Wild Sweep Monsters With Another 2-Goal Game
March 24, 2013 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Wenatchee Wild News Release
WENATCHEE, Wash. - MaxMcHugh (Edgewood, Wash.) scored two goals for the second night in a row,leading the Wenatchee Wild to a 2-game sweep over the Fresno Monsters with a4-2 win Saturday before 3,707 fans at the Town Toyota Center.
Just like they did the night before, the Wild playedaggressively in the first period and held a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes of playon McHugh's third goal of this weekend's series. McHugh's lamp-lighter, whichwas scored from the top of the far faceoff circle with 9:04 left in the frame,came during a 3-on-2 rush into the offensive zone. Jono Davis (La Verne, Calif.) picked up the lone assist when he setup the goal on a drop pass.
Davis' assist was a big one as it gave him 58 points on theseason, a single-season franchise best. Davis passed up Ben Carey, who recorded57 points last season.
"Jono's a kid that has a lot of ability," said WenatcheeWild head coach Bliss Littler. "Whenhe gets opportunities he knows what to do with it."
Wenatchee went on to take a 2-0 lead 3:19 into the secondperiod when David Mead (Conklin,N.Y.) scored on a shot from the near point that was deflected on its way to thecage. Derick Kuchera (Eagan, Minn.)and McHugh assisted on the play after the Wild won a faceoff in the Fresnozone.
The Monsters got back into the game late in the secondperiod when Kyle Sucher scored a power-play goal with 14 seconds left beforethe second intermission. Karl Andersen and Trevor Husch assisted.
Wenatchee went up 3-1 a little over three minutes into thefinal period when Evan Schmidbauer(Surrey, British Columbia) scored from point-blank range. Blake Butzow (Plymouth, Mich.) and Nathan Flynn (Hastings, Minn.) earned the assists on Schmidbauer's12th goal of the season. Schmidbauer is enjoying his best seasonwith the Wild, racking up 12 goals, eight assists and 20 points. He is alsoplus-7 on the season.
Husch made it a 1-goal game at the 5:28 mark of the thirdperiod on assists from linemates Sucher and Andersen.
The Wild got that goal back, taking a 4-2 lead a few minuteslater when McHugh scored his second goal of the game and his fourth goal inthis weekend's series. Noah Nelson (Oconomowoc,Wis.) picked up the only assist on the goal when he entered the zone down theright wing, carried the puck behind the cage, then threw the puck toward thenet. McHugh did the rest, scoring on a 5-hole backhander.
"He had a very good series," Littler said of McHugh. "He'sleading by example, he's getting his nose dirty every night and the puck isbouncing his way."
Robert Nichols(Dallas, Texas) made 18 saves on 20 shots to improve his season record to31-13-3. The Wild threw 50 pucks at Fresno netminder Tomas Sholl, 46 of whichhe was able to save. Fresno scored one power-play goal on two chances while theWild went 0-for-3 on their power play opportunities.
McHugh led the Wild with two goals and an assist. Husch (1G,1A), Sucher (1G, 1A) and Andersen (2A) led the Monsters with two points apiece.
The Wild (38-14-6) and Monsters will close out the regularseason with a 2-game rematch this weekend (Friday and Saturday) at the SellandArena in Fresno, Calif. Both games are scheduled to begin at 7:35 p.m. For asmall fee, fans can watch both games of the series by logging on to www.FASTHockey.com.
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North American Hockey League Stories from March 24, 2013
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