Wild Rebound For Win Over Clippers

Wenatchee, WA. – The Wenatchee Wild broke open a scoreless tie with 3 goals in the second period and 4 more in the third, skating to a 7-2 win over the Nanaimo Clippers in front of 3,318 fans at the Town Toyota Center.

After a scoreless first period, the Wild took the lead on a Kyle Stephan (Barrie, ON) power play goal, assisted by Mike Coyne (Buffalo, NY) and Dakota Raabe (Dana Point, CA) at 6:04, giving Wenatchee a 1-0 lead. However, the advantage didn’t last long, as Sheldon Rempal scored for the Clippers from Matt Hoover 5 seconds later at 6:09, tying the game 1-1. Seven minutes later, the Wild regained the lead, as Brendan Harris (Las Vegas, NV) scored from Colin Burston (Winnipeg, MB) and Charlie Combs (St. Louis, MO) at 13:07, giving Wenatchee a 2-1 lead. The advantage grew in the final minute of the middle period, as Combs scored from Harris and Burston at 19:20, giving the Wild a 3-1 lead through two.

In the third, Raabe scored an unassisted shorthanded for Wenatchee, putting the Wild up 4-1 at 1:04. Three minutes later, Rempal scored again for Nanaimo, assisted by Taylor Karel at 4:08, narrowing the margin to 4-2. Wenatchee would take over from there though. Matt Baker (Midhurst, ON) scored from Harris and Burston at 14:02, with the power play goal giving the Wild a 5-2 lead. Then, in the final minute, Wenatchee would strike twice. Combs scored from Burston at 19:05 and Baker scored from Joe Drabin (Rochester, NY) at 19:29, propelling the Wild to the 7-2 win.

Wenatchee outshot the Clippers 41-21 on the night. Garrett Nieto (Yorba Linda, CA) made 19 saves for the Wild, while Evan Johnson made 34 saves for Nanaimo. Wenatchee went 2-for-5 on the power play and 2-of-2 on the penalty kill. “It’s a good rebound for us after Wednesday’s effort.” said Wenatchee Wild Head Coach/General Manager Bliss Littler. “Felt good about it all the way around. We had a couple of power play goals, did a good job on the penalty kill. Good goaltending and up front all four lines contributed and I felt our D make significant improvement from Wednesday night.

With the win, the Wild improves to 24-12-2-3 on the season; the Clippers are now 27-15-1-0. Wenatchee remains home to host the Merritt Centennials on Saturday, January 16^th, 7:05pm at the Town Toyota Center.

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