By Roger Lajoie
            It's never really a consolation when you lose, but the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors will certainly be happy with the point they picked up at the Hershey Centre on Friday night.
            Mississauga rallied from a four-goal deficit to force overtime before losing 6-5 in the shootout to the Niagara IceDogs in Ontario Hockey League play at the Hershey Centre.
            Andrew Agozzino scored the lone goal of the shootout as Niagara picked up the win despite surrendering a 4-0 lead they held in the second period. Alex Friesen had a goal and two assists for the IceDogs while Agozzino, Joel Wigle, Carter Verhaeghe and Brock Beukeboom scored the other regulation goals for Niagara.
            Jamie Wise completed the furious Mississauga comeback with a goal with just 32 seconds left in regulation time, so there was some solace in the loss for the Majors.
"I was disappointed with our start, we just weren't sharp from the goalie on out, but we really battled back and it's great to get a point in circumstances like that," Mississauga General Manager/Coach James Boyd said. "We didn't give them very much in the second half of the game and battled back really hard, so I liked that.
"We didn't get discouraged after falling behind and got our game and our spirit back as the game went on. Now we need to carry that into our game tomorrow in Brampton against the Battalion."
            Riley Brace led the Majors with two goals and two assists, hitting the 20-goal plateau for Mississauga with his first of the night. Wise and Jordan Mayer both added a goal and an assist while Scott Teskey had the other Majors goal and Dylan DeMelo recorded two assists.
            Christopher Festarini made 22 saves in regulation for the IceDogs, who out-shot the Majors 32-27 in regulation and overtime. JP Anderson was pulled after the fourth Niagara goal and replaced by Taylor Edwards, who stopped 13 of the 14 shots he faced.
            Niagara was 1-for-5 on the power play while Mississauga went 2-for-7. The Ice Dogs improved to 21-12-0-3 to remain in third place in the Eastern Conference while the Majors (17-14-1-4) stayed in seventh in the East with the single point.
            Wigle opened the scoring on the first shot of the game 15 seconds into the game, fooling Anderson. Beukeboom then tied the game on a shot from the point on the power play at 18:41 to make it 2-0.
            Goals by Verhaeghe at 2:10 and Friesen shorthanded at 7:52 made it 4-0 and ended Anderson's night. Mayer started the comeback with a fluky goal from the point at 9:11 on the power play, and Teskey swatted a shot out of the air past Festarini.
            Another shorthanded goal by Agozzino made it 5-2 IceDogs at 13:25 of the second period, and would hold on to that lead heading into the third period.
            Brace then went to work, scoring his 20th at the 49 second mark, and he tallied again at 5:09 on the power play to set the stage for Wise's dramatics later on.
            Only Agozzino could solve either goalie in the shootout, giving the visitors the extra point and a four-game winning streak, while also ending Mississauga's three-game run.
            Mayer was recognized before the game for setting the all-time Majors franchise mark for regular season career games played with 262.
            The Majors wish all their fans and supporters the very best for a great 2012 to all of you! Next game for Mississauga is Wednesday, December 31st at Brampton, with the Majors returning home to host the Battalion Friday, January 6th at 7:30 p.m. at the Hershey Centre. Season ticket holders for both teams receive a free pass to each other's home games as a token of appreciation for their support all season long.
Tickets for all home games are available at www.ticketmaster.ca or at the Hershey Centre box office during regular business hours.