
Kalamazoo Remains Unbeaten Against Michigan
November 20, 2011 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Kalamazoo Jr. K-Wings News Release
Flint, MI- The Kalamazoo Jr. K-Wings had three players with multi-point games, including two goals from Austin Hervey, as they skated to a 4-1 victory over the Michigan Warriors on Sunday afternoon in Flint. The victory increases Kalamazoo's record to 4-0 against Michigan.
The first period ended with a boatload of scoring chances for both teams, but they yielded no results. The opening frame saw Michigan outshooting Kalamazoo 17-11. The best opportunity for either team was the one and only power play opportunity for the Warriors. The Jr. K-Wings killed it off lead by goalie, Alex Okicki. Kalamazoo put the pressure on Michigan goalie, Brach Tiller, but he stood tall in the goal denying all the scoring chances he faced.
The halfway point of the second period saw the Jr. K-Wings take a 1-0 lead with the first goal of the game. Off a clean face-off win, Hervey snuck to the front of the net and got a tape-to-tape feed from Chris Hughes. Hervey buried the puck into the back of the net for his second of the season.
Working on a five-on-three power play late in the second period, Kalamazoo would strike for the second time in the stanza. Anthony Appleyard took a wrister from the left-point that beat Tiller. The second tally of the season from Appleyard gave the Jr. K-Wings a 2-0 lead with under five minutes to play in the period.
With a power play opportunity of their own, the Warriors got themselves on the board with under a minute and a half left in the second period. AJ White was parked in front of Okicki, and deflected a Martin Gruse shot into the Kalamazoo net to pull within one.
At the 2:42 mark of the third period. Kalamazoo would re-establish their two-goal lead. Working with another man-advantage opportunity, Drew Graves tipped in a Christian George shot from the point into a wide-open Warriors goal. The third period marker for Graves was his 13th of the season.
With a two-goal lead and time starting to dwindle down in the third and final period, Kalamazoo gave themselves the biggest lead of the afternoon. Hervey tacked on his second of the afternoon when he jammed home a second-chance opportunity on the doorstep of the Michigan goal. His third of the season gave the Jr. K-Wings a three-goal lead with just over eight minutes remaining.
Okicki locked up his seventh win of the season by making 35 saves on 36 shots.
The Jr. K-Wings will return to the Borgess Health Rink at Wings West again on Sunday, November 13th against the Jamestown Ironmen.
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