Recap: Wranglers fall 5-1 to the Reign in their Indigenous celebration game
1 month ago
The Calgary Wranglers hosted a themed night at the Saddledome on Sunday for their Indigenous Celebration game. This included custom jerseys that are set to be auctioned off with a portion of the proceeds being donated to local indigenous youth programs. Despite their sharp look for this game, the Wranglers could not put together many goals and ended up falling to Ontario 5-1.
Game at a glance
Riley Damiani, who was acquired from the Texas Stars for Emilio Pettersen on Friday, skated in his first game with the team and cracked the opening lineup. He played alongside Brett Sutter and Mitch McLain’s line in this match-up. Between the pipes, Dustin Wolf got the start and on the other end, Erik Portillo was in net for the Reign.
This game had a good start with both sides going back and forth in each other’s zones. What really changed the momentum was a play at 7:54 involving Clark Bishop. Bishop put up a hit on Akil Thomas that caused injury to his opponent. This resulted in a five-minute major against Bishop for kneeing and a game misconduct. William Stromgren served Bishop’s time in the box.
Also on the same play, Jeremie Poirier was called for hooking. So in a matter of seconds, the Wranglers had put themselves down two skaters. Their penalty kill was unsuccessful in this scenario and Samuel Fagemo put the Reign up 1-0 at 8:04. Fagemo scored off a bar down shot just 10 seconds into the 5-on-3.
The Wranglers really struggled to get out of their zone for the minutes following this goal and Fagemo registered another lamp lighter at 14:33. It was another quick play off the faceoff where he picked a loose puck in front and shot it past Wolf.
After this tally, the Wranglers got a few shows off in the opposing zone but didn’t make a dent in the score. At the end of 20 minutes, Calgary was down 2-0 and trailing 9-6 in shots. In the second, the Reign continued to roll with an early goal just 1:15 into the frame. Nikita Pavlychev was the goal scorer off a deflection in front.
The Wranglers readjusted and tried to get some offence going but had no luck in doing so. They spent a bit of time on the penalty kill then goal number four for their opponents came at 15:15 from Taylor Ward. Ward was serving an interference penalty and got sprung on a breakaway out of the box he beat Wolf on.
That goal added salt to the wounds and despite the Wranglers outshooting the Reign 17-13 in the second, they were down 4-0 after 40 minutes. In the third, the Wranglers converted on the power play and scored their lone goal of the night from William Stromgren. Stromgren was looking for Mitch McLain on the doorstep and his pass was deflected off an opposing player’s skate and in at 5:34. Jonathan Aspirot and Jeremie Poirier picked up the assists.
There was a bit of physical action later in the third as well when Hayden Hodgson and Mitch McLain fought at center ice at 8:32. It didn’t appear to be because of a specific play and McLain was trying to generate some energy to help carry this team through the last 10 minutes or so.
Play continued as these two served their offsetting fighting majors then as this game got down to the final five minutes Calgary made a move. At 16:22, the Wranglers opted to pull Dustin Wolf for the extra attacker and it did help them get some late looks in this game. They rattled off seven shots on Portillo before Samuel Fagemo took a shot at the empty net and earned a hat trick on the night at 18:44.
Dustin Wolf returned to the net and played out the rest of the game in his crease. The Wranglers fell by a final score of 5-1 and shots finished 39-31 for Calgary. Both teams went one for three on the power play.
Highlights
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Next up
The Wranglers and Reign are right back at it again on Monday night for a rematch. There is a good chance Oscar Dansk gets the start in their next game as Dustin Wolf has been in a bit of a slump lately. He has lost his last four starts and Dansk has won his last two. With five goals against on a back-to-back, it would not be surprising to switch things up between the pipes. Monday’s game will get started at 7:00 p.m. MT.
Let’s get rowdy! GAME DAY hosted by Flamesnation & Barn Burner at Greta Bar YYC is coming at you live on Saturday March 23rd! Join the crew at our favorite Game Day Watch Party spot, Greta, to watch Calgary take on Vancouver! Doors open at 7pm. Tickets are $10! Good food, good prizes and a guaranteed good time. This event is brought to you by McLeod Law LLP and Village Honda. Get your tickets at nationgear.ca before they sell out!
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