Kenai River Edges Wild In Shootout
October 26, 2013 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Wenatchee Wild News Release
Wenatchee, WA. - The Wenatchee Wild hosted the Kenai River Brown Bears in the first of a three-game set at the Town Toyota Center Friday night and it took not only overtime, but a shootout to decide a winner, with the Brown Bears coming out on top 4-3, in front of 2,380 fans.
Kenai River took the lead at 14:16 of the opening period on a goal by Alec Butcher, assisted by Albin Karlsson and Sebastian Fuchs.
The Wild tied the game on a Troy Loggins (Huntington Beach, California) tap-in of a crossing pass. Trey Bradley (Tampa, Florida) and Parker Tuomie (Biemerhaven, Germany) drew assists on the power play goal at 6:54 of the second period, tying the game 1-1. The Brown Bears regained the lead just 21 seconds later, on a goal at 7:15, scored by Butcher, assisted by Karlsson and Fuchs, making it a 2-1 Kenai River lead. Wenatchee tied the game, just after a power play expired, as a puck spun through the goaltender and just across the goal line. David Powlowski (Rochester, New York) was credited with the goal, helped by Nicholas Rivera (Pacific Palisades, California at 14:05, tying the game 2-2.
In the third period, while working on a major penalty power play, Loggins dove and knocked a loose puck into the slot where Bradley scored on a turnaround shot. The goal, at 13:41, gave the Wild their first lead of the night, at 3-2. The Brown Bears pulled their goaltender in the final minute and tied the game 3-3 on an unassisted rebound goal by Vincent Stefan at 19:19. There was no further scoring in regulation time, sending the contest to overtime.
In the extra session, Wenatchee had the edge territorially, including hitting the post once, but neither team was able to score and the game would go to a deciding shootout.
In the shootout, Kenai River got goals from Karlsson, Nathan Colwell and Alec Butcher, to counter Wild goals from Andre Pison (Herlev, Denmark), and Bradley, with Christian Salvato (LaVerne, California) being stopped in round five, giving the Brown Bears the 4-3 win and the extra standings point. "That was a tough one" said Wenatchee Wild Head Coach Bliss Littler. "Again, we played awful well; we just have to find a way to finish teams off. We've got to grow some whiskers quickly, because the last five, we've deserved a better fate, we just need to finish teams off."
Wenatchee outshot Kenai River 42-23 on the night. Chase Perry (Andover, Minnesota) made 20 saves for the Wild; Zach Quinn had 39 stops for the Brown Bears. Wenatchee was 2-for-5 on the power play and 3-of-3 on the penalty kill.
The Wild is now 5-6-2, Kenai River is 10-3-0.
The series against the Kenai River Brown Bears continues tomorrow (Saturday) night at 7:05pm PDT, with Sunday's game starting at 5:05pm PDT. Fairbanks then comes to town on Friday and Saturday, November 1st and 2nd, with both games slated to start at 7:05pm PDT. Individual and group game tickets for all home games are on sale now. Call 509.888.PUCK (7825).
North American Hockey League Stories from October 26, 2013
- IceRays Silence League Leading Wildcats with 4-1 Win - Corpus Christi IceRays
- Bruins Come up Short in Coulee Region - Austin Bruins
- Cats Kept in Check by Corpus Christi - Wichita Falls Wildcats
- Warriors Fall in Saturday Night Shootout 2-1 - Michigan Warriors
- Johnstown Tomahawks Fall to Soo Eagles - Johnstown Tomahawks
- Magicians Acquire Sandis Zolmanis - Minnesota Magicians
- Runners Blank the Blues 3-0 - Topeka Pilots
- Kenai River Edges Wild In Shootout - Wenatchee Wild
- Bulls Hang on to Excuse Killer Bees 2-1 - Amarillo Bulls
- Runners Blank the Blues 3-0 - Topeka Pilots
- MN Wilderness' Lindstrom deadly on offense in 3-1 win against Janesville - Janesville Jets
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
