Wild Sweep Monsters in Fresno

December 15, 2012 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Wenatchee Wild News Release


FRESNO, Calif. - 'Tis the season for a 2-game road sweep. TheWenatchee Wild swept aside the Fresno Monsters Saturday at the Selland Arena ina 4-1 victory, one night after winning the first game of the series in ashootout, to improve their record to 21-3-2 heading into a 12-day holidaybreak.

Unlike Friday, the Wild came out of the gate on fireSaturday to the tune of a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes of play. Nathan Flynn (Hastings, Minn.) putWenatchee's first goal on the scoreboard 3:07 into the opening frame whenknocked in Trace Redmond's (McKinney,Texas) centering feed from behind the cage. Evan Schmidbauer (Surrey, British Columbia) also assisted.

Blake Roubos (NiagaraFalls, Ontario) upped Wenatchee's lead to 2-0 two minutes after Flynn's openinggoal when he flipped a backhander into the twine. Nicholas Kuchera (Eagan, Minn.) and Brian Williams (San Diego, Calif.) picked up the assists. Chris Kerr (Penticton, British Columbia)went on to make it a 3-0 game with 2:32 left in the first period when he scoredfrom the slot on a shot that was aided by a deflection. David Powlowski (Rochester, N.Y.) and Noah Nelson (Oconomowoc, Wis.) assisted.

Mark Bittner got Fresno on the scoreboard with 2:01 left inthe first period to cut Wenatchee's lead back to 3-1 when he scored on aturnaround shot from the far point. Matt Salituro was credited with the onlyassist.

The Wild maintained a high offensive tempo all game andreclaimed their 3-goal lead 8:59 into the second period when Roubos banged inhis second goal of the game on a rebound. Kuchera and Williams, who assisted onRoubos' first-period goal, also assisted on his second marker of the game. Roubosnow has two 2-goal games this season with the first coming in a 5-4 overtimeloss to Fairbanks on Oct. 7.

Robert Nichols(Dallas, Texas) stopped 15 of Fresno's 16 shots to improve his season record to17-3-2. Macauley Haight was faced with 45 Wenatchee shots, 41 of which he wasable to deny. Neither team scored a power-play goal. Wenatchee went 0-for-2 onits man-advantages while Fresno went 0-for-3.

The Wild (21-3-2), winners of five straight games, willenjoy a nearly two-week long break over the holidays before hosting the KenaiRiver Brown Bears on Dec. 28-29 and Dec. 31. The first two games of the serieswill begin at 7:05 p.m. while the New Year's Eve contest is slated for a 6:05p.m. start. Tickets are still available for all three games and can bepurchased by calling 509.888.PUCK (7825).



North American Hockey League Stories from December 15, 2012


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