K-WINGS HOME FROM HEARTLAND BATTLE, PREPARE FOR CYCLONES AND KOMETS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 19, 2022

K-WINGS HOME FROM HEARTLAND BATTLE, PREPARE FOR CYCLONES AND KOMETS

 Kalamazoo welcomes Cincinnati this week, opens season series at Fort Wayne on Friday.

OVERALL RECORD:  11-10-2-0

LAST WEEK:  1-1-1-0

KALAMAZOO, MI - The Kalamazoo Wings, proud ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Columbus Blue Jackets, play two games this week with one at Wings Event Center. First, The K-Wings welcome the Cincinnati Cyclones on Wednesday. Then, Kalamazoo makes its first trip to Fort Wayne this season to take on the Komets on Friday.

Last week, the K-Wings went 1-1-1-0 (1-5, 4-1, 1-2/OT).

Kalamazoo started the three-game trip to Iowa with an education day game against the Heartlanders, and lost 5-1. Iowa added one in the first and two in the second, before Mason McCarty got the K-Wings on the board before the third. However, the Heartlanders scored two more goals to seal the win.

On Friday, the K-Wings bounced back with a complete performance in a 4-1 victory. Marc Gatcomb netted his first professional goal to get the scoring started, and Raymond Brice scored the game-winner in the second period. Iowa finally scored with under 10 minutes to play, but Kalamazoo scored two power play goals in the final five minutes to slam the door shut. 

The K-Wings and Heartlanders went blow-for-blow in a defensive affair that ultimately went to overtime tied at 1 in the rubber match on Sunday. Iowa got on the board first at the 5:10 mark of the second period, but Collin Saccoman scored his first goal of the season at the 17:10 mark to tie it up. Hunter Vorva was outstanding in goal again, stopping 28 of 30 shots by the Heartlanders, but Iowa was able to find the back of the net in OT. 

UPCOMING EVENTS IN DETAIL

This week, the K-Wings will play two games with one at Wings Event Center this week.

The home game for Kalamazoo is 2-6-9 Night versus the Cyclones on Wednesday, December 21 at 7:00 p.m. EST at Wings Event Center. Enjoy $2 beers, $6 wing baskets and $9 tickets, and show everyone that’s coming in for the holidays the best family entertainment Kalamazoo has to offer.

The NYE Ticket Package is also on sale now for the K-Wings annual New Year’s Eve game on December 31 at Wings Event Center. Get 4 tickets, a NYE Mystery Stocking and $20 in concession vouchers for one low price. Plus, don’t worry about missing the football games as they’ll be on display all throughout the arena! Tap HERE for more information!

RESULTS

Wednesday, Dec. 14 – Kalamazoo 1, Iowa 5 (Xtream Arena - Coralville, IA) | Box Score

>>  The Kalamazoo Wings (10-10-1-0) outshot the Iowa Heartlanders (5-9-6-1) in the final two periods but lost Wednesday morning, 5-1. The first was hard fought, but the Heartlanders scored late in the frame to take a 1-0 lead. Iowa extended it to 3-0 with two more goals in the second, including one on a power play. Then, Mason McCarty (11) scored seconds after a K-Wings power play expired at the 17:36 mark to make it 3-1 and breathe new life into the game. McCarty scored the puck right after the initial Marc Gatcomb (3) shot. Iowa notched another power play goal midway through the third period and added a late empty-net goal to finish off the scoring in the contest. Evan Cormier (5-8-1-0) made 14 saves on 17 shots faced before being relieved by Hunter Vorva in the second period. Vorva stopped 10 of the 11 Heartlanders shots faced in the contest.

Friday, Dec. 16 – Kalamazoo 4, Iowa 1 (Xtream Arena - Coralville, IA) | Box Score

>>   The Kalamazoo Wings (11-10-1-0) commanded the game for three periods against the Iowa Heartlanders (5-10-6-1) on Friday night and earned a 4-1 victory at Xtream Arena. The K-Wings never trailed in this one and carried a shutout until the 11:31 mark of the third period, before exploding with two power play goals in the final five minutes to cap off the road victory. Hunter Vorva (3-1-0-0) was spectacular in net as well, finishing the game with 30 saves on 31 shot attempts to win his third consecutive start. Spectacular offensive zone play by Kalamazoo set up the game’s first tally, as Marc Gatcomb (1) netted his first professional goal at the 10:10 mark of the first. At the 1:16 mark of the second, Raymond Brice (7) ripped the game-winner inside the right post to make it 2-0. Kalamazoo then went to work on the special teams in the third. First, it killed off a penalty (3/3), and then it scored its two power play goals (2/4) to seal the game. On the first PPG at the 15:47 mark, Max Humitz (6) sent home an absolute snipe from the left circle to push the lead back to two. Then, Justin Murray (1) netted his first goal of the season, as Iowa went right back to the box at the 16:22 mark of the third, scoring at the 17:56 mark.

