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WHL Wenatchee Wild

Wild Ride Hot Start to 7-4 Home Win Over Tri-City Wednesday

January 25, 2024 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Wenatchee Wild News Release


Wenatchee Wild's Luka Shcherbyna on game night
Wenatchee Wild's Luka Shcherbyna on game night
(Wenatchee Wild, Credit: Russ Alman/Wenatchee Wild)

WENATCHEE, Wash. - The Tri-City Americans may have had the stronger finish to Wednesday's Western Hockey League game at Town Toyota Center, but the only concern the Wenatchee Wild had in the U.S. Division matchup was finishing the game in front. They did just that, riding a red-hot start to a 7-4 win, their league-best 18th victory on home ice this season. Wenatchee bumped its overall record to 26-15-4-0 for the season, while the Americans fell to 17-24-2-1.

Wenatchee opened the game with all of the first eight shots over the opening four-and-a-half minutes, and all of the evening's first five goals. Kenta Isogai opened the evening by taking a pass off the wall and rushing it to the net, pitching a forehand shot past Kyle Kelsey just before the halfway mark of the first period. Luka Shcherbyna tallied the first of his two goals with 2:36 remaining, turning around on the right wing after a pass up the wall, and sneaking a shot past Kelsey to double the lead.

The lead only grew in the second, with three goals in a little over two minutes - Evan Friesen and Sam Ward both banged in second-chance goals at 7:17 and 7:41, respectively, for a 4-0 Wild advantage. Maddix McCagherty slipped a shot through at 9:28 of the period, putting the hosts ahead 5-0. Wenatchee now has 75 second-period goals this season, second only to Medicine Hat's 80 goals in the middle stanza.

Tri-City did its best to get back into the game, starting with Deagan McMillan's wraparound goal at 10:10 and Jackson Smith's back-post wrister with 3:32 on the clock. Miles Cooper rushed a shorthanded chance past Kelsey at 9:30 of the third period, but less than a minute later, Cash Koch collected a rebound off the iron and tossed it in from the slot for a 6-3 game. Parker Bell's low wrister with 7:49 to play got the Ams back within a couple, but Shcherbyna skidded a long-distance chance into the empty net to seal the win with 2:06 left.

"Right off the start, I thought the guys had good legs and a good jump early," said assistant coach Andrew Sarauer. "We told the guys that we've had a few too many turnovers the last few games at the blue line, so we told the guys to play a quality 60 minutes and don't take your foot off the gas. The guys came out flying, and we really drove the pace of the play most of the night, especially off the start."

Just 72 hours after getting 14 players onto the score sheet, the Wild put a dozen players on it again Wednesday - Shcherbyna led a group of five Wenatchee players with more than one point in the game. No Tri-City players finished with more than one point, but eight found their way to the score sheet in the loss. The game was the sixth in as many meetings between the teams this season in which the home team has come away with the win.

Daniel Hauser became one of just 25 goaltenders in WHL history with 95 career wins, making 36 saves for his 16th victory of the season, while Kelsey made 28 saves in the loss for the Americans. Tri-City finished 1-for-4 on the power play while the Wild were turned away on their only power play of the night, an abbreviated chance in the first period.

Two more games remain for the Wild in a stretch of 10 out of 11 games at home, and 12 out of 14. Next up on the home slate is a Friday matchup with the Seattle Thunderbirds on Superheroes & Princesses Night presented by Numerica, featuring a lanyard giveaway to the first 1,000 fans and a specialty jersey auction to benefit the Brave Warrior Project. Friday's opening faceoff at Town Toyota Center is slated for 7 p.m.

Tickets for that game and all home regular-season games are on sale now at 509-888-7825, or by visiting the team office at Town Toyota Center. Wild playoff packages and 2024-25 season tickets are now on sale as well - updated news and information on Wild hockey are always available through the team's website and on the team's social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Check out the Wenatchee Wild Statistics




Images from this story

Wenatchee Wild's Luka Shcherbyna on game night
Wenatchee Wild's Luka Shcherbyna on game night
(Russ Alman/Wenatchee Wild)		   



Western Hockey League Stories from January 25, 2024


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