Silaban, Torre Debut in Scoring Column for Wild as Wenatchee Falls at Portland, 6-3
PORTLAND, Ore. – With six forwards out of the lineup for this weekend’s Wenatchee Wild road trip to Portland, Friday’s lineup was full of new faces and a “next man in” mentality. By the end of Friday’s game, the team had shifted quite a few thoughts from “next man in” to “who’s next to score.”
Mathias Silaban and Zane Torre both buried their first Western Hockey League goals, but the Winterhawks surged to build a three-goal lead in the second period and then rebuild it in the third on the way to a 6-3 win at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The Portland victory snapped a four-game losing skid, helping the Winterhawks climb back to 10-10-0-0 on the year, while Wenatchee moved to 5-10-1-1.
Wenatchee made history upon the opening puck drop, as head coach Don Nachbaur broke a WHL record by coaching in his 1,412th game in the league, breaking a 32-year-old record set by legendary Winterhawks coach Ken Hodge. Shaun Rios put the momentum on Wenatchee’s side early as well, ripping a shot off the crossbar and into the net off the rush just 47 seconds out of the gate.
Portland knocked out the Wild lead and got one of its own on a pair of redirects from Sam Spehar, deflecting in a shot from Max Psenicka with 3:33 left in the first period before tipping in another from Ryan Miller 3:50 into the second. 37 seconds after Spehar’s second goal, Aaron Zulinick notched his first WHL goal off a backdoor one-timer from Nathan Brown.
The fourth Winterhawks goal, the first of their two power play goals, was an oddity – with Wenatchee beginning a penalty kill, the Wild won the faceoff and attempted to clear the puck behind their net. However, the clearing attempt ran away toward the goal, evading Cal Conway and giving Portland a 4-1 advantage.
The Wild answered back late in the period with two debut goals – Silaban’s came on a weak-side rebound after an initial shot in transition from Brandon Osborne with 7:16 to play in the period. Torre cleaned up a rebound for his first WHL marker, putting away a second chance off a Luka Shcherbyna shot with 2:06 on the clock and trimming the lead to 4-3.
77 seconds out of the intermission, though, Spehar sneaked a pass to Jordan Duguay just off the post, and Duguay batted in the one-timer to build the lead back to 5-3. At 9:30 of the period, a pass just above the goal line found Jake Gustafson on the back post for a tap-in and the final three-goal Portland advantage.
Spehar picked up two goals and an assist, while Nathan Brown snagged a pair of assists for the Winterhawks, and Blake Clark posted 26 saves for his second win of the season. Silaban had the only multi-point finish for the Wild, with an assist on top of his goal, while Conway made 27 saves in the loss. Portland finished 2-for-5 on the power play, and held Wenatchee scoreless on its four opportunities.
The Wild return to Portland on Sunday afternoon, but not before squaring off with the Prince Albert Raiders at Town Toyota Center on Saturday for the club’s Healthcare Workers’ Night presented by Columbia Valley Community Health. Saturday’s game in Wenatchee is slated for 6 p.m.
Tickets for next Saturday’s game and all regular-season Wild home games are on sale now by phone 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, X, Instagram and YouTube.
Wenatchee 1 2 0 – 3
Portland 1 3 2 – 6
1st Period-1, Wenatchee, Rios 3 (McCagherty, Toll), 0:47. 2, Portland, Spehar 4 (Pšenička, Brown), 16:27. Penalties-Caffey Wen (tripping), 2:34; Pšenička Por (tripping), 8:34; Osborne Wen (tripping), 14:15; Osborne Wen (interference), 19:54.
2nd Period-3, Portland, Spehar 5 (Miller), 3:50. 4, Portland, Zulinick 1 (Brown), 4:27. 5, Portland, Weiermair 10 6:39 (PP). 6, Wenatchee, Silaban 1 (Osborne), 12:44. 7, Wenatchee, Torre 1 (Silaban, Shcherbyna), 17:54. Penalties-Joudrey Wen (interference), 6:37; Gustafson Por (high sticking), 7:42; Tait Wen (roughing), 13:05; Gustafson Por (roughing), 13:05; Duguay Por (tripping), 18:29.
3rd Period-8, Portland, Duguay 7 (Spehar), 1:17. 9, Portland, Gustafson 4 (Brown, McDonough), 9:30 (PP). Penalties-Torre Wen (boarding), 7:35; Brown Por (roughing), 14:18.
Shots on Goal-Wenatchee 8-8-13-29. Portland 9-8-16-33.
Power Play Opportunities-Wenatchee 0 / 4; Portland 2 / 5.
Goalies-Wenatchee, Conway 1-4-1-0 (33 shots-27 saves). Portland, Clark 2-1-0-0 (29 shots-26 saves).
A-3,657
Referees-Colby Georgsen (60), Brandon Koop (23).
Linesmen-Jason Nissen (51), Toby Wolfe (178).
