Third Period Goal Propels Wild To Win
January 12, 2014 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Wenatchee Wild News Release
Soldotna, AK - The Wenatchee Wild closed out their three-game set against Kenai River with a win Saturday night, beating the Brown Bears 4-3 at the Soldotna Sports Center.
The Wild scored first, as Gael Gumdrop (Nizhnekamsk, Russia) scored on a rebound. The assists went to James Mathias (Ontario, California) and Chris Koukis (Brentwood, California) at 2:08, giving Wenatchee a 1-0 lead. The Brown Bears tied it, as Eric Purcell scored on a sharp angle shot. Tommy Dierl drew the lone assist at 5:21, knotting the game at 1-1. It would take long for the Wild to regain the lead however, as Brendan Harris (Las Vegas, Nevada) scored on the power play. The goal, assisted by Parker Tuomie (Biemerhaven, Germany) and Mitch Demario (Franklin, Wisconsin) came at 6:31 and gave the Wild a 2-1 lead. The lead grew with another power play goal, this time on a rebound shot by Tuomie. Troy Loggins (Huntington Beach, California) and Matthew Nuttle (Marilla, New York) assisted at 11:14, pushing the Wenatchee lead to 3-1.
Jack Gessert scored for Kenai River in the second, from Matt Rudin and Zack Zulkanycz at 7:41, cutting the Wild's lead to 3-2. The Brown Bears scored on a wraparound to tie the game. Alec Butcher got the goal at 14:56, assisted by Jacob Davidson and Nathan Colwell, tying the game 3-3.
Loggins' second goal of the night put Wenatchee back on top early in the third, as he raced in off the left wing and flipped a backhander into the net. The unassisted goal at 5:53 put the Wild back on top, 4-3. That goal would hold up as the game-winner, as Wenatchee took the final game of the three-game set, by that 4-3 margin. "I thought it was a gritty effort" said Wenatchee Wild Head Coach Bliss Littler. "This has been a very tough trip; a lot of logistics haven't been how we expected them to be. We fought through a lot of adversity on the ice and off the ice, so we came out tonight, we had 3 of our 4 centermen out of the lineup, I thought it was an extremely gritty effort."
The Wild out shot Kenai River 36-32. Gustaf Johansson (Uppsala, Sweden) made 29 saves for Wenatchee, while Zach Quinn had 32 stops for the Brown Bears. The Wild was 2-for-5 on the power play and 2-of-2 on the penalty kill.
Wenatchee is now 17-16-3; Kenai River is 19-17-3.
The Wild continues their road trip in Fairbanks with three games next Thursday (January 16th), Friday (January 17th) and Saturday (January 18th), before returning home to face Bismarck on Friday and Saturday, January 24th and 25th. Individual and group game tickets for all home games are on sale now. Call 509.888.PUCK (7825).
North American Hockey League Stories from January 12, 2014
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- Third Period Goal Propels Wild To Win - Wenatchee Wild
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