FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 28, 2025

K-WINGS TOP HEARTLANDERS IN SHOOTOUT 

Kalamazoo overcomes two-goal deficit in third to bring point streak to five games in front of 4,843.

BOX SCORE

KALAMAZOO, MI – The Kalamazoo Wings (22-26-2-1), proud ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Vancouver Canucks, called comeback and beat the Iowa Heartlanders (30-16-4-4) in the shootout Friday at Wings Event Center, 5-4.

Drake Pilon and Zach Okabe scored in the shootout for Kalamazoo, and Jonathan Lemieux (10-15-2-0) stopped both attempts by Iowa for the win.

Iowa scored first at the 5:15 mark of the opening period. Kalamazoo wouldn’t trail long, though.

Okabe (14) tied the game 33 seconds later, as he and Davis Codd (3) combined to force a turnover in the offensive zone, where Okabe gathered the puck in the slot and backhanded it home.

The Heartlanders regained the lead on the power play at 4:06 of the second.

Quinn Preston (9) scored on the power play for the K-Wings at the 16:39 mark. Zach Berzolla (10) rifled a shot from the left point, which Preston redirected on its way over the blocker of the Iowa netminder and into the back of the net.

Iowa opened the third with a pair of goals at the 31-second and 1:39 marks to take a 4-2 lead.

Ryan Cox (7) scored to bring Kalamazoo back within one at the 2:39 mark. Jon Martin (9) set up Berzolla (11) screaming down the right side for the initial shot, which rebounded off the upper body of Cox and into the net.

Then, Blake Christensen (7) notched the tying goal with 5:35 remaining. Lee Lapid (6) gave the puck to Berzolla (12) behind the K-Wings net, and he snapped a long stretch pass to Christensen at the Iowa blue line after coming off the bench at the end of a Kalamazoo penalty. Christensen marched behind the Heartlanders’ defense to tuck a wrist shot inside the right post.

Lemieux stopped all four shots by Iowa in overtime to set up the shootout winner, finishing with 19 saves in the victory. Kalamazoo posted a season-high 42 shots and won the shot total, 42-23.

Kalamazoo hits the road for a matchup with the Fort Wayne Komets (31-17-4-0) at 7:35 p.m. Saturday at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.

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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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