Recap: Cole Schwindt and Dustin Wolf lead Calgary Wranglers to 1-0 shootout victory

Bishop got some good licks in before falling to the ice and iced his hand in the penalty box as he waited out his fighting major. There were only a couple more penalty calls through the first period and no further action came from them.

At the end of 20 minutes, Henderson had a 9-6 shot advantage in a scoreless game. In the second period, the shots picked up a bit but still no damage was done by either side. The Wranglers had four opportunities on the power play but two of them were cut short by calls of their own.

This game remained scoreless at the end of 40 minutes and Calgary had the second period shot advantage of 16 to Henderson’s 15. In the third, the Wranglers had a couple of penalties to kill off and late in the period, Mitch McLain was called for a game misconduct for unsportsmanlike conduct.

This still didn’t break the scoreless streak and they forced an overtime to try and find a winner in this game. In the third period, Henderson had a 9-8 lead in shots.

Overtime was perhaps the most exciting extra frame the Wranglers have had all year with about five grade-A chances for either side to put this game away. Wolf turned away two Henderson breakaways and Brady Lyle almost ended the game on a shot off the crossbar. Cole Schwindt and Matt Coronato also got some really good looks in the last half of the extra frame but they would need a shootout to decide this one. Shots were an even 2-2 in overtime. 

Dustin Wolf performed in the shootout the same way he had all game. With absolute perfection. He stopped all three Henderson shooters Sheldon Rempal, Brendan Brisson, and Gage Quinney to finish this game up. On Calgary’s side, Rory Kerins missed on his first shot and Cole Schwindt scored off a quick five-hole move.

Schwindt picked up the first star of the night with this game-winning shootout goal and Dustin Wolf was awarded the second star for his 35-save shutout. The third star went to Henderson netminder, Jesper Vikman for his 32 save night.

Highlights

Next up  

With six games complete in this homestand, Calgary only has one more series before they hit the road. They’ll play next Thursday and Friday against the Ontario Reign. After that series, they will not be back home until after the All-Star break on Friday, Feb. 9. Their upcoming games both have a 7:00 p.m. start time.