FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 8, 2025

K-WINGS FALL TO GLADIATORS SATURDAY

Kalamazoo can’t overcome Atlanta's late second period surge despite drama to the finish.

BOX SCORE

KALAMAZOO, MI – The Kalamazoo Wings (24-27-3-1), proud ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Vancouver Canucks, dropped a back-and-forth battle to the Atlanta Gladiators (26-25-5-2) Saturday at Wings Event Center, 6-4.

Atlanta opened the scoring at the 3:04 mark of the first as a Kalamazoo penalty expired.

Zach Berzolla (3) evened the score at 1-1 at the 14:50 mark. Kylor Wall (5) sent a lead pass to Josh Bloom (8), who brought the puck into the offensive zone, dropped it for Berzolla, who drove into the slot and fired a wrister to the back of the net.

The Gladiators regained the lead with a goal 1:05 later.

Early in the second, Blake Christensen (9) tied things up again at the 5:35 mark. On the play, Ryan Naumovski (8) sent a feed to Lee Lapid (7), who left the puck for Christensen at the point, where he skated down to the left hash mark and rifled it home.

Max Humitz (13) put Kalamazoo on top at the 11:15 mark. Jon Martin (10) found Phil Beaulieu (4) coming down the right circle, and he sent a sharp pass to Humitz driving towards the left post to chip it in.

Atlanta scored a pair of goals down the stretch of the second, one on the power play at the 16:09 mark and another with 10 seconds left, to regain the lead. Another Gladiators goal 2:28 into the third made it 5-3 and finished the evening for Jonathan Lemieux (11-16-2-0), who made 26 saves in defeat.

Quinn Preston (10) notched a power-play goal at the 12:55 mark to draw to within one. Davis Codd (4) delivered the puck to Zach Okabe (17) coming across the blue line with speed, and he sent a pass to Preston to go skate-to-forehand-to-backhand for the top-shelf finish.

The K-Wings emptied the net on the power play looking to pull even late, but Atlanta scored from long range at the 19:16 mark to seal the win.

Hunter Vorva made eight saves in relief. The K-Wings reached the four-goal mark for the sixth consecutive game and topped 35 shots on goal for the fourth time in the last five games (38).

Kalamazoo visits the Fort Wayne Komets (34-17-5-0) Sunday at 5:00 p.m. EDT at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.

--

Kids Day is next Sunday, and it’s sure to be fun for the whole family as the K-Wings host the Toledo Walleye at Wings Event Center! Join us, as the first 500 kids (ages 12 and under) will receive a K-Wings Legacy Youth Jersey and all kids (12 and under) can participate in a postgame Golden Shot for prizes on the ice!

--

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.

###