Wild Defeat Ironmen 5-2 During Day 2 of Robertson Cup Championship
May 11, 2013 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Wenatchee Wild News Release
FRISCO, Texas. - This time the plethora of shots mattered, the puck bounced their way and the Wenatchee Wild buried their scoring chances en route to a 5-2 victory over the Jamestown Ironmen during the second day of competition Saturday at the 2013 NAHL Robertson Cup Championship Tournament at the Dr Pepper Arena in Frisco, Texas.
The Wild appeared to break a scoreless tie with 8:54 left in the first period after they banged away at a rebound and the red light came on, but the goal was waved off when the refs lost sight of the puck and blew the whistle.
The no-goal call was irrelevant as Chris Kerr (Penticton, British Columbia) went on to score the first goal of the game 43 seconds later when he collected a rebound off of the end boards on a Max McHugh (Edgewood, Wash.) shot for an easy tap in from the left side of the cage.
Less than three minutes later the Wild celebrated another goal, which was scored by Joe Sullivan (Las Vegas, Nev.) during the first power play of the game. Sullivan lit the lamp from the right faceoff dot on a wrist shot that sailed over the goalie's left shoulder into the cookie shelf and repositioned the water bottle. McHugh picked up his second point of the game with the only helper on Sullivan's goal.
"We talked about getting our feet moving," said Wild head coach Bliss Littler, whose team improved to 1-1 at the tournament with the win. "We're a skating team, we're a team that needs to play fast and make plays. Today, I thought we got our feet moving and created a lot of plays."
The Wild maintained the offensive pressure they forged in the second half of the first period throughout the second period and took a 4-1 lead into the locker room after 40 minutes of play on goals from Jacob Barber (Dardenne Prairie, Mo.) and Kerr.
Barber made it 3-0 just 67 seconds into the second period when he knocked in a rebound with a top shelf shot. Kerr then scored his second marker of the contest 7:41 later during a power play. Working with Barber, Kerr took a give-and-go pass and buried his opportunity from the bottom of the far circle on another top shelf shot. Dylan Abood (Centennial, Colo.) also assisted on the sequence.
The Ironmen scored their first goal of the game 9:13 into the second frame to cut the Wild lead down to 4-1 on Daniel Cesarz's goal, which he scored from the inside edge of the far circle on a 2-on-2 rush into the offensive zone.
Jamestown went on to cut Wenatchee's lead in half, 4-2, 8:51 into the third period when Victor Johansson scored on a snap shot after looking off a 2-on-1 pass. Johansson's goal was the Jamestown's last of the game, however, and Jono Davis (La Verne, Calif.) tacked on an empty-netter with 1:40 left in regulation for the 5-2 victory.
Wenatchee's 5-goal effort came against Joe Ballmer, who went a perfect 6-0 in the divisional playoffs with a ridiculous 1.33 goals-against average and a .957 save percentage. He made 27 saves on 31 shots Saturday against the Wild.
"Ballmer is a very, very good goalie," said Littler.
Robert Nichols (Dallas, Texas) made 14 saves on 16 shots for the Wild. Wenatchee scored two power-play goals on three tries and did not give Jamestown a single power play opportunity.
McHugh notched a playmaker with three assists in the win. Kerr scored two goals while Barber scored a goal and added an assist.
The second-seeded Wild will play the first-seeded Amarillo Bulls at 2:30 p.m. Sunday during the third day of competition at the 2013 NAHL Robertson Cup Championship Tournament. The Wild defeated the Bulls 5-3 on Sept. 13 during the Showcase Tournament.
"They're two teams that have had their eye on each other all year; It was extremely physical. You had two teams that felt they were going to be pretty good hockey clubs, and I think it was just very physical," Littler said when asked what he remembered from the game between the Wild and Bulls earlier this season.
The Bulls are 1-0 at the tournament after defeating the Ironmen in overtime Friday, 2-1. For a small fee, fans can watch Sunday's game live by logging on to www.FASTHockey.com.
"I'm really proud of the effort we had today," Littler said. "We haven't done anything the easy way all year, so I wouldn't expect anything to change here. We're just looking forward to playing a very good Amarillo team Sunday."
North American Hockey League Stories from May 11, 2013
- Wild Defeat Ironmen 5-2 During Day 2 of Robertson Cup Championship - Wenatchee Wild
- Bulls Beat Jamestown in OT 2-1 - Amarillo Bulls
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