Wild Win Shootout At Kenai River
January 31, 2014 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Wenatchee Wild News Release
Soldotna, AK. - The Wenatchee Wild was back in Alaska Thursday night for the first of three games with the Kenai River Brown Bears at the Soldotna Sports Center, scoring an extra attacker goal in the final minute of regulation, then winning the deciding shootout, to grab a 4-3 win at the Soldotna Sports Center.
Kenai River struck on the power play to open the scoring, on a goal by Frankie Spellman. The assists went to Albin Karlsson and Vincent Stefan at 8:58 of the opening period, putting the Brown Bears on top, 1-0.
Wenatchee tied the game early in the second, banging one home in tight. The goal was scored was David Powlowski (Rochester, New York), assisted by Alex Rauter (Morristown, New Jersey) and Jakob Ahlgren (Fergus Falls, Minnesota) at 8:24, squaring the game at 1-1.
The Wild scored on a rebound to take the lead early in the third. Omar Mullan (Dearborn, MI) got the goal, with Troy Loggins (Huntington Beach, California) and Mitch Demario (Franklin, Wisconsin) getting the assists at 2:44, putting Wenatchee on top, 2-1. Kenai River then got a power play goal to tie the game. Jack Gessert scored from Alec Butcher and Tyler Andrews at 7:19, squaring things at 2-2. Another power play goal gave the Brown Bears the lead. Jacob Davidson scored, assisted by Gustav Berglund and Sebastian Fuchs at 10:22, putting Kenai River back on top, 3-2. With the goaltender out, the Wild would tie the game inside the final minute, popping one up in the air and then into the net. Andre Pison (Herlev, Denmark) scored, assisted by Christian Salvato (LaVerne, California) and Rauter at 19:14, tying the game 3-3 and forcing overtime.
Each team had a power play opportunity in the extra period but neither could score, forcing the game into a deciding shootout.
In the shootout, Loggins scored in round one and Matthew Nuttle (Marilla, New York) scored in round four, while Chase Perry (Andover, Minnesota) stopped all four shots he faced, giving Wenatchee the extra standings point with the 4-3 win, drawing them within one point of the fourth place Brown Bears. "I thought we played well" said Wenatchee Wild Head Coach Bliss Littler. "Other than, we took five penalties, all in the offensive zone, definitely hurt us tonight. I give our kids credit for hanging in there and find a way to keep collecting points. Chase Perry did a nice job, gave us a chance to win." Littler continued, saying "For us to be successful, we kept the penalties down tonight, but every penalty we took was an offensive zone penalty, we need to be smarter. I thought we played well, but we need to play smarter also to be able to back up one win with another."
The Wild outshot Kenai River 49-26. Perry had 23 saves for Wenatchee, while Zach Quinn made 45 stops for the Brown Bears. The Wild went 0-for-3 on the power play and 2-of-5 on the penalty kill.
The Wild is now 20-17-5; Kenai River is 21-17-4.
Wenatchee faces Kenai River twice more, tomorrow (Friday) night and Saturday, then moves on to Fairbanks for three more February 6th, 7th and 8th, before returning home to face the Soo on February 14th and 15th. Individual and group game tickets for all home games are on sale now. Call 509.888.PUCK (7825).
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