Wildcat Wins Continue

Published on March 9, 2009 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Wichita Falls Wildcats News Release


Three games, three wins: that's how the week went for the Wildcats, as they took the final game of their three-game set against Alaska on Tuesday, then sent the Kenai River Brown Bears packing with wins on Friday and Saturday.

Tuesday's game could be called The Adam Kuhn Show in the Wildcats' 5-3 victory. Kuhn was involved in the scoring of four of the team's five goals, scoring three himself and assisting on three others. Former Wildcat Thomas Erlacher got the visiting Avalanche on the board in the first, redirecting a shot for a power play goal less than two minutes into the game. Kuhn followed it up midway through the first period, lifting a floater over the head of Alaska's goaltender to score his first of the night. Assists came from Zach Rourke and Chad Hudson. With the Wildcats on the power play, Rourke would get a goal of his own 1:30 into the second period, assisted by Kuhn and Matt Shost. Kuhn scored his second goal of the night less than three minutes later, aided by Sean McNekzie and Curtis Heinz.

The Wildcats appeared to be in the driver's seat with a 3-1 lead, but Alaska came back to tie on goals by Nardo Nagtzaam and Kyle Pichler. But at the 8:34 mark of the third period, Augie Hoffman ripped a shot off a Victor Karlsson faceoff win to put the Wildcats ahead 4-3. Alaska pulled their goaltender for a sixth attacker late in the game without success: Kuhn popped the puck into the empty net for the hat trick. Kuhn's efforts got him the first star of the game, while the second and third stars went to Zach Rourke and Augie Hoffman, respectively.

The Wildcats got off to a slow start on Friday, but mounted one of the biggest comebacks in team history for a 5-4 victory. Down 4-1 at the start of the third period, the Wildcats scored 4 goals in the span of 5 minutes to come back and beat the Kenai River Brown Bears.  Adam Kuhn scored two goals while Zach Rourke netted the game-winner with just under eight minutes remaining in the game.

Kuhn got the Wildcats on the board in the first period, running his goal-scoring streak to five games in a row.  Assisting on his goal were Rourke and Sean McKenzie, putting the Wildcats up 1-0.  Kenai River would take the lead before the end of the period, with two goals in the span of 39 seconds.  Ryan Lemke scored with an assist from Nick Simson, followed by former Wildcats' draft pick Chris Annunziato putting a shot through a crowd in front of the net, assisted by Ryan Goodmanson and Kyle Clay for a 2-1 lead.

The Brown Bears kept the offense coming in the second period, as Ryan Lemke scored his second of the night at the 3:57 mark, assisted by Brad Fusaro and Nick Simson, which chased Wildcats' netminder Nick Hopper back to the bench in favor of Phil Graveline.  Lemke finished the hat trick at the 11:12 mark of the period with an unassisted goal off a turnover, making it a 4-1 game.

The Wildcats started the third period with a 5-on-3 power play for 1:28, but couldn't find the back of the net despite some excellent chances, followed by Brett Hartung being stopped by Zac Hansen on a penalty shot attempt.  The Wildcats would begin their comeback on a power play, with Chad Hudson scoring off assists from Sean Coffey and Adam Kuhn, cutting the deficit to 4-2.  Two minutes later, Ricky Brown redirected a Brett Kaneshiro shot into the top of the goal to make it a 4-3 game.  The secondary assist went to Hudson.  Only 38 seconds later, Adam Kuhn picked off an errant pass and flipped the puck past Hansen for his second goal of the night, tying the game up.  The Wildcats' comeback was completed at the 12:23 mark, as Augie Hoffman took a pass from Sean McKenzie, walked through three defenders and dropped a pass off for Zach Rourke, which Rourke buried for the eventual game-winner.  The Wildcats outshot the Brown Bears 16-3 in the final period.

"I told the guys in between the second and third that it comes down to mistakes," said head coach John Bowkus.  "We made four with four ending up in our net, they made two and one ended up in their net... We played well, even in the first period."

On Saturday, the Wildcats went two for four on the power play en route to finishing off a sweep of the Kenai River Brown Bears with a 4-3 victory.  It was the Wildcats' second come from behind victory in as many nights, with Kenai River holding a 2-1 lead before the Wildcats took over in the second.

 

The Brown Bears got on the board first when Joe Hodson slid one past goaltender Phil Graveline to put Kenai River up 1-0.  Patrick Sullivan had the lone assist.  The Wildcats struck back only a minute later, with Victor Karlsson winning a battle on the boards, then putting a well-placed shot past goaltender Zac Hansen off assists from Matt Kenline and Adam Kuhn.

