Wild Drop Chiefs

Wenatchee, WA. – The Wenatchee Wild returned home Friday night and defeated the Chilliwack Chiefs 4-2, in front of 3,241 at the Town Toyota Center, climbing to with one point of first-place in the process.

Chilliwack opened the scoring on a Vimal Sukumaran goal, assisted by Kale Kane and Jesse Lansdell at 8:33, putting the Chiefs on top, 1-0. Late in the period, August Von Ungern (Boise, ID) tied it up for the Wild with a backhander high to the stick side, off assists from Austin Chavez (Corona, CA) and Joe Drabin (Rochester, NY) at 17:02, tying the game 1-1 after one.

In the second, Chilliwack would regain the lead early, thanks to a goal by Jordan Kawaguchi, from Darien Craighead and Kohen Olischefski at 1:45, putting the Chiefs back on top, 2-1. Wenatchee would take over from there with three straight goals. Blake Christensen (Lauderhill, FL) scored on a deflection, assisted by Matt Baker (Midhurst, ON) and Brendan Harris (Las Vegas, NV) at 8:09. The power play goal tied the game 2-2. Then, not quite four minutes later, Dakota Raabe (St. Louis, MO) would cross in front of the net and tuck home a backhander. Mike Coyne (Buffalo, NY) assisted at 11:45, putting the Wild on top, 3-2. The scoring continued 64 seconds later, as Daniel Nachbaur (Seattle, WA) slammed home a rebound from the left circle. Kyle Stephan (Barrie, ON) and Harris assisted at 12:49, giving Wenatchee a 4-2 lead.

Neither team would score in the third period and the Wild would go on and win the game 4-2.

Wenatchee outshot Chilliwack 36-27 on the night. Chase Perry (Andover, MN) made 25 saves for the Wild, while Aiden Pelino had 32 saves for the Chiefs. Wenatchee went 1-for-6 on the power play and 2-of-2 on the penalty kill. “I thought the second and third period, we played very well.” said Wenatchee Wild Head Coach/General Manager Bliss Littler. “First period we were a little tentative. Chase Perry made some huge saves, especially at the end of the first period. I expect Chilliwack’s A game tomorrow night and excited to see where we’re at.”

With the win, the Wild improves to 21-9-3-2 on the season, Chilliwack is now 22-7-1-3. Wenatchee closes out their pre-Christmas schedule with another game against the Chiefs on Saturday, December 19^th, 7:05pm at the Town Toyota Center.

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