Ice Dogs Nip Wild in Shootout

Published on January 6, 2013 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Wenatchee Wild News Release


WENATCHEE, Wash. - On Friday, the Wenatchee Wild scored two late unanswered goals to defeat the Fairbanks Ice Dogs. On Saturday, the Ice Dogs returned the favor, earning a 3-2 shootout victory over the Wild in the second of three games this weekend between the two teams at the Town Toyota Center.

Despite the loss, Wild head coach Bliss Littler was pleased with his team's play.

"I was extremely happy with how we played," Littler said. "We probably stole a couple points Friday night, and I thought [Fairbanks was] fortunate to get out of here [Saturday] with two points. I thought we played very well. There wasn't one aspect I wasn't happy with."

Unlike the first game of the series, the nearly 3,000 Wild fans in attendance had a goal to celebrate in the first period when Chris Jones (Normandy Park, Wash.) staked the Wild to a 1-0 lead with 3:11 remaining in the first period when he beat goaltender Kevin Aldridge. Evan Schmidbauer (Surrey, British Columbia) and Tyler Bruneteau (Omaha, Neb.) assisted on the opening goal, which was Jones' third of the season.

Jacob Barber (Dardenne Prairie, Mo.) doubled Wenatchee's lead to 2-0 near the midpoint of the second frame after he took a 2-on-1 pass from Chris Kerr (Penticton, British Columbia) and scored his team's second even-strength marker of the contest with a low shot through the wickets of Aldridge.

It looked like the Wild were going to take a 2-0 lead into the locker room at the second intermission, but the Ice Dogs had other plans when Devin Loe scored from the near faceoff circle to cut the Wild lead in half with just 10 seconds remaining in the second period. Jakob Romo earned the lone assist.

Fairbanks scored another critical goal to tie up the contest a little over a minute into the third period when Garret Clemment punched in a power-play goal. Loe and Kyle Lee picked up the assists. Clemment's goal was the only score in the third period, and after a scoreless overtime session the game was decided in a shootout. Unfortunately for the Wild, it was the Ice Dogs who prevailed in the shootout to earn the extra standings point.

Jayson Angus, the first shooter in the shootout, put the Ice Dogs up with a top-shelf shot. Clemment, Fairbanks' fourth shooter, extended his team's lead to 2-0 when his shot ricocheted into the Wild cage. Max McHugh kept the Wild alive when he used a picture-perfect forehand-to-backhand move to notch his team's first shootout score. Wild goalie Nick Schmit (Fargo, N.D.) followed by denying Loe, but Wenatchee's final shooter, David Mead, couldn't even the score and the Ice Dogs escaped with a 3-2 win.

Schmit, who joined the Wild on Dec. 26, made 25 saves on 27 shots in his debut. Littler had nothing but good things to say about Schmit's play.

"I was really happy with him," Littler said of Schmit. "He made two saves in the early part of the second to keep us up that he probably had no business making."

Aldridge made 38 saves on 40 shots for the Ice Dogs. The Wild had six power play chances Saturday, but were unable to score a man-advantage goal. Fairbanks went 1-for-3 on the power play.

Game 3 of this weekend's series between the Wild (24-4-3) and Ice Dogs (22-10-1) is Sunday. Faceoff is set for 5:05 p.m.



North American Hockey League Stories from January 6, 2013


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