Wenatchee tops Bears
By Staff Report | Peninsula Clarion
The league-leading Wenat-chee (Wash.) Wild defeated the Kenai River Brown Bears 3-2 on Tuesday night at the Soldotna Sports Center in front of 324 fans.
Wenatchee won its sixth-straight game to improve to 22-4-0. Those 44 points are tops in the North American Hockey League by 10 points over West Division-rival Alaska Avalanche of Wasilla. The Wild are now 5-1 against the Brown Bears this season.
Kenai River lost its fourth straight to fall to 5-17-1 and remain in last place in the West.
After a scoreless first period, Brad Fusaro gave the Brown Bears a 1-0 lead 6 minutes, 19 seconds, into the second period when he scored on an assist by Ryan Townsend.
The Wild then battled back by scoring the next three goals of the game. The goals came from Andrew Christ, Jeff Jubinville and Mitch Torrel. Jubinville now has 24 points and is sixth in the league in scoring with 11 goals and 13 assists.
The Brown Bears fought back late when Trace Strahle scored a power-play goal on assists from Braden Kinnebrew and Jesse Ramsey with 35 seconds to play.
Brandon Jaeger made 20 saves for the Wild, while Mike Martin had 33 saves for the Brown Bears.
The same two teams play tonight at 7:05 p.m. at the Soldotna Sports Center.
Wild 3, Brown Bears 2
Wenatchee 0 1 2 –3
Kenai River 0 1 1 –2
First period — none. Penalties — Wenatchee 2 for 4:00; Kenai River 3 for 6:00.
Second period — 1. Kenai River, Fusaro (Townsen), 6:19; 2. Wenatchee, Christ (Rumble, Pauly), 10:49. Penalties — Wenatchee 2 for 4:00; Kenai River 1 for 2:00.
Third period — 1. Wenatchee, Jubinville (Di Puma, Rumble), pp, 5:27; 2. Wenatchee, Torrel (Deswardt), 14:20; 3. Kenai River, Strahle (Kinnebrew, Ramsey), pp, 19:25. Penalties — Wenatchee 3 for 6:00; Kenai River 1 for 2:00.
Shots on goal — Wenatchee 14-9-13–36; Kenai River 10-5-7–22.
Goalies — Wenatchee, Jaeger (22 shots, 20 saves); Kenai River, Martin (36 shots, 33 saves).
