ECHL Kalamazoo Wings

K-Wings Weekly

January 25, 2010 - ECHL (ECHL)
Kalamazoo Wings News Release


Game Rewind

Friday, January 22th Vs Cincinnati (Kalamazoo 7-Cincinnati 1)

Kalamazoo, MI- Dropping four straight before the all-star break, the Kalamazoo Wings took out their frustrations, in front of the largest crowd this season at Wings Stadium of 4,830, demolishing the Cincinnati Cyclones 7-1 on Culver's Night.

Entering Friday's encounter the K-Wings struggled against the Cyclones, dropping their last six games and only generating five goals in their last four meetings; however, that would change quickly.

Before the crowd could settle in, Kalamazoo registered twice on the scoreboard. In his K-Wings debut, Dean Strong stole the puck behind the Cyclones net and sent a perfect pass to the tape of Matt Jones (16th), who scored 61 seconds into the game.

Extending their lead 1:36 later, Trent Daavettila (10th) began this three-point night by flipping a shot over Robert Mayer, hitting the crossbar and over the goal line.

Daavettila helped Kalamazoo grow their lead to three-goals sending a backhanded pass to the high-slot to Jon Landry, who rifled this fourth goal of the season and his first as a K-Wing.

In the second period, Strong and Jones collaborated in similar fashion to give the K-Wings a four-goal advantage, as Jones (17th) tipped a Strong right-circle slap-shot past Mayer.

Mayer's night would come to an end later in the period, when Tyler Willis' cross-rink pass was tipped back to Will Colbert. Not wasting the opportunity, Colbert (3rd) rifled a slap shot to extend the K-Wings lead to 5-0.

Following the tally, Mayer was pulled in favor of all-star netminder Jeremy Smith. Mayer, who would earn the loss, stopped 10 of 15 shots in 37:15 between the pipes. Playing the remainder of the contest, Smith allowed two goals on 14 shots.

Ending the shutout bid of Ryan Nie in the third period, Cincinnati registered their only goal of the night with a power-play deflection from Mike McLean (10th). Nie would stone the Cyclones the remainder of the night turning a side 20 saves for the victory.

Keeping the pressure on the Cyclones, Daavettila earned his second assist of the night, sending a drop pass to Andrew Fournier. Smith save their initial shot from Fournier, but Andrew was there for the rebound to record his team-leading 18th goal of the season.

Not only scoring early, but also late, Kalamazoo concluded scoring with 3.6 seconds remaining in the game, Darryl Bootland sent a no-look between the legs pass to the tape of Darryl Lloyd, who jammed in his ninth lamp-lighter of the year.

The goal from Lloyd gives him a team-high six points (3 goals, 3 assists) in six games against Cincinnati.

The win not only snapped a four-game drought for Kalamazoo, it extended their home-winning streak to four games.

The six-goal victory is the biggest this season for Kalamazoo, who tied a season-high (four previous times) of goals in a game. The seven-goals allowed by the Cyclones tied their season-high for most allowed.

Saturday, January 23rd @ Cincinnati (Cincinnati 6-Kalamazoo 1)

Cincinnati, OH- Avenging a six-goal lost at Wings Stadium last night, the Cincinnati Cyclones return the favor at the U.S. Bank arena defeating the Kalamazoo Wings 6-1.

A roll reversal from last night's opening period; it was the Cyclones that suffocated the K-Wings with scoring chances. Taking advantage of seven shots on net in the first four minutes of play, Cincinnati's Matt Pierce knocked in a Brett Motherwell slap shot to earn his team-leading 21st goal of the season.

Moments after the Pierce's tally, the Cyclones appeared to be in a position to extend their lead, as they went on a 5-on-3 power-play. However, with Kalamazoo allowing only three shots on net, Cincinnati squandered the extended man-advantage, keeping the Cincinnati lead to one goal for the remainder of the period.

Totally out of character, the K-Wings continued giving the Cyclones power-play chances in the second period. Whistled for eight penalties for 16 minutes in the period, Kalamazoo rewarded Cincinnati with eight-man-advantage opportunities in the period, including three 5-on-3 opportunities. In total the K-Wings spent 9:53 seconds in the penalty box in the period and as a result the Cyclones made the Kalamazoo pay for their mistakes scoring all three of their goals on the man-up.

Bookend goals from Jimmy Kilpatrick (4th, 5th) and a tally from Barret Ehgoetz (17th) pushed the Cyclones lead to four goals.

Keeping up the pressure in the third, the Cyclones added strikes from Pierce (22nd) and Brock Sheahan (2nd) give them a six-goal advantage.

Midway in the period, Trent Daavettila (11th) registered the K-Wings lone goal of the night on the power-play.

The loss dropped the K-Wings into third place in the North Division, while the victory coupled with a Toledo Walleye loss to the Elmira Jackals propels the Cyclones into first place in the division.

Sunday, January 24th Vs Toledo (Kalamazoo 6-Toledo 3)

Kalamazoo, MI- Starting the weekend, the Kalamazoo Wings objective was to end Sunday atop of the North Division. Kalamazoo kept to their goals reeling in the Toledo Walleye 6-3 on Charter Day.

Neither team was able to register many shots on net in the opening period; however, on their first shot of the game, J.C. Sawyer found Maxime Tanguay (14th) on a backdoor feed to give the Walleye the lead 58 seconds into the game.

Giving up the first six shots on net, the K-Wings did not allow a Walleye shot on goal for the final 13:42 of the period and eventually out-shot Toledo 8-6 for the period.

Finding their jump in the second period, Toledo extended their lead in the second striking with a power-play goal from Mike Hedden (12th).

Rattling off four unanswered goals, the remainder of the stanza belonged to the K-Wings. Finding a loose puck in the crease, Dean Strong registered the first goal of the afternoon for the K-Wings.

The turning point of the contest occurred with 12 minutes remaining in the period, a post-to-post save from Jeremy Duchesne led to a coast-to-coast breakaway shorthanded tally from Darryl Bootland (8th).

Building off the Bootland marker, Kalamazoo took the lead for good a few minutes later with a strike from Jon Landry (5th).

Concluding the scoring in the period, Strong (2nd) snuck around the Walleye defense and rung up the eventual game-winner with his second of the night. Duchesne added an assist on the goal becoming the first K-Wings goaltender this season to earn a point.

Trying to mount a comeback, Tanguay struck for his second of the game midway in the third period. Tanguay has now scored eight of his 15 goals his season against Kalamazoo.

The Walleye's comeback bid would be short lived, as the K-Wings answered back with goals from Brian McGuirk (6th) and an empty-neter from Bootland (9th).

The victory was the K-Wings fifth straight at Wings Stadium. With 51 points, Kalamazoo has climbed into a first place tie in the North Division with the Cincinnati Cyclones.

Starting the weekend in first place, the Walleye have dropped three straight games by a combined score of 21-8 and are now in third place.

Fast Forward

The battle for first place in the North Division will heat up this Saturday, January 30th, as the K-Wings host the Cincinnati Cyclones during the 2nd Annual McDonald's Golden Ice Game, presented by McDonald's and WNWN. Kalamazoo starts the week in a first place tie with Cincinnati for first place in the North Division. The K-Wings will be holding a press conference tomorrow, January 26th at 9:30 a.m. in the lobby of the McDonald's located at 5530 Gull Road (corner of Gull Road and Sprinkle Road) to unveil more details about this great event.

Check out the Kalamazoo Wings Statistics



ECHL Stories from January 25, 2010


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