Wild Push Vees But Lose By One

Wenatchee, WA. – The Wenatchee Wild battled hard Saturday night, but it was the Penticton Vees who came away with the hard-fought victory, 3-2, in front of 3,969 fans at the Town Toyota Center.

Penticton scored the only goal of the first period, as Scott Conway skated home a loose puck and scored unassisted just 1:08 into the contest, giving the Vees a 1-0 lead after one.

In the second, Penticton would expand the lead. Colton Poolman scored an unassisted goal at 4:10 for a 2-0 lead. Shortly after, Wenatchee would get on the board, as Austin Chavez (Corona, CA) scored on a lucky bounce off a shot from the left point. Mike Coyne (Buffalo, NY) assisted at 6:55 to draw the Wild within one, at 2-1. However, an Owen Sillinger goal, assisted by Demico Hannoun and Tyson Jost at 15:09, gave the Vees a 3-1 lead after two.

Wenatchee continued to press the attack in the third period, getting a goal from Charlie Combs (St. Louis, MO), off assists from Brendan Harris (Las Vegas, NV) and Dakota Raabe (Dana Point, CA) at 2:30, drawing the Wild back to within one, at 3-2. However, they could get no closer and Penticton held on for the 3-2 win.

Wenatchee outshot the Vees 40-25 on the night. Chase Perry (Andover, MN) and Garrett Nieto (Yorba Linda, CA) combined for 22 saves for the Wild, while Anthony Brodeur had 38 stops for Penticton. Wenatchee went 0-for-3 on the power play and 3-of-3 on the penalty kill. “Well, we’re not into any moral victories, but it’s a big improvement from ten days ago.” said Wenatchee Wild Head Coach/General Manager Bliss Littler. “I thought we played awful well tonight. Played real well actually. We had three pipes in the third period, I was happy with how we played. We’re getting better.”

With the win, the Vees improve to 39-5-0-1 on the season, Wenatchee slips to 24-15-2-3. The Wild play three on the road next week: Wednesday, January 27^th at Coquitlam, Friday, January 29^th at Surrey and Saturday, January 30^th, at Langley.

Battle For The Border