Prince Albert Erases Two-Goal Wild Lead, But Wenatchee Wins 4-3 in Shootout Sunday
Photo Courtesy: Russ Alman/Wenatchee Wild
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WENATCHEE, Wash. – One team was finishing off a seven-game road trip, including a six-game tour through the U.S. Division, before making the 17-hour drive back to Saskatchewan. The other team played its fourth game in a five-day stretch, and had another one scheduled for 48 hours later in the back of its mind.
You could have understood if the teams were a little sluggish on Sunday afternoon for their Western Hockey League tilt at Town Toyota Center. The Prince Albert Raiders and Wenatchee Wild didn’t show it, though, putting on an entertaining show for almost 2,400 fans on Sunday afternoon, and throwing in a little free hockey at the end as the Wild earned a 4-3 shootout victory. Conor Geekie’s third-round shootout goal propelled the Wild to their ninth win in 10 tries on their home rink this season.
The Wenatchee defensemen gave their forwards a breather from handling the scoring load in the first period, with Jonas Woo punching in a one-timer from Miles Cooper to give the Wild a 1-0 lead just under seven minutes in. Krzysztof Macias tied up the game at 13:04 of the first period with a shot from the left-wing faceoff dot, but Chase Bambrick sent a shot untouched down the slot 43 seconds later to get the lead back and earn his first WHL goal. Wenatchee went to the locker room up 2-1, scoring on two of their first three shots in the game.
Cooper collected a goal of his own at 12:28 of the second period, sending a shot past Max Hildebrand after a shot from Ty Fraser took a long bounce off of the end boards. After surrendering eight of the game’s first nine shots and seeing Prince Albert win 10 of the game’s first 14 faceoffs, Wenatchee evened up the shot count at the end of the second period and carried the two-goal lead to the third.
Raiders captain Eric Johnston would shoot his team back into the game, scoring from the top of the slot six minutes into the third period and sending a half-shot past Brendan Gee from the left point to tie it with 8:04 to go. The teams combined for three shots on goal in overtime, but Geekie would post the only goal in a three-round shootout.
“Our third game in three nights and fourth in a week, at that point, you’re just looking for two points. You don’t care what it looks like,” said associate head coach Chris Clark. “They’re a very tired hockey team – they’re on the tail end of a very long road trip, and we’re on the tail end of a long week. I thought it was an entertaining hockey game, and I’m happy we came out on top. That’s a gutsy effort by two teams, and it could have gone either way.”
Gee earned the win for the second straight night, stopping 30 of 33 Prince Albert shots for his fourth victory of the season. Cooper picked up a goal and an assist to lead the hosts in the victory, while Geekie earned an assist in addition to his shootout winner. Hildebrand took the loss with 25 saves, as both teams finished perfect on four penalty kills. Wenatchee bumped its record to 14-8-2-0 with the victory, while Prince Albert slipped to 13-10-0-2 with the loss, ending their seven-game road trip with four wins and Sunday’s shootout loss.
Wenatchee continues a three-game homestand Tuesday against the Saskatoon Blades, presented by Worx. Tuesday’s opening puck drop at Town Toyota Center is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tickets for that game and all home regular-season contests are on sale now at 509-888-7825, online here or by visiting the team office at Town Toyota Center. Updated news and information on Wild hockey are always available through the team’s website and on the team’s social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
Prince Albert 1 0 2 0 – 3
Wenatchee 2 1 0 0 – 4
1st Period-1, Wenatchee, Woo 2 (Cooper, Wood), 6:57. 2, Prince Albert, Macias 11 (Crocker), 13:04. 3, Wenatchee, Bambrick 1 (Savoie, Geekie), 13:47. Penalties-Moore Wen (hooking), 2:23; Pakkala Pa (slashing), 16:26.
2nd Period-4, Wenatchee, Cooper 7 (Fraser, Friesen), 12:28. Penalties-Kubiesa Pa (tripping), 2:58; Young Wen (interference), 5:57; Dube Pa (tripping), 10:09.
3rd Period-5, Prince Albert, Johnston 1 (Stanick), 5:59. 6, Prince Albert, Johnston 2 (Dube, Lodewyk), 11:56. Penalties-Geekie Wen (interference), 12:51; Isogai Wen (inter. on goaltender), 15:38.
OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Stanick Pa (tripping), 1:29.
Shootout – Prince Albert 0 (Oiring NG, Ritchie NG, Stanick NG), Wenatchee 1 (Savoie NG, Isogai NG, Geekie G).
Shots on Goal-Prince Albert 13-6-13-1-0-33. Wenatchee 8-12-6-2-1-29.
Power Play Opportunities-Prince Albert 0 / 4; Wenatchee 0 / 4.
Goalies-Prince Albert, Hildebrand 8-4-0-1 (28 shots-25 saves). Wenatchee, Gee 4-2-0-0 (33 shots-30 saves).
A-2,399
Referees-Jeff Ingram (82), Corey Koop (53).
Linesmen-Nick Bilko (66), Brett Mackey (75).
