Barber, Lelievre Lead Wild Over Brown Bears
February 11, 2012 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Wenatchee Wild News Release
SOLDOTNA, Alaska - Jacob Barber (Dardenne Prairie, Mo.) scored his first goal since returning to Wenatchee in January and U18 forward Brad LeLievre (Millcreek, Wash.) scored his first NAHL goal for the Wild in a 2-1 victory over the Kenai River Brown Bears Friday at the Soldotna Sports Center in Soldotna, Alaska.
Reacquired in a trade late last month, Barber scored his first marker in a Wild sweater this season with 4:02 remaining in the first period to give his team a 1-0 lead. He scored from the bottom of the far faceoff circle on a slick pass from Shawn Pauly (Bellingham, Wash.) from the end boards. Barber's last goal with Wenatchee was 299 days ago when he lit the lamp in Game 2 of the West Division Finals in a 6-3 loss to the Fairbanks Ice Dogs on April 16, 2011.
LeLievre doubled Wenatchee's lead near the midpoint of the second period when he tapped in the eventual game-winning goal off of a pass from Blake Saylor (Centennial, Colo.) during a rush into the offensive zone. LeLievre, 16, has recorded 23 points (11G, 12A) in 22 games with the Wild U18 team this season.
In addition to LeLievre, Wild U18 defenseman Chris Hansen (Dallas, Texas) also made his NAHL debut last night. Hansen, 18, has 12 points (7G, 5A) in 20 games with the U18 squad this year.
Sean Muller broke up Robert Nichols' (Dallas, Texas) shutout bid 3:57 into the third stanza off of Bobby Murphy's assist, but the Brown Bears were unable to tie up the contest down the stretch.
Nichols made 23 saves on 24 shots to better his record to 15-4-3. Austin Severson made 26 stops on 28 shots for the Brown Bears. Both teams went 0-for-2 on their power play chances.
The Wild (24-13-4) will try to sweep the Brown Bears (22-18-2) Saturday. Faceoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. (PST). Fans can listen to the game live on 560 AM KPQ. In addition, for a small fee, all of the Wild's games can be viewed line online at www.FATHockey.com.
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