Wildcats Drop Brahmas on Parents Night
January 22, 2016 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Wichita Falls Wildcats News Release
In front of family and friends on Parents Night, the Wildcats came from behind to defeat the Lone Star Brahmas in overtime by a score of 4-3.
The first period yielded scoring opportunities which were few and far between. Only eleven shots were taken, seven of which came off of Brahmas' sticks. The scoring was opened by the speedy left-winger Alex Berardinelli, who chipped the puck to himself off the half boards in the Lone Star zone on the penalty kill before speeding past Jeff Baum and slipping the puck through Justin Kapelmaster's five-hole. Berardinelli's team-leading 20th goal of the season also marked his NAHL-leading 6th shorthanded goal.
Second periods have been the Wildcats' bread and butter of late, and Friday night was no exception. The Cats managed to level the score both in shots and in goals in period two.
Tyler Drevitch scored his fourth goal as a Brahmas after he was set up by Johan Lundgren on a backdoor play. It took the Wildcats a good chunk of time to respond, but when they finally did, they did so emphatically. Nine minutes after Drevitch's goal, Adam Goodsir tipped a Noah Gilreath wrist shot between the legs of Corbin Kaczperski to tie the game up for the Cats. Just 27 seconds after Goodsir's 23rd goal of the season, Jake Dalton slammed a loose puck past Kaczperski on the doorstep for the defenseman's fifth goal as a Wildcat, which sent the KYC into a frenzy.
The Wildcats prevented the Brahmas from even tallying a shot on goal throughout the first half of period three. The Cats' power play finally came through 8:52 into the third period, after Jeff Baum picked up a loose puck which had been blocked and ripped it past Kaczperski to give the Wildcats their first lead of the game. It took the Brahmas 18 minutes and an extra attacker to finally tie the game on a six-on-four, when Drevitch snapped a shot past Kapelmaster from between the circles for his second goal of the night, which silenced the KYC.
The Brahmas took the Wildcats to overtime for the fourth time of the season. Martin Mellberg found himself wide open on a breakaway early in the 3-on-3 period. He deked from left to right, and tried to tuck the puck past Kapelmaster's outstretched left pad. However, he came inches away from doing so. Despite believing he had scored, it was ruled that the puck had not conclusively crossed the goal line, and play continued. Moments later, Goodsir again displayed his hand-eye coordination and chopped the puck out of mid-air for his NAHL-leading 24th goal of the season and his second of the night, which earned him another First Star of the Game performance.
Kapelmaster stopped 17 of the 20 shots he faced for his 22nd victory of the season, while Kaczperski made 22 of 26 saves en route to his first overtime loss. The Wildcats and Brahmas meet again for the final time this season on Saturday, January 23rd at the KYC on Children's Miracle Network night presented by United Regional and KFDX.
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