Wildcats Withstand Late Wenatchee Surge to Claim Win
December 19, 2014 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Wichita Falls Wildcats News Release
WENATCHEE, Wash. - On the strength of two second-period tallies, the Wichita Falls Wildcats claimed a 3-2 win over the Wenatchee Wild at the Town Toyota Center on Friday night to earn their fifth-straight win.
Matt Koch provided an offensive spark from the blue line, earning two assists on the night, while Paul Soubry, Colin Staub and Konstantin Chernyuk found twine for Wichita Falls in the win. Claiming assists for the 'Cats were Austin Albrecht, Austin Beaulieu, Nick Farmer, and newcomer Mason Corliss, as David Zevnik made 25 saves to earn his ninth win of the campaign.
The Wildcats created the first high-quality scoring chances of the contest, and would have been ahead within the first two minutes, but Tommy Apap had his shot from just above the crease cancelled out by Wild netminder Zach Quinn.
After the teams traded solid shifts in the offensive zone, Wichita Falls found a way past Quinn to open the scoring.
A lengthy spell in the offensive zone eventually led the puck up to Koch at the middle of the blue line. Koch's wrist-shot was deflected in front, and squirted away from Quinn right onto the stick of Soubry, who swept it home for his fifth goal of the year to make it 1-0.
Wenatchee came out the stronger side in the second, and levelled the affair on a power-play tally from Tyler Rockwell, but Wichita Falls used a late-period flurry to reclaim the lead with a pair of goals.
First, Koch pulled a puck from the left-wing wall at the blue line, and sent a shot into traffic at the top of the crease. Staub was camped out in the slot, and tipped it home for his eighth goal of the season to make it 2-1.
Less than 90 seconds later, the 'Cats struck again in similar fashion. Albrecht's pass from outside the right-wing circle was right to the tape of Chernyuk, who quickly released a wrister. This time though, the disc went clean through traffic to give the Wildcats a 3-1 lead on Chernyuk's second goal in as many games.
The Wild pulled one back in the third period, after Dakota Raabe pounced on a loose puck in the offensive zone and skated in on goal, before beating Zevnik, but that was as close as Wenatchee would come.
In the closing stages, the Wild threw shot after shot towards the Wichita Falls cage, but Zevnik and the 'Cats defense stood strong to keep Wenatchee from finding an equalizer, as the game finished 3-2.
The Wildcats will conclude their two-game set against the Wild on Saturday, with puck drop slated for 7:05 p.m. Pacific Standard Time at the Toyota Town Center. Fans can follow the action live on FASTHockey.com, as well as an audio-only broadcast available on YouTube.
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