The New Mexico Ice Wolves played their first preseason game at home in team history on Friday Sep. 13 against the US National Team- NTDP. A fast pace first period saw Jake Kasay score the first goal of the game unassisted 3:08 into the period. The USNTDP would respond just over five minutes later when Lukas Zajic scored 8:45 into the period crashing the net and receiving a great pass from Victor Plante. Jake Kasay wasn’t satisfied in the first and netted his second goal of the period 17:01 in. The Ice Wolves led 2-1 after the opening 20 minutes.
The second period didn’t see any scoring however, it was a terrific goaltending display on both ends of the ice. Jackson Fuller made 14 saves in the period to hold onto the lead. On the other side, Luke Carrithers made 11 saves while making mind blowing saves throughout the period. The Ice Wolves maintained their 2-1 lead through 40 minutes.
The third period started with an unexpected bang with a fight just 38 seconds in between Leo Laschon and Michael Kull, both players received five minutes for fighting and game misconducts for removing the helmet. Lukas Zajic scored his second goal of the game 6:05 into the third period to tie the game for the second time. The Ice Wolves had a quick response courtesy of Andy Earl 7:14 into the period the second unassisted goal of the night. Ethan Hull would score 9:26 into the third and give the Ice Wolves their first two goal lead of the contest. The final goal of the game came from Sloan Farmer off of a seeing eye pass from Max Matthews 11:19 into the period giving the Ice Wolves a 5-2 lead and the win.
The same teams will meet Saturday, Sept. 14 at 6:30pm MT at the Outpost Ice Arenas tickets are still available at https://tickets.nmicewolves.com/. The Ice Wolves will start their NAHL season at home against the Corpus Christi Ice Rays Friday, Sept. 20.