West Division-Leading Wild Fall to Ice Dogs
January 7, 2013 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Wenatchee Wild News Release
WENATCHEE, Wash. - The Fairbanks Ice Dogs jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead Sunday against the Wenatchee Wild in the third of three games over the weekend between the two clubs and held on for a 5-2 victory at the Town Toyota Center.
The Wild got off to a bad start and trailed the Ice Dogs 3-0 after 20 minutes of play. Devin Loe scored Fairbanks' first goal 4:35 into the first period when lit the lamp on a wrister from the slot. Ryan McNeely and Jacob Hetz picked up the assists.
The Wild had a golden opportunity to tie up the contest a couple minutes after Loe's opening goal when they went on their second power play of the game, but instead the Ice Dogs increased their lead to 2-0 when Kyle Lee scored an unassisted shorthanded goal on a breakaway that started with a turnover near the Wild blue line.
Fairbanks scored its third goal of the contest at the with a little less than seven minutes remaing in the first stanza when Colton Wolter scored a power-play marker from Jayson Angus and Loe.
Wenatchee appeared to score its first goal of the game late in the first period during a power play, but the goal was disallowed and the Wild went into the locker room at the first intermission trailing 3-0.
The Wild got on the scoreboard with a little less than seven minutes remaining in the second period when Chris Kerr (Penticton, British Columbia) received a pass from Nathan Flynn (Hastings, Minn.) in the clear and used a forehand-to-backhand move to beat Fairbanks netminder Steve Perry. Brian Williams (San Diego, Calif.) also assisted.
The Ice Dogs wasted no time getting their 3-goal lead back, just 35 seconds in fact, when Jayson Angus put back Ryan McNeely's shot from the blue line for his team's fourth marker of the contest.
Williams scored Wenatchee's first power-play goal of the 3-game weekend series with a little over six minutes remaining in the third period to cut the Fairbanks lead down to 4-2 when he put back a slap shot by Max McHugh (Edgewood, Wash.). Tyler Bruneteau (Omaha, Neb.) earned the secondary assist.
The Ice Dogs went on to close out scoring with 3:27 left in regulation when Brett Gervais scored from the slot on a pass from Angus. Loe also assisted.
Angus (1G, 2A) and Loe (1G, 2A) led the Ice Dogs with three points apiece.
Perry made 26 saves on 28 shots for the Ice Dogs. Robert Nichols (Dallas, Texas) and Nick Schmit (Fargo, N.D.) combined to make 10 saves on 15 shots.
Despite Sunday's loss the Wild still managed three points over the 3-game weekend series against the Ice Dogs and are still in first place in the West Division.
"We just have to regroup," said Wild head coach Bliss Littler. "We came out tonight and we shot ourselves in the foot with three turnovers, and they scored three goals.
"I don't think anybody hung their head, I don't think anybody quit. But it's tough when you're down three goals right away."
The Wild (24-5-3) will return to action Friday and Saturday (Jan. 11-12) when they travel to Fresno, Calif., to take on the Monsters at Selland Arena. Both games are scheduled to begin at 7:35 p.m.
• Discuss this story on the North American Hockey League message board...
North American Hockey League Stories from January 7, 2013
- NAHL Announces Divisional Stars of the Week - NAHL
- Wings Weekly - Aberdeen Wings
- Starting with a Split - Wichita Falls Wildcats
- Brandon Hawkins Makes D-I Committment to Bowling Green - Texas Tornado
- Brookings Explodes in 3rd Period - Brookings Blizzard
- IceRays Squeeze Past Jacks, 5-4 - Odessa Jackalopes
- West Division-Leading Wild Fall to Ice Dogs - Wenatchee Wild
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.
