K-Wings Pour It On, Take Down Bison Friday
December 27, 2024 - ECHL (ECHL)
Kalamazoo Wings News Release
KALAMAZOO, MI - The Kalamazoo Wings (11-13-1-0), proud ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League's Vancouver Canucks, played strong in all facets, taking a 5-1 victory over the Bloomington Bison (10-14-0-2) Friday in the first meeting between the two franchises at Wings Event Center.
Kalamazoo opened with its quickest goal to start a game and a period this season, as Quinn Preston (3) scored just 13 seconds in. Ben Berard (4) fed Zach Okabe (7) for the initial shot and Preston batted the puck into the net from midair with a backhand swipe on the right side of the crease.
Davis Codd (2) made it 2-0 with an unassisted goal at the 10:20 mark. He forced a turnover at the top of the defensive zone, outraced the Bloomington player to the puck and skated in all alone down the right side. Codd fired it just over the Bison netminder's glove for the score.
Bloomington pulled to within one with a breakaway goal at the 3:06 mark of the second period.
The K-Wings piled it on after that, starting with Max Humitz's (6) goal at the 6:26 mark. Jonathan Lemieux (1) smacked the puck out of the defensive zone to start the rush, and Humitz played give-and-go with Ryan Cox (6) before beating the Bison goalie with a wrister from the bottom of the right circle.
Berard added on with an unassisted power-play goal at the 13:35 mark of the middle frame. On the play, Berard motored the puck from the neutral zone, split Bloomington's defenders and finished with a backhand splash to make it 4-1.
The Bison pulled their goalie early looking to dig out of the three-goal deficit, and it did not work out as Philip Beaulieu (1) notched the empty-netter for his first goal as a K-Wing. Travis Broughman (5) won the faceoff in the defensive zone and Beaulieu did the rest, skating just into the offensive zone and finding the open net from the left point.
Lemieux (7-8-1-0) was outstanding in net in the victory, making 32 saves on 33 shots faced. Kalamazoo went 1-for-2 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
The K-Wings head to Bloomington to face the Bison again at 8 p.m. Saturday at Grossinger Motors Arena.
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