Wildcats Sweep Brown Bears In Weekend Series
February 25, 2008 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Wichita Falls Wildcats News Release
The Wildcats faced off against the Kenai River Brown Bears in a two-game series this past weekend. The Cats won both games and were able to pick up four points in the league standings and improve their record to 34-12-2. The Wildcats continue to sit in first place in the NAHL South Division, and with seventy-points have secured a spot in the playoffs. The Cats continue to hold a three point lead over Topeka and a nine point lead over Fairbanks. Wildcats forwards, Adam Cardwell and Luke Salazar, lead the league in scoring. Cardwell has seventy-nine points and Salazar has seventy-five. Each had two goals in the weekend series.
Friday night the Wildcats skated away with a 4-3 victory over the Brown Bears. Kenai River actually got the scoring started ten minutes into the game and the Cats trailed by one. It didn't take long for the Wildcats to answer back though and the game was tied at one after twenty minutes of play. Cardwell netted the Cats first goal at the 15:02 mark of the first period off the assist from Everett and Duddy. Kenai came out strong again in the second and scored at the 12:49 mark, but the Cats would not be let down. With less than thirty seconds remaining in the second stanza, Salazar took advantage of the powerplay and blasted the puck past the Brown Bears goalie to once again tie the game. McKenzie and Henderson assisted Salazar on the powerplay goal. The third frame was all Wildcats as they came out strong, scoring two goals and taking the lead for the first time all game. Delaurell and McKenzie assisted Kaneshiro at the 7:04 mark. Kaneshiro capitalized on his position and put the puck in the back of the net to give the Cats a 3-2 lead. Ten minutes later the Cats connected again when Hartung and Kenline worked the puck down and Kenline slid another past the Kenai River goalie. With less than fifteen seconds remaining in the game, Kenai River pulled their goalie and put an extra attacker on the ice. It proved to be too much for the Cats to handle and the Brown Bears scored with fourteen seconds remaining. It was too little too late though and the Wildcats won it 4-3.
Saturday night was all Wildcats as they blasted the Brown Bears goal with thirty-nine shots, capitalizing on ten of them and winning the game 10-5. The Cats got the scoring started early when Salazar assisted Skylur Jameson only 1:06 into the game. The remainder of the period was calm, then, with only a minute and a half left, two goals were scored less than thirty seconds apart. The White Knights lit up the ice at the 18:48 mark to give the Cats a 2-0 lead. Salazar and Everett assisted Cardwell on the second goal. At 19:09 Kenai River scored their first goal of the game and put themselves back within one of the Cats. The Wildcats came out strong in the second frame scoring only fifteen seconds in when Skylur Jameson assisted Henderson. At the 5:04 mark, Cardwell assisted Salazar who connected on the powerplay goal to give the Cats a 4-1 lead. Kenai River scored two goals in the middle of the stanza to once again narrow the Cats lead to only one. With a little over five minutes left to play in the frame, Everett assisted Morrell who blasted the puck into the back of the net. Twenty seconds later, Henderson connected again off the assist from Heinz, scoring his second goal of the game, and giving the Wildcats a 6-3 lead after forty minutes of play. Kenai River scored two goals in the final period, but it was too little too late as the Wildcats capitalized on four more goals in the final twenty minutes. McKenzie netted a powerplay goal at the 4:41 mark off the assist from Salazar and Detlefsen. Henderson scored two goals only four minutes apart, giving him four goals for the game. The Cats final goal of the game came at the 17:44 mark when McKenzie assisted Delaurell who capitalized on his position and scored a powerplay goal to seal the deal for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats face off again tonight and tomorrow night against the Fairbanks Ice Dogs. Don't forget that you can catch all the action by clicking on the B2 Link on our website and watching the games for only $6.
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