Wild Enter Break With Whitewash Of Minot
December 21, 2013 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Wenatchee Wild News Release
Minot, ND. - The Wenatchee Wild played the Minot Minotauros at Maysa Arena Saturday night in their last game of the pre-Christmas schedule, getting three goals and a 24 save effort from Chase Perry (Andover, Minnesota) in blanking the Tauros 3-0 in NAHL action in Minot.
Just like Friday night's game, the two teams were scoreless after one, with shots even at 8 apiece.
The scoreless tie was broken as the Wild scored early in the second. Nicholas Rivera (Pacific Palisades, California) cut in from the right wing circle and gunned one home from about 10 feet straight on. The goal, coming at 2:08, was assisted by Tanner Barnes (Burnsville, Minnesota) and Mike Coyne (Kenmore, New York) and gave Wenatchee a 1-0 lead. The Wild would increase the lead just over ten minutes later, as Jakob Ahlgren (Fergus Falls, Minnesota) scored on a sharp angle shot from the left side. The unassisted goal, scored at 12:45, staked Wenatchee to a 2-0 lead.
Coyne got behind the defense on a delayed penalty and slipped home a back hander in tight, just shy of the five minute mark of the third period. The goal, the Wild's third unassisted counter of the night, came at 4:39 and put the Wild up 3-0. Wenatchee rode a strong defensive effort the rest of the way, winning the game 3-0. "Much better all-around team effort" said Wenatchee Wild Head Coach Bliss Littler. "Much better. We had contributions on all four lines and our team played well and obviously, that starts with your goalie. Chase Perry, he made some big saves in the first or we could have been playing catch up hockey. It was nice to see him play well and get the shutout." Littler continued, saying "Overall, I'm pretty happy with the first half (of the season). Pretty happy with the first half right now. We're excited to let the kids go on break here and then come back at the end of the month, excited to get after it, to get better."
Perry had 24 saves on the night for the Wild; Merrick Madsen made 26 stops for Minot. Wenatchee was 0-for-5 on the power play and 4-of-4 on the penalty kill.
The Wild is now 15-13-3; the Minotauros are 14-14-3.
The Wild resumes play at home with a pair of games against Fairbanks on Friday and Saturday, January 3rd and 4th. Faceoff both nights is at 7:05pm PST. Individual and group game tickets for all home games are on sale now. Call 509.888.PUCK (7825).
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