K-Wings Bring the Lightning, Top Thunder in Gritty Road Win
ECHL Kalamazoo Wings

K-Wings Bring the Lightning, Top Thunder in Gritty Road Win

Published on March 27, 2026 under ECHL (ECHL)
Kalamazoo Wings News Release


GLENS FALLS, NY - The Kalamazoo Wings (29-26-3-3), proud ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League's Vancouver Canucks, rode strong defensive play and a second-period offensive explosion in a victory that saw 70 combined penalty minutes against the Adirondack Thunder (34-19-7-1), Friday at Harding Mazzotti Arena, 4-3.

Colin Bilek (19) started the scoring for the K-Wings, deflecting a shot inside the right post from the slot, to give Kalamazoo the early lead at the 13:58 mark of the first period. On the play, Griffin Ness (17) passed to Davis Pennington (34) at the blue line, who fired a missile down the slot that found Bilek's stick for the redirect goal.

Ryan Cox (15) found the back of the net, banking a shot off a net front opponent at the 5:18 mark of the middle frame, and giving the K-Wings a 2-0 lead. On the goal, Robby Drazner (10) passed to Ness (18) against the sideboards, who moved toward the netminder's right flank before backhanding a pass to Cox.

Adirondack responded with a goal of their own at the 8-minute mark to shorten the lead to one.

However, Ness (9) didn't wait long to notch his third point of the night with a power-play goal at the 11:15 mark. On the setup, Andre Ghantous (19) found Nolan Walker (25) on the goal line, who immediately relayed to Ness for the tic-tac-toe strike.

Collin Saccoman (6) kept the second period momentum rolling, sniping the puck inside the left post on the rush at the 19:26 mark. On the play, Ghantous (20) broke out from near the defensive zone blue line before centering a pass to Saccoman for the goal to give Kalamazoo a 4-1 lead.

Adirondack made it interesting late, scoring a pair of extra attacker goals at the 19:31 and 19:34 marks of the final frame, but the defense held the rest of the way.

Jonathan Lemieux (11-7-1-3) was fantastic in net, holding the Thunder to one goal until the final 29-seconds and making 29 saves in the win. The K-Wings went 1-for-7 on the power-play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill, in a game that saw a combined 70 penalty minutes.

Next up, Kalamazoo runs it back in game two of the three-game set against Adirondack at 7 p.m. EDT on Saturday at Harding Mazzotti Arena.

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ECHL Stories from March 27, 2026


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