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ECHL Kalamazoo Wings

K-Wings Gel on the Road, Beat Heartlanders, 4-1

December 16, 2022 - ECHL (ECHL)
Kalamazoo Wings News Release


CORALVILLE, IA - The Kalamazoo Wings (11-10-1-0), proud ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League's Columbus Blue Jackets, commanded the game for three periods against the Iowa Heartlanders (5-10-6-1) on Friday night and earned a 4-1 victory at Xtream Arena.

The K-Wings never trailed in this one and carried a shutout until the 11:31 mark of the third period, before exploding with two power play goals in the final five minutes to cap off the road victory.

Hunter Vorva (3-1-0-0) was spectacular in net as well, finishing the game with 30 saves on 31 shot attempts to win his third consecutive start.

Spectacular offensive zone play by Kalamazoo set up the game's first tally, as Marc Gatcomb (1) netted his first professional goal at the 10:10 mark of the first. Max Humitz (7) sent the puck to Chad Nyckuk (10) in the right faceoff dot, and he found Gatcomb crashing the crease from the left side to swipe it in.

At the 1:16 mark of the second, Raymond Brice (7) ripped the game-winner inside the right post to make it 2-0. On the play, Tyler Irvine (2) forced a Heartlander turnover in the offensive zone, and Justin Taylor (7) then tapped the puck to Brice in the slot for the goal.

Taylor's assist moved him into sole possession of second place (468) on the K-Wings' all-time points leaderboard, surpassing Mike Wanchuk.

Kalamazoo then went to work on the special teams in the third. First, it killed off a penalty (3/3), and then it scored its two power play goals (2/4) to seal the game.

First, at the 15:47 mark, Humitz (6) sent home an absolute snipe from the left circle to push the lead back to two. Nychuk (11) and Vorva (1) assisted on the goal, and Vorva earned his first ECHL point with the secondary.

Then, Justin Murray (1) netted his first goal of the season, as Iowa went right back to the box at the 16:22 mark of the third, scoring at the 17:56 mark. Quinn Schmiemann (2) and Brandon Saigeon (12) assisted on Murray's blue-line blast.

Kalamazoo and Iowa run it back for the rubber match on Saturday at 8:05 p.m. EST in Coralville at Xtream Arena.

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