Kalamazoo sweeps the weekend

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Kalamazoo Wings (25-20-2-2) showed plenty of love to their fans this Valentine’s Day weekend by winning three games in three days and four straight overall. The win streak is Kalamazoo’s longest of the season. The K-Wings started strong against the Greenville Road Warriors (30-19-1-1) on Saturday night, blasting goalie Nicola Riopel with eight goals on 37 shots. The Road Warriors scored six goals of their own, including two in the final minute of play. Forward Trent Daavettila led the way for the K-Wings with his first professional hat trick. He also added an assist on teammate Darryl Lloyd’s goal. Lloyd and Kory Karlander fell just short of their own hat tricks, scoring two goals a piece. “I’ve had two goals before but it wasn’t something I was just dwelling on,” Daavettila said. “When I got it I was pumped though. It was a great feeling. I had never got one before. It’s always nice to get one of those, see the hats come on the ice. It’s a good feeling.” Goaltender Ryan Nie has played in 18 of the Kalamazoo’s last 19 games and currently ranks second in the league in minutes and first in saves. Nie allowed two quick goals in the final minute with the game in hand, to turn a blowout into a deceptively close 8-5 squeaker. “What happened in the third was very frustrating, borderline embarrassing for us,” Daavetilla said. “Everyone wants to get one in those high scoring games and they just have to realize for [Nie] that he’s playing five games in six nights and you’ve got to help him out, because we’re going to need him tomorrow at his best.” Head Coach Nick Bootland was equally frustrated with his team’s finish. “I don’t know if it’s defense in general, I just think it’s the complacency and that’s what I was disappointed with,” Bootland said. “When I’m bringing it up that we can’t get complacent, I know what I’m talking about.” On Sunday afternoon, the K-Wings headed to the Huntington Center, home of the Toldeo Walleye (22-21-3-1). The offensive outburst carried over from the previous night in the 6-3 victory. “You could sense that there was a little bit of an explosion coming. We haven’t had that many goals so you could sense that sooner or later we were going to break out for a handful,” Daavettila said. Forward Aaron Clarke opened the scoring in the first period, his first goal since January 30. The Walleye stormed back in the second period, taking a 3-2 lead into the final frame. Kalamazoo put the game away in the third period with four unanswered goals, including an empty net tally with five seconds to play. Andrew Fournier scored two while Justin Taylor and Daavettila added a goal and an assist each.The K-Wings returned to Wings Stadium on Monday night, Valentine’s Day, for their eleventh annual Pink Ice Game against top division-rival Wheeling Nailers (29-19-0-2). Unbeaten in their last seven pink ice games, the K-Wings extended that streak to eight with a 3-2 victory. Most of the game’s action was focused in second period with both teams scoring two goals a piece. In the third period, the K-Wings made the most of a 5-on-3 power play advantage when forward Sam Ftorek scored his eighth goal of the season with a slap shot from the point. Kalamazoo’s formidable power play attack moved into first place in the league. Their 23.9 percent conversion rate through 49 games just barely edges out the Idaho Steelheads’ 23.7 percent. Joe Charlebois, Patrick Asselin, Karlander, Lloyd, and Ftorek all enter this weekend on a four-game point streak. Contact the writer at Ryan.Loren@ProHockeyNews.com Contact the Photographer at Larry.Burdick@@ProHockeyNews.com