Recap: Calgary Wranglers rebound in 2-1 win over Silver Knights
7 months ago
Both the Calgary Wranglers and the Henderson Silver Knights came off Pacific Division losses before they faced off on Friday night. Both were looking for a win to turn things around. Their first game against each other of the 2023-24 season was a close one but it would be the Wranglers who would come away with a 2-1 win after they controlled the vast majority of the game.
Lineup notes
The Wranglers will be without Ilya Solovyov for the foreseeable future as he was called up to the Calgary Flames on Friday. Nick DeSimone was back with the team and skated in his first game with the Wranglers since October 29th. Also returning to the lineup was Colton Poolman, who was out for their last series against Abbotsford with a day-to-day lower-body injury.
Game at a glance
Dustin Wolf was right back in this game for a redemption game after being pulled after four goals against Abbotsford just under a week ago. On the other end, Jordan Papirny was in the net for Henderson. Both kept the game tight and contributed to a good night of hockey.
The Wranglers drew first blood in the opening half of the first period. Matt Coronato got some opportunities going into the Silver Knights’ zone and passed the puck to Jonathan Aspirot to take a shot on Papirny from the point. Clark Bishop was parked in front of the net and deflected the puck in for the first goal of the night.
This goal was briefly reviewed for a high stick but did not warrant a reversed call or much further discussion. Calgary kept good momentum through the rest of the first and finished the opening frame up 1-0. Shots after one complete period were 11-9.
In the second, the Wranglers got on an early penalty kill and held the Silver Knights scoreless in their man advantage. At 7:54, both sides got fired up and Sam Jardine took on Mason Morelli in a fight. Ben Jones was pushed into Dustin Wolf in the net and Sam Jardine made Henderson pay.
Tyler Benson was actually the player that pushed Jones into the net and Brady Lyle originally got involved in addressing that with him directly. Lyle drew a penalty call on Benson over this smaller scrum and the Wranglers went on the power play. They weren’t able to capitalize on this, and then minutes later, they were battling off another call of their own.
16:33 into the second period, Brady Lyle got another one on the board for Calgary. Lyle and Rory Kerins reacted to a puck that bounced off the end boards and finished the play in the back of the net to put them up 2-0.
Up 2-0 after 40 minutes, the Wranglers also had a slight edge in shots in the middle frame with 13 registered to the Silver Knights’ 12. Henderson had a big chance to start working their way back in this game with a 5-on-3 to finish the period that carried over into the third.
Calgary was able to kill the two penalties they started the third with but the next one was not the same story. 3:30 into the third, Lucas Ciona was called for holding, and then Henderson got their first and only goal past Wolf 58 seconds later.
The Wranglers didn’t budge much more other than this and played out the rest of the third period protecting their lead. Shots finished 33-32 in this game and Calgary won game one of this weekend’s series and game one of their season series 2-1.
Dustin Wolf was awarded the first star of the night and Clark Bishop was awarded the second star.
Scoring stat summary
Cole Schwindt – 1A
Clark Bishop – 1G
Rory Kerins – 1A
Brady Lyle – 1G
Rory Kerins – 1A
Matt Corontao – 1A
Jonathan Aspirot – 1A
Next up
Calgary will have a day between their second match-up with Henderson this weekend. They’ll be back in action on Sunday for an evening game at 6:00 p.m. MT to wrap up this series.
The Barn Burner Nation Vacation to Arizona presented by Alberta Blue Cross is HAPPENING from Jan 11-13th, 2024! Join the action for just $1,299/person! Your ticket includes round trip flights from Calgary x Arizona, hotels, transport and hockey game tickets! Get your tickets to the ultimate sports vacation before they sell out!
Recent articles from Paige Siewert