 

Kenai River took a lead again in the second, with Jake Musselman knocking one in on a scramble in front, assisted by Jed McGlasson.  The Wildcats struck back hard with Zack Rourke tying things up on the power play from Chad Hudson and Sean McKenzie.  Two and a half minutes later, it was Sean Coffey taking a pass in the slot from Kuhn and sending a backhander past Hansen for a 3-2 lead.  Hudson also picked up an assist on the goal.  The Wildcats added one more in the second when Sean McKenzie scored on the power play.  Adam Kuhn picked up his third assist of the night, while the secondary assist went to Brett Kaneshiro.

 

The Brown Bears would add one more in the third via the power play, and pulled their goaltender with two minutes to go in an attempt to even the score, but the Wildcats defense held strong and took a 4-3 victory.

 

Over the past three games, two against Kenai River and one against Alaska, Adam Kuhn has had 5 goals and 5 assists for the Wildcats, a likely nominee for the NAHL/Sherwood South Division Player of the Week.  "We've had some guys struggling to score lately, and he's really picked it up for them," Bowkus said of Kuhn.

Adam Kuhn named Player of the Week

From NAHL.com...

Wichita Falls forward Adam Kuhn rang up five goals and five assists as the Wildcats skated to three wins. On Tuesday in a 5-3 triumph over the Alaska Avalanche, the Southgate, Mich., native recorded a hat trick and an assist.  The 19-year-old followed that up with a pair of goals and an assist in a 5-4 victory over Kenai River on Friday.  The next night, Kuhn recorded three more assists, including one on Sean McKenzie's game-winning goal, as the Wildcats edged the Brown Bears, 4-3.  He was also a plus-4 on the week.

Upcoming Home Games

The Wildcats have two series at the Kay Yeager Coliseum before the end of the regular season, including two games this weekend against the St. Louis Bandits. Friday night is our College Night and Toga Party, where anyone showing a valid college ID can get in for only $5. Saturday night is Souvenir Puck Night, so make sure to get to the rink early to get yours!

Wildcats in the Community

This week, the Wildcats will be at Bealls in Burkburnett to help out with Relay for Life. The players will be there from 3 to 5 pm on Wednesday. On Thursday, Wildcats players will be making an appearance at Fain Elementary for Fain Family Fun Night from 5 to 7 pm.

Wildcats Alumni News

Division I hockey tournaments are continuing-and in some cases starting this week, and several former Wildcats are playing for their schools.

The CCHA Tournament continues with Alaska (Adam Cardwell) facing Ohio State (Sean Duddy, Cal Heeter) this weekend. Bowling Green (Dan Sexton) was eliminated by Ohio State last weekend by scores of 5-4 and 7-1.

Bemidji State (Shea Walters) will go up against University of Alabama-Huntsville this Friday in the opening round of the CHA Tournament.

Northeastern University (Kyle Kraemer) faces the University of Massachusetts in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs this weekend.

Denver University tied Colorado College this past Saturday, with Luke Salazar assisting on Denver's lone goal. The Pioneers will face Alaska-Anchorage in the first round of the WCHA Tournament this weekend.

Ricky Doriott picked up his first collegiate point with an assist in Michigan Tech's 6-5 victory over Minnesota on Friday. This weekend, the Huskies will play in the WCHA Tournament's first round against North Dakota.

Skylur Jameson scored twice, but the Wentworth Leopards fell short in the ECAC-Northeast Championship game by a score of 4-3 versus Nichols College.

The University of Wisconsin-Stout Blue Devils are the champions of the Division III Northern Collegiate Hockey Association. They defeated University of Wisconsin-Superior 4-3. The Blue Devils have former Wildcats Jack Wolgemuth and Nick Klaren in their defensive corps.

The Amherst Lord Jeffs are the champions of the New England Small College Athletic Conference. Eddie Effinger had an assist in their semi-final victory over Trinity, as well as an assist in the championship game against Middlebury.

The field is set for the Division III National Tournament. In addition to Wisconsin-Stout and Amherst, Wisconsin-Superior, featuring Kent Detlefsen and Kevin Huck, received an at-large placement in the tournament. The Tournament kicks off on Wednesday with Amherst facing Babson at home.

Additionally, the club-level American Collegiate Hockey Association will be holding its National Championships March 14-18 at the Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills, Ohio. Top-ranked Lindenwood University, featuring Bret Morrell and Adam Krefski will face Penn State-Berks in the first round. Morrell has 9 goals and 24 assists in 33 games for Lindenwood, while Krefski has 14 goals and 13 assists in 18 games. Fifth-ranked Oklahoma, featuring Robert Hetrick (21 games, 5 goals, 3 assists) and Chris Nicolaou (34 games, 6 goals, 8 assists), faces Kent State.

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North American Hockey League Stories from March 9, 2009


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