Prince George, BC. –
The Wenatchee Wild blasted 50 shots on goal and controlled the action through
much of the evening, skating to a 5-1 win over the Prince George Spruce Kings
in the BCHL opener for both teams in front of 1,084 fans at the Prince George Coliseum.
Wenatchee opened the scoring on a Brendan Harris (Las Vegas, NV) goal 6:23 into the contest, assisted
by August Von Ungern (Boise, ID) and
Joe Drabin (Rochester, NY), giving
the Wild a 1-0 lead. The game was tied after one, as Prince George’s Corey
Hoffman scored from Braiden Epp at 13:01, tying the game 1-1.
Wenatchee would tilt the ice in their favor in the second
period, outshooting the Spruce Kings 17-6. Tyler
Rockwell (San Jose, CA) scored on a blast from the high slot, assisted by Kyle Stephan (Berry, O.) and Alex Bates (Highlands Ranch, CO) at
8:15, putting the Wild on top for good at 2-1. They would increase the lead
late in the period, as Harris held the puck, waiting for an opening. He would
eventually find Bates coming off the bench on a change and Bates would wire it
home at 18:43, putting Wenatchee up 3-1 through 40 minutes.
In the third, the ice tilted further in the Wild’s favor, as
they scored twice while outshooting the Spruce Kings 22-2 in the period. Brandon Puricelli (St. Louis, MO)
scored from Harris and Von Ungern at 6:10 for a 4-1 lead, then Dakota Raabe (Dana Point, CA) scored
from Stephan and Logan Milliken
(Canmore, AB) at 8:35. Wenatchee would skate it home from there, winning the
game 5-1.
The Wild outshot Prince George 50-18 on the night. Chase
Perry (Andover, MN) was sharp despite the lack of work, making 17 saves on the
night. Liam McCloskey was much busier in the Spruce Kings goal, making 45
saves. Wenatchee was 1-for-7 on the power play, while killing all 4 shorthanded
situations.
“Overall, I thought it was a good effort.” said Wenatchee
Wild Head Coach/General Manager Bliss Littler. “Any time you throw 50 shots on
a goaltender, it’s a good offensive effort. I think for the first time out, on
the road, in a tough building to play in, I was proud of our effort tonight.
It’ll be interesting and I’m excited to see how we handle a little bit of
success tonight and what we come back with tomorrow.”
With the win, the Wild improve to 1-0 on the season, while
Prince George slips to 0-1. The two teams meet up again Saturday night in
Prince George, with faceoff set for 7:00pm PDT. Wenatchee will play a total of
7 more road games, before hosting the Coquitlam Express in the team’s home
opener on Saturday, October 10th. Tickets are available at the Wild
office, or by calling 509-888-7825.
Battle For The Border
No comments:
Post a Comment