News release
21 January 2005
Elmira, NY The Kalamazoo Wings equaled an Elmira Jackals UHL record by winning their 12th consecutive game Friday night 4-1 at the First Arena.
Kalamazoo took the lead with a goal at 11:33 of the first period when Mark Vilneff batted home a rebound from Andrew Luciuk for a 1-0 score after twenty minutes. The K-Wings dominated the opening frame, out-shooting the Jackals 16-3 in the first period.
In the second period Elmira tied up the score early on as Dean Jackson buried his third goal of the season at 2:22, assisted by George Pujacs and Jamie Thompson. But then Kalamazoo went to work scoring three unanswered goals. First Tim Turner scored at 5:19 just as a Simon Poirier minor penalty had expired. Then Kevin Kotyluk scored a power play goal at 14:41 for a 3-1 lead. 26 seconds later the score was 4-1 as Sean Starke swooped in on Greg Hewitt and shocked the Jackals with a quick strike at 15:07.
Elmira battled back in the third period, out-shooting the K-Wings 17-7 in the final frame, but could not crack the armor of goalie Joel Martin a second time. Rookie Kevin Kurk replaced Hewitt and shutdown Kalamazoo in the final period.
Martin made 29 saves on 30 Jackals shots for his 6th win of the season, while Hewitt took the loss, stopping 27-of-31; Kurk blocked all 7 shots he faced in the third period.
The Jackals will next play host to their East Division rivals the Danbury Trashers Saturday night at 7:30 pm at the First Arena, while Kalamazoo continues their east-swinging road trip Saturday against Richmond in Virginia.