Wild close weekend with 2-1 overtime loss to Kamloops Sunday

WENATCHEE – Going into Sunday’s Western Hockey League contest at Town Toyota Center, the Wenatchee Wild had closed both weekends of competition so far with a win to carry them into the following week. The Wild nearly repeated that feat again on Sunday, and still carried a point out of their final game of this past weekend against the Kamloops Blazers.

Miles Cooper scored with 11.3 seconds to play in the second period, and six seconds remaining on a Wenatchee power play, helping the Wild force overtime in a 2-1 defeat against the Blazers. Kamloops improved to 2-3-0-0 on the season, while the Wild have earned standings points in four of six outings so far, heading into the new week with a 2-2-2-0 mark.

Both goals in regulation came late in a period, starting with the Blazers’ goal from Nathan Behm with 3:06 left in the first. Behm put his team in front after taking a pass from Jordan Keller in the right-wing faceoff circle, tossing the puck into the net for a 1-0 advantage. That advantage remained until Cooper’s goal in the waning seconds of the second period, a one-timer from the right faceoff dot to the back post off a pass from  Reid Andresen.

The teams battled for the go-ahead marker through the third, but Kamloops’s Layton Feist scored the overtime winner with a low shot from the left wing at the 1:53 mark, finishing a 2-on-1 break into the Wild zone.

Wenatchee controlled the pace for much of the night, posting the game’s first seven shots on goal and 11 of the first 14. The Wild also finished with the advantage on special teams, going 1-for-4 on the power play and turning away all three Kamloops chances to extend their league-best penalty-killing mark to 94.7 percent.

Dylan Ernst earned his first win of the season for Kamloops, making 38 stops on 39 Wenatchee chances. Daniel Hauser was 26-for-28 in net, earning the Wild a standings point in the final game of their weekend.

The Wild play their next two games on Vancouver Island as the Victoria Royals host a Friday-Saturday set. Friday’s opening puck drop at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. The Wild return to home ice Friday, October 18 against the Kelowna Rockets for Wild About Awareness Night presented by Numerica – tickets for that game and all regular-season home games are on sale now by phone at 509-888-7825, or by visiting the team office at Town Toyota Center. Updated news and information on Wild hockey are always available through the team’s website and on the team’s social media platforms on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.