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ECHL Kalamazoo Wings

K-Wings Weekly

March 18, 2013 - ECHL (ECHL)
Kalamazoo Wings News Release


Game Rewind

Friday, March 15th Vs Fort Wayne Komets (Kalamazoo 3-Fort Wayne 2)

Kalamazoo, MI - Fitting on superhero night, that Aaron Clarke gave a heroic effort with a pair of goals to lead the Kalamazoo Wings (32-26-4-1) to a 3-2 victory over the Fort Wayne Komets (30-31-1-2) on Celebration! Cinema Night.

Capitalizing on the power-play, Thomas Beauregard (22nd) scored 15:48 into the first period to give the Komets a 1-0 lead. Ten of Beauregard's 22 scored this season have come against the K-Wings.

Coming into Friday night, the Komets were 20-5-1-1 when scoring the game's first goal and a perfect 13-0-0-0 when leading after the first period.

Special teams helped the K-Wings even the game in the second period. Killing off an Elgin Reid penalty, Joe Charlebois sent out an outlet pass to Nick Sirota to create an odd man rush. Sirota fed the puck to Clarke for his 18th goal of the season.

The shorthanded goal was the K-Wings sixth this season and their third recorded against the Komets.

The game didn't remain tied for long, as 1:30 after Clarke knotted the game at 1-1; Nick Wheeler (2nd) regained the lead for Fort Wayne with a rebound marker.

Perfect passing led to a transitional goal for Kalamazoo early in the third period. John Armstrong's quick pass to Yann Sauve was sent cross rink to Alexandre Grenier for the forward's fifth-goal of the season. The goal extended Grenier's point streak to five games, while pushing Armstrong's point streak to 14.

Kalamazoo grabbed their first lead of the night 9:39 into the period, when Alexandre Mallet found Clarke in the slot for his second goal of the evening and tying him with Sirota for the team-lead in that category with 19 on the season

Saturday, March 15th @ Evansville IceMen (Evansville 4-Kalamazoo 2)

Evansville, IN - The Evansville IceMen (23-36-2-4) scored two goals late in the period to defeat the Kalamazoo Wings (32-26-4-1) 4-2 and in the process snapped the K-Wings season-high four-game winning streak.

Pressuring the K-Wings from the opening face-off, the IceMen tried to get pressure on goaltender Ryan Daniels, who was making his Kalamazoo debut. In the opening period, Evansville outshot Kalamazoo 23-6.

The IceMen's shooting barrage led to two goals in the period 35 seconds apart. Colin Reddin (1st) put Evansville ahead 1-0 with a rebound marker 14:54 into the contest. Moments later, Todd Robinson crashed the net for his seventh-goal of the season.

Cutting the lead in half midway in the second period, while on the power-play, John Armstrong sent a cross-rink pass to Alexandre Grenier for his sixth-goal of the season. The goal from Grenier extended his point streak to seven games, while Armstrong's assist pushed his point streak to an ECHL season-high 15 games.

After Evansville Donnie Harris whiffed on a one-timer, Nick Sirota raced up ice and beat Jason Reid on a breakaway for his team-leading 20th goal of the season 11:58 into the third period.

Daniel Tetrualt (11th) gave the IceMen the lead for good scoring from the point with 1:26 remaining in regulation.

Adding some insurance, Olivier Gabriel (3rd) tacked on an empty-netter to close out the scoring.

Sunday, March 17th @ Greenville Road Warriors (Greenville 9-Kalamazoo 2-)

Kalamazoo, MI - Suffering their worse defeat of the season, the Kalamazoo Wings (32-28-4-1) lost 9-2 to the Greenville Road Warriors (34-24-2-6) during the 32nd Annual "World Famous" St. Patrick's Day Green Ice Game.

Sluggish in the first period, Kalamazoo fell behind Greenville 3-0 early. Finding the puck at the right circle, Jordie Johnston (19th) walked to the slot and beat Joel Martin 6:17 into the contest.

Cashing in on a rebound off a Zach Cohen wrap around 13:10 into the contest, Steve Mele earned his first goal of the season.

Danny Hobbs extended the Road Warriors lead to 3-0, 1:34 later, with his ninth-goal of the season.

Early in the second period, the Road Warriors connected on their first power-play of the game with Johnston's (20th) second-goal of the night.

Kalamazoo broke through the scoring column 6:44 into the stanza with a marker from Alexandre Mallet (10th).

Despite the goal, Kalamazoo's momentum would be short lived, as off the ensuing face-off Ben Woodley (1st) needed only 10 seconds to reclaim a four-goal cushion for the Road Warriors.

Less than two minutes later, Mele (2nd) scored this second rebound marker of the afternoon.

Capitalizing on a two-man power-play, the Road Warriors struck again, this time with a goal from Matt Lowrey (1st) 17:36 into the period.

Trying to spark the K-Wings to start the third, goaltender Ryan Daniels came into replace Martin (29-22-4-1), who left the game with 24 saves on 31 shots.

Daniels was tested early in the third period, as Sean Berkstresser earned his 13th goal of the season on a backhander.

