K-WINGS CAN’T OVERCOME SECOND, FUEL LEAVE ON TOP

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 29, 2023

K-WINGS CAN’T OVERCOME SECOND, FUEL LEAVE ON TOP

Kalamazoo fights back after Indy takes early lead, but Fuel scores three in second and cruises.

BOX SCORE

KALAMAZOO, MI – The Kalamazoo Wings (17-20-3-0), proud ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Columbus Blue Jackets, battled hard for 60 minutes against the Indy Fuel (28-12-2-0), but could not overcome Indy’s three-goal second and lost at Wings Event Center Sunday, 6-2.

Indy opened the scoring at the 7:27 mark of the first period and carried the 1-0 lead into the intermission despite Kalamazoo leading in the shot department, 10-8.

The Fuel pushed the lead to 4-0 by the halfway mark of the game with goals at the 3:13, 7:48 and 9:15 marks of the second. The first goal of the frame for Indy came on the power play, and the last led to Hunter Vorva (8-5-1-0) being pulled from the game, making 10 saves on 14 shots.

Then, Carson Focht (6) got the K-Wings on the board with a goal at the 14:22 mark. Focht came streaming down the slot after Ryan Cook (7) took the initial shot, and Leif Mattson (7) redirected the rebound to Carson’s stick for the goal from the right side of the crease.

Indy pushed the lead back to four with a goal at the 0:27 mark of the third, but Kalamazoo would not go quietly, outshooting the Fuel 15-9 in the final frame and adding another score to cut the lead to three again.

Coale Norris (5) picked the top-right corner from just outside the left faceoff dot at the 3:48 mark. Collin Saccoman (6) left the puck for Mason McCarty (9) behind the net, and McCarty found Norris skating right to left across the slot to finish off the goal.

Evan Cormier was solid in relief of Vorva in goal, stopping 15 of 16 shots faced, and Indy scored again shorthanded on an empty net at the 16:29 mark to finish the scoring on the afternoon.

The K-Wings are back in action on Friday at Fort Wayne, with puck drop at 8:00 p.m. EST at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.

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The K-Wings are continuing the ‘Hockey is for Everyone’ campaign on Feb. 4 vs Fort Wayne. Join us at 7:00 p.m. in support ‘Hockey is for Her’ and the K-Wings' commitment to help women of all ages get involved with hockey. Buy your tickets HERE, and get to Wings Event Center early, as the first 1,000 fans will receive a specialty K-Wings puck.

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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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