Klinecky Carries 'Cats to 5-3 Win

WYTHEVILLE, VA-

1/10/25

In their first home game in nearly three weeks, the Blue Ridge Bobcats and the crowd at Hitachi Energy Arena overcame Winter Storm Cora and the Danbury Hat Tricks for a rousing 5-3 victory.

Daniel Klinecky carried the Bobcats on the scoresheet, and got the scoring started on the man advantage. After both teams took time to feel each other out, the Bobcats got a power play thanks to a Zach Pamalayon roughing minor. Klinecky walked the blueline and sent a wrist shot towards the net that deflected off the back of Josh Labelle and beat Conor McCollum to open the scoring on the evening 7:22 into the opening frame. 

The Czechian defenseman continued to carry the offense just a half-minute into the second, potting home a second power play goal off a beautiful backdoor feed from Nick McHugh. Devin Sanders finished off a 2-on-1 with Austin Bellefuille nearly 8 minutes later to triple the Bobcats lead. Two minutes later, Jonny Ruiz answered for Danbury to tighten the margin to 3-1 after 40 minutes of play.

Danbury ratcheted up the pressure in the third, but Hunter Virostek stood tall between the pipes, stopping 36 of the 39 Hat Tricks shots he faced. Over halfway through the final frame, Justin Vernace converted on a solo breakaway thanks to a bank pass from Vladislav Vlasov. His bottle-popping wrister past McCollum's right shoulder served as the eventual game winning goal and earned him the game's third star.

Danbury mounted a valiant comeback effort with two goals in 7 minutes from Gleb Bandurkin and Chase Harwell, but an empty net goal from Nick Stuckleass sealed the deal for Blue Ridge.

Sanders earned second star honors for his goal and assist, while Klinecky's first multi-goal game of the season garnered him first star honors.

The two teams meet again for the weekend and season series finale at HItachi Energy Arena