FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

December 6, 2023

KALAMAZOO TEACHES EDUCATION DAY LESSON, SCORES SIX IN TOLEDO

K-Wings score six consecutive in the final two frames, including four from the defensive corps, to pick up morning win against Walleye.

BOX SCORE

TOLEDO, OH – The Kalamazoo Wings (8-11-0-0), proud ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Vancouver Canucks, exploded in the second period with four goals and rattled off six straight by the time the dust settled to defeat the Toledo Walleye (11-4-1-2) 6-2 at Huntington Center Wednesday.

Four Kalamazoo defensemen (Robert Calisti, Collin Saccoman, Kurt Gosselin, and Derek Daschke) found the back of the net in the road win. With five K-Wings recording two or more points (Calisti, Gosselin, Daschke, Ty Glover, Erik Bradford), the victory marks the greatest number of multipoint outings in a single game for Kalamazoo this season.

Toledo opened the scoring at the 10:27 mark of the first and doubled its lead 1:41 later. It was all Kalamazoo after that, though.

Justin Taylor (1) put the K-Wings on the board with a power play goal at the 12:41 mark of the second, deflecting a Calisti (5) shot from the right circle with Gosselin (2) also assisting the Taylor tip-in.

Kalamazoo pulled even at the 15:01 mark with a clap-bomb sent into the top right corner by Calisti (4) just minutes later. Bradford (11) and Glover (8) assisted Calisti’s second point of the game on a delayed rush.

The K-Wings pulled ahead 2:02 later when Saccoman (2) scored the game-winner. The goal came courtesy of Brad Morrison’s patience out front (11) to find Saccoman after Bradford (12) hustled down a puck on the wall to start the first of two straight while skating 4-on-4. 

Gosselin (2) added a goal against his former team 52 ticks after that. Daschke (3) and Josh Passolt (3) used crisp passing to set up the steezy marker that rounded out Kalamazoo’s first four-goal period of the season.

Daschke (1), another former Walleye, scored his first goal as a K-Wing at the 7:05 mark of the third, intercepting a Walleye attempt to clear the zone and depositing it in the back of the net.

Ty Glover (7) put a bow on things with 12:00 remaining in regulation, cleaning up the trash out front. David Keefer (6) and Gosselin (3) assisted Kalamazoo’s season-best sixth goal of the game.

Goaltender Jonathan Lemieux (6-7-0-0) made 29 saves and held Toledo scoreless for the final 47:52 in the win.

Kalamazoo finished the game 1-for-4 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. Toledo took the final shot total, 31-25.

The K-Wings will be back in action Friday at 7:00 p.m. EST versus the Iowa Heartlanders (9-7-2-1) for $3 Friday at Wings Event Center. Tickets to the game can be purchased HERE.

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Saturday, December 9, is Super Slappy Night versus the Iowa Heartlanders at Wings Event Center. Get ready to have some serious fun as we honor Slappy’s love for video games and the holiday season with the first 1,000 fans receiving a limited edition Slappy Ornament. Tap HERE to secure your tickets now. 

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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 Vancouver Canucks and the American Hockey League’s Abbotsford Canucks. Kalamazoo plays their 36 regular season home games at Wings Event Center from October through April.

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