Shootout Victory

Published on February 23, 2013 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Jamestown Ironmen News Release


Your Jamestown Ironmen (32-14-4) executed the sweep of the Wenatchee Wild (35-8-5) with a 3-2 shootout victory on Saturday during North American Hockey League action at the Jamestown Savings Bank Arena.

During a scoreless first period, the JSBA crowd was treated to an up-tempo, physical battle between two of the NAHL's top teams.

"We stayed with them," said Ironmen Head Coach Dan Daikawa. "It was a great first period of hockey."

Jamestown transferred their momentum from the first period into an early goal by Nico Sierra only 22 seconds into the second. Assists came from Tyler Dunagan and Michael Mazzotta.

The rest of the period was littered with penalties from both teams which threw the Ironmen off a bit as they let in a pair of Wenatchee goals; one during a Wild powerplay. Jamestown headed into the third period trailing 2-1.

The score stood still until 8:12 remained in regulation and Ironmen defensemen, Dylan Zink buried a powerplay goal to tie the game up, 2-2. Zink received the assist from fellow defensemen and team captain, Brett Szajner.

Neither team budged the rest of the way as the competition headed into overtime. The extra period was also scoreless which sent the game into a shootout. It was a deadlock until Luc Gerdes used some flashy stick handle and beat the Wild goaltender top shelf for the only shootout goal, and secured the victory for the hometown team.

Joey Ballmer earned the win in goal for the Ironmen as he made 34 saves on the night, stuffed a Wenatchee penalty shot in the second period and was a perfect five-for-five in the shootout.

Jamestown suffered a pair of losses at the hands of the Wild on the road earlier this season, and this weekend was revenge for the home squad.

"We felt like we owed them from the last time we played in Wenatchee," said a satisfied Daikawa in the locker room following the game. "The bottom line is, we needed to win and that is what we did today."

With the pair of wins this weekend, Jamestown handed the Wild two of their eight total losses on the season, and kept themselves in contention for the North Division lead with only ten games left on the schedule before the playoffs.

Throughout the next three weeks, the Ironmen will hit the road for six North Division games as they travel to Michigan, Johnstown and Kalamazoo. Jamestown won't be in action at the JSBA until they return home on March 22 and 23 to host a pair of games against the Michigan Warriors.

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