John Armstrong extended his point streak to an ECHL season-best 16 games later in the period by assisting on Mitch Versteeg's sixth-goal of the season 4:07 into the period.

Hobbs (9th) closed out the scoring two minutes later notching his second-goal of the game.

In relief, Daniels made eight saves in the final period.

The nine goals surrendered by the K-Wings is a new season-high for goals allowed in a single-game, as well the most allowed during the annual Green Ice classic. The previous high on Green Ice were seven goals (2009 Vs Muskegon and 2010 Vs Wheeling).

Fast Forward

Kalamazoo will begin a four-game week this Wednesday, March 20th with a 7:00 p.m. battle against Wheeling Nailers at the WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, West Virginia. On the season, the K-Wings are 0-1-0-0 against the Nailers, who start the week in third place in the Atlantic Division.

The K-Wings will return home to Wings Stadium on Friday, March 22nd for a 7:30 p.m. face-off versus the Toledo Walleye on Military Appreciation Night and a FANomenal Friday, featuring $2 beer and $2 hot dogs. Military personnel both active and retired that show their proper military identification to the Wings Stadium Ticket Office can purchase $5 tickets for the game. On the season, the K-Wings are 8-3-1-0 against the Walleye, who begin the week in second place in the North Division.

On Saturday, March 23rd, Kalamazoo will travel to the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana for a 7:15 p.m. (CDT) encounter against the Evansville IceMen. On the season, the K-Wings are 6-3-0-1 versus the IceMen, who begin the week in fifth place in the North Division.

The K-Wings will conclude the week on Sunday, March 24th, with a special 4 p.m. face-off versus the Wheeling Nailers during a Family Hockey in the 'ZOO, where all kids eat FREE and presented by Bronson Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, Consumers Credit Union, Meijer, Charter and MLive. Sunday's game against the Nailers is the rescheduled game from February 2nd that was postponed because of weather and travel issues.

Team Leaders: Kalamazoo Wings

Goals: Nick Sirota (20 Goals)

Assists: Aaron Clarke (31 Assists)

Points: Aaron Clarke (50 Points)

+/-: Darren Archibald, Yann Sauve (+6) Penalty Minutes: Nick Sirota (77 Minutes)

Power Play Goals: Sam Ftorek (6 Goals)

Short Handed Goals: Nick Sirota (2 Goals)

Game Winning Goals: Aaron Clarke (5 GW)

Shots: Sam Ftorek (162 Shots)

Shooting Percentage: Eric Kattelus (17.3%)

Overtime Goals: Yann Sauve (3 Goals)

Shootout Goals: Nick Sirota (3 Goals)

Shootout Percentage: Michael Davies, Sam Ftorek (100%)

Goals Against Average: Joel Martin (2.73 )

Save Percentage: Joel Martin (0.923)

An Army of One Forward John Armstrong begins the day on a 16-game point streak. The 16-game streak is a season-high for the K-Wings as well as the enter ECHL.

Nearing a Milestone

Goaltender Joel Martin is closing in a personal milestone. Martin is two games shy of reaching 400 goaltending appearances in his career.

Large Gathering

The crowd of 5,282 on Sunday was the largest home crowd this season for Kalamazoo. Sunday's Green Ice game also marked the third sellout of the season for the K-Wings.

Power Outage

Kalamazoo's power-play has struggled of late. The K-Wings have scored one power-play goal in their last 20 chances (5%) and are 4-for-41(9.4%) with a man-advantage in the month of March.

The Obscure Stat of the Week

While the nine goals surrendered by the K-Wings last Sunday is the most they have surrendered this season, it isn't the most they have allowed since joining the ECHL. The most goals surrendered by the K-Wings in a single ECHL contest was 10 against the Wheeling Nailers on 02/06/10 in a 10-1 loss at the WesBanco Arena.

K-Wings on Radio

Catch all the K-Wings games, home and away, on the K-Wings Radio Network (92.5 FM WZUU & on kwings.com). Join the "Voice of the K-Wings" Mike Modugno for all 72 regular season games plus the playoffs. Pre-game coverage begins with the Kalsee Credit Union Pre-Game Show 20 minutes prior to face-off. For the most complete coverage of the K-Wings from the opening face-off to the final buzzer, keep your radio tuned this season to the K-Wings Radio Network.

Upcoming Games

Wednesday, March 20th @ Wheeling 7:00 PM

Friday, March 22nd Vs Toledo 7:30 PM (Military Appreciation Night and FANomenal Friday)

Saturday, March 23rd @ Evansville 7:15 PM (CDT)

Sunday, March 24th Vs Wheeling 4:00 PM (Big Brothers, Big Sisters Night, presented by Schupan & Son LLC. and a Family Hockey Day in the 'ZOO, presented by Bronson Orthopedic & Sports Medicine, Consumers Credit Union, Meijer, Charter Media and MLive)

Wednesday, March 27th Vs Evansville 7:00 PM ($5 Pack the House Night)

Check out the Kalamazoo Wings Statistics

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