Wild come out on top in outdoor game

by Submitted Bob Richardson<br> Wenatchee Wild
| March 15, 2011 6:00 AM

FAIRBANKS, Alaska. - Carl-Johan Sjogren (Tumba, Sweden) scored two power play goals and added an assist to lead the Wenatchee Wild to a 5-3 win over the Fairbanks Ice Dogs in the third annual outdoor game outside of the Big Dipper Ice Arena on Saturday night. The win gave the Wild a 2-game sweep over the Ice Dogs at the conclusion of a 6-game Alaskan road trip.

The game was divided into four 15-minute quarters rather than the traditional 20-minute periods. Sjogren put the Wild up 5:55 into the contest on his shot from the far circle during his team's first power-play opportunity of the evening. D.J. Vandercook (Farmington Hills, Mich.) and Mario Puskarich (Fort Walton Beach, Fla.) assisted.

Wenatchee dominated the second quarter of play and led 4-0 at the midpoint of the contest. Sjogren scored his second goal of the night, during another power play, at 17:31, when he scored from the slot off of Max McHugh's (Edgewood, Wash.) pass from the goal line. Vandercook also picked up his second assist of the contest on the sequence.

Later in the second quarter, Jacob Barber (Dardenne Prairie, Mo.) scored stick side off of a Ben Carey (Centennial, Colo.) pass. Puskarich picked up the second assist, his second helper of the contest. Evan Schmidbauer (Surrey, BC) gave Wenatchee a 4-goal cushion with less than two minutes remaining in the second stanza when he knocked a rebound into the cage on his backhand. Brennen Parker (Villa Park, Calif.) assisted.

After a scoreless third frame, Vandercook scored the Wild's fifth and final goal of the game early in the final session when he crashed the net and cleaned up a rebound off of Sjogren's shot. Kyle Huson (Parker, Colo.) also assisted. Zach Vierling, JT Osborn and Jared Linnell went on to each score a goal for the Ice Dogs down the stretch, but it was too little too late.

Wild goaltender Brandon Jaeger (Champlin, Minn.) stopped 29-of-32 shots. It was Jaeger's third win in as many starts and his 23rd win overall this season. Fairbanks goalie Joe Phillippi was tagged with the loss after making 10 saves on 14 shots in 30 minutes of work. Steve Perry, who played the second half of the game in relief of Phillippi, made 11 stops on 12 shots.

Sjogren (2G, 1A) and Vandercook (1G, 2A) led the Wild attack with three points apiece while Puskarich added two assists. Linnell scored a goal and an assist for the Ice Dogs. Wenatchee scored two power-play goals on three chances while Fairbanks went 1-for-5 on the man-advantage.

The Wild (31-20-3) will conclude its 8-game road trip with a 2-game set against the New Mexico Mustangs on Tuesday and Wednesday next week (March 15-16).