K-Wings Drop Tight Contest Against Fuel Saturday
Published on January 3, 2026 under ECHL (ECHL)
Kalamazoo Wings News Release
FISHERS, IN - The Kalamazoo Wings (10-13-2-1), proud ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League's Vancouver Canucks, battled hard but could not overcome the first two shots of the contest, dropping the front half of the weekend series against the Indy Fuel (13-11-3-1), Saturday at Fishers Event Center, 4-2.
Indy's first two shots of the game found the back of the net at the 5:58 and 10:39 marks to give the Fuel the early score sheet momentum.
However, the second period was owned by the K-Wings as Ryan Cox (5) sniped his first career short-handed goal at the 13:21 mark. On the play, Evan Dougherty (2) collected the puck in Kalamazoo territory and rushed to the right of the offensive zone before finding Cox alone in the slot to cut the deficit to one. Derek Daschke (3) picked up the secondary assist on the goal.
Unfortunately, the Fuel responded with two third-period goals, one at the 15:41 mark and an empty-netter at the 17:34 mark.
Hunter Strand (9) then added a late K-Wings' goal at the 18:46 mark to bring the score to 4-2. On the setup, Andre Ghantous (9) won a battle for the puck in the offensive zone and passed to a firing Jayden Lee (8). Strand collected the rebound at the top of the crease and put it in the back of the net for the final goal of the contest.
Ty Young (3-1-0-0) made 15 saves in the contest, and Kalamazoo outshot Indy 28-to-19. The Wings also went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.
Kalamazoo returns home for the second Jersey Giveaway Sunday as we honor the Detroit Pistons at 3 p.m. EST on January 4 at Wings Event Center. The K-Wings are giving away limited-edition K-Wings/Detroit Pistons-inspired youth basketball jerseys to the first 500 kids (12 & under) at the first home game of the new year.
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