Recap: Rory Kerins’ first pro hat trick leads Wranglers to 3-1 win over Firebirds

Just under a minute and a half later, Dryden Hunt broke up a pass in the offensive zone and got it straight up to Rory Kerins, who finished the play with the tying goal. Kerins crashed the net and popped the puck up over Stezka. The on-ice officials took a second look at this play and ruled it a good goal. Martin Frk and Jakob Pelletier assisted on this power play goal that gave the Wranglers their first lead of the evening at 6:24.

The scoring slowed after this opening burst of action and so did the penalty calls. There were no more players in the box for the rest of the opening period and no more goals to report. After 20 minutes of play in Coachella Valley, the Wranglers had a 2-1 lead and were just behind 14-10 in shots.

In the second period, things held the same as they did in the first. Coachella Valley was pushing for their equalizing goal but Devin Cooley made sure that did not happen. There was only one penalty through the middle frame against the Wranglers but they killed it off with no damage done. The score remained 2-1 at the end of 40 minutes and the Wranglers were outshot 14-9 in that frame.

In the third, the Wranglers were getting a little antsy and got their third goal of the night just 54 seconds into the period. The scorer was none other than Rory Kerins, who earned his first hat trick of his professional career. He’s come close in the past in the ECHL and even with the Wranglers with a couple of two-goal or multi-point nights but he officially hit that milestone in this match-up.

Dryden Hunt fed Kerins a set-up pass from behind the net that he drove past Stezka. Then he celebrated this big moment with his linemates. This was just the first shot of the period and gave the Wranglers an insurance goal to get them through the third period.

After this goal, the Wranglers only had two other shots the whole period as their opponents tried to claw their way back into this game. Again Cooley stood out and shut down the home team. Coachella Valley pulled Stezka at 16:33 and even with the extra attacker, they were unable to get any goals back.

This game wrapped up Rory Kerins’ stunning performance and earned him the first star of the night. Devin Cooley also picked up the second star with his 39 save game. The final score was 3-1 despite the Wranglers being outshot 40-22.

Scoring stat summary

Rory Kerins – 3G

Dryden Hunt – 2A

Jakob Pelletier- 1A

Martin Frk – 1A

Next up

The Wranglers continue their road trip this week but face a different opponent for the weekend. They will play the Henderson Silver Knights for a two game series with the next match-up taking place on Friday at 8:00 p.m. MT. They’ll wrap up their week with game two against Henderson on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. MT.