The Arborg Ice Dawgs ran the Capital Region Junior Hockey League gauntlet last week with a pair of games against the league’s top two teams.
Friday marked their home opener at Arborg & District Arena against the reigning champion St. Malo Warriors, where the Ice Dawgs came out strong.
Searching for their first goal of the 2025–26 season, Brycen Johannesson netted the opener to give Arborg a 1–0 lead. Brody Maxwell added another on the power play to make it 2–0 after 20 minutes.
The Ice Dawgs kept the offence rolling early in the second as reigning Rookie of the Year Brandon Burak scored his first of the season to extend the lead to 3–1 following a St. Malo goal.
But the Warriors responded quickly — sparking a surge that saw them score three more times in the second period to take a 5–3 lead into the intermission. They added another in the third, leaving Arborg with a three-goal deficit that proved too much to overcome.
Frustration boiled over in the final minutes as both clubs combined for 151 penalty minutes before the Warriors skated away with a 6–3 victory, handing Arborg its second loss of the season.
On Sunday, the Ice Dawgs travelled to the Sun Gro Centre for their first meeting of the year with the second-place Beausejour Comets.
The Comets came out firing, building a 3–1 lead through the opening frame after a Brandon Burak goal cut into the deficit late in the period.
Beausejour struck twice more in the second before Dylan Woytowich scored for Arborg to make it a 5–2 game. After the Comets pulled further ahead in the third, Noah Smolinski tallied on the power play for Arborg to narrow the gap to 7–3, but the Comets added one more in the final minute to seal an 8–3 victory.
With the loss, the Ice Dawgs fell to 0-3 on the season and sit seventh in the CRJHL standings entering the new week.
Arborg will now prepare for a pair of weekend games — hosting the Selkirk Fishermen on Friday, Oct. 10 at 8 p.m. at Arborg & District Arena, and visiting the Lundar Falcons on Sunday, Oct. 12 at 3 p.m. at Lundar Arena.
