The Coachella Valley Firebirds are off to a strong start with the franchise's first win in their debut game against the Calgary Wranglers.
Playing at Calgary on sunday during construction of Acrisure Arena, their home stadium in Thousand palms, the Firebirds took the game 6-5; the team's website said.
In case there was any question about the enthusiasm the event raised, the Firebirds posted on Twitter: "goal after goal after GOAL!!! Great job team!! First game and first win in Firebirds history!!"
In this history-making game, scoring players were Kole Lind with two goals, Andrew Poturalski, Michal Kempny, Max McCormick and Jesper Froden. Meanwhile, Joey Daccord came through on defense, stopping 25 Calgary shots.
The Firebirds scored their first goal at 6:59 of the first period, thanks to Lind assisted by Ryker Evans and Cameron Hughes; the team's website said. The first period ended 1-0 with Lind's goal being the only score. The Firebirds struck again at 4:47 in the second period with Poturalski's power play goal. The Wranglers narrowed the score to 2-1 before Kempny scored just 33 seconds later, putting the 'Birds ahead by two. With points from McCormick and Froden during the period, the lead increased to 5-1, and the period ended with Calgary retaliating twice and the score closing to 5-3.
Just five minutes into the third period, after a semi-breakaway Lind scored again, beating Calgary's Oskar Dansk. The tension was thick with six minutes left in the third period as Calgary scored twice, but the Firebirds held on to their lead.
With two minutes left in the game, Calgary pulled their netminder and added an extra attacker but was unable to score, the Firebirds website said.