After being sent back to junior by the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League, Alex Pietrangelo, 18, is once again a Niagara IceDog.

The Blues made the decision to return the promising young defenceman to the Ontario Hockey League Thursday.

The King City native was drafted fourth overall in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft after registering 13 goals and 53 points in 60 games, and a key player to the IceDogs' playoff run last season. Pietrangelo was seventh among OHL defencemen in points last season, and played in the OHL All-Star Classic and the CHL Top Prospects game.

In his first game back with Niagara, Pietrangelo fueled the IceDogs' offence with three assists in a 6-2 road win over Peterborough Saturday night.

He set up two of Mathew Sisca's three goals and assisted on another for Marco Insam. Matt Piva and Reggie Traccitto also notched goals for Niagara while goaltender John Cullen turned aside 31 shots. The win moves Niagara into second place in the OHL's Central Division.

Before the game, the captain's 'C' was stitched back onto his jersey. Leadership was by a committee of Andrew Merrett, Drew Schiestel, and Piva, who all wore an 'A'.

"It's a bonus when you're getting a good player back and you don't have to give up anything," said IceDogs coach Mario Cicchillo. "I give the kid credit. I'm sure he was on a downer when he found out that he was coming back."

Pietrangelo, 6-foot-4 and 210-pounds, returns to a club that can easily generate offence, but struggles defensively. Outscored 90-82 and one of the highest penalized teams in the league (425), the IceDogs have 11 players in the minus category.

"It'll be good now that he's back, because he'll settle some of the younger guys down on the back end," said Cicchillo. "He's your gas tank in the last 10 minutes of the game."

Pietrangelo sent a text message from St. Louis to his teammates when he got the news.

"I thought he was going to stay put. Me being wrong was our luck. I went to watch him play three games," said Cicchillo. "and I thought he played well. I didn't think he looked out of place, but let's thank God I was wrong."

In his eight games with the Blues, Pietrangelo collected one power-play assist, a hooking infraction and fired seven shots on goal. Pietrangelo faced some of the NHL's premier forwards, including Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins), Joe Thornton (San Jose Sharks) and Teemu Selanne (Anahiem).

The young defenceman also experienced some of the NHL's tough guys. In an afternoon game Thanksgiving Monday in Toronto, Pietrangelo was hit from behind by Leafs' enforcer Ryan Hollweg. Hollweg was reprimanded with three-game suspension and Pietrangelo was placed on injured reserve with a neck injury.

Upon his return to the OHL, Pietrangelo was immediately added to the 2008 ADT Canada Russia Challenge roster for the game in St. Catharines Nov. 24. The Challenge features a squad of OHL all-Stars which will compete against the Russian Selects Junior team.

Pietrangelo makes his home debut on Saturday at 7 p.m. when the IceDogs host a division rival, the Sudbury Wolves.