmen staff for executing it. I’m looking forward to seeing the atmosphere.
The Rail Yard Dawgs and Marksmen met for a preseason game at Berglund Center in October of 2018, a game the Marksmen won in overtime, 4-3. The two teams played each other 13 times during the 2018-19 regular season and Roanoke went 6-7-0 in those games. The Dawgs are set to face the Marksmen 12 times during the 2019-20 season.
“I’m very excited to play this exhibition game on Fort Bragg,” said Rail Yard Dawgs head coach Dan Bremner. “Competition in camp will be great all week but it will be a huge opportunity for our guys to compete against another team.
“In many cases players can steal or solidify their spot on the team solely based on their performance in the exhibition game.”
The team will assemble for training camp at the beginning of October and fourth season of Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs hockey will begin on October 18 in Pensacola. Roanoke’s home opener will take place on October 26 against the Marksmen at 7:05 PM.
The Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs announced on Wednesday the addition of two goaltenders to the training camp roster. Jacob Caffrey and Stephen Klein have each signed agreements to join the team for camp in October.
Caffrey appeared in 30 games for the Rail Yard Dawgs during the 2018-19 season and recorded a record of 13-10-2 with a 2.97 goals against average and .903 save percentage. He was the goaltender for all five of Roanoke’s playoff games and helped backstop the team to its Challenge Round sweep of the top seed Peoria Rivermen by making 71 saves on 77 shots.
“Jacob was great for us last year,” said Rail Yard Dawgs head coach Dan Bremner. “He was the backbone of our five-game winning streak in December and played incredible hockey during the Peoria series in the playoffs.”
Klein comes to Roanoke after spending his rookie season with the aforementioned Rivermen. He was named to the SPHL’s All-Rookie Team after registering a record of 22-5-3 with a .923 save percentage and league-leading 1.86 goals against average. The native of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan also set an SPHL record with 257:10 of consecutive scoreless game time in a stretch of five games played in January. The Dawgs acquired his rights from Peoria in exchange for future considerations in a trade during the summer.
“Klein had a dominant rookie season with Peoria last year,” said Bremner. “To be at the top of the league leaderboard in several categories is extremely impressive.
“I am excited to have both of these goalies signed and look forward to seeing them compete in camp next month.”
–Railyard Dawgs