Saturday, Dec. 17 – Kalamazoo 1, Iowa 2 (OT) (Xtream Arena - Coralville, IA) | Box Score

>>   The Kalamazoo Wings (11-10-2-0) battled for over 60 minutes against the Iowa Heartlanders (6-10-6-1) on Saturday but ultimately fell in overtime at Xtream Arena, 2-1. Gritty all the way through, the two teams scored regulation’s only two goals in the middle frame. Iowa got on the board first at the 5:10 mark of the second period, which brought out the teddy bears from the home crowd. But, Kalamazoo responded at the 17:10 mark, as Collin Saccoman (1) scored his first goal of the season, lasering the puck from the right faceoff dot into the back of the net. The two teams battled all the way into the overtime frame tied, but the Heartlanders scored at the 0:27 mark of the frame to come away with the victory. It was another great performance for Hunter Vorva (3-1-1-0) and the K-Wings penalty kill unit. Vorva made 28 saves on 30 shot attempts by the ‘Landers, and helped keep their ECHL Top-10 power play unit scoreless on all three opportunities.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Wednesday, Dec. 21 – Cincinnati at Kalamazoo, 7:00 p.m. EST – Wings Event Center (Kalamazoo, MI)

Friday, Dec. 23 – Kalamazoo at Fort Wayne, 8:00 p.m. EST – Allen County War Memorial Coliseum (Fort Wayne, IN)

ON THE MOVE

Dec. 12 - Goaltender Hunter Vorva was signed to a standard player contract by Kalamazoo

FAST FACTS

·           Forward Brandon Saigeon recorded an assist in all three games this week and now has an assist in six of his last seven games.

·           Goaltender Hunter Vorva allowed just four goals in just over 145 minutes of action this week, lowering his goals-against average to 2.01 for the season. He’s now 3-1-1-0 on the year with a .937 save percentage.

·           Forward Justin Taylor moved into sole possession of second place on the K-Wings all-time points leaderboard (468), passing Mike Wanchuk (467) with an assist in Kalamazoo’s 4-1 win over Iowa on Friday.

TEAM TRENDS

·      7-1-0-0 when scoring first

·      7-0-0-0 when leading after the second period

·       6-2-0-0 on the road when scoring on the power play

STATISTICAL LEADERS

POINTS:              19 – Mason McCarty

GOALS:               11 – Mason McCarty

ASSISTS:            13 – Brandon Saigeon

PLUS/MINUS:    +7 – Ryan Cook

PIMS:                   36 – Justin Murray

PP GOALS:         3 – Matheson Iacopelli, Mason McCarty

PP ASSISTS:        6 –  Justin Murray

SH GOALS:           1 – Raymond Brice

GW GOALS:          3 – Raymond Brice

SHOTS:                64 – Max Humitz

WINS:                  5 – Evan Cormier

GAA:                   2.01 – Hunter Vorva

SAVE %:             .937 – Hunter Vorva

* Currently with Cleveland (AHL)

** Currently with Columbus (NHL)

SPECIAL TEAMS

POWER PLAY:   Last Week – 2/8 (25.0%)

                           This Season – 16/87 (18.4%) – No. 21 in the ECHL                         

PENALTY KILL:   Last Week – 7/9 (77.8%)

                            This Season – 63/80 (78.8%) – No. 17 in the ECHL

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The Kalamazoo Wings are a professional hockey team located in southwest Michigan that has been a staple in the Kalamazoo, MI professional sports landscape since 1974. The K-Wings compete in the ECHL and are the AA affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Columbus Blue Jackets and the American Hockey League’s Cleveland Monsters. Kalamazoo plays their 36 regular season home games at Wings Event Center from October through April.

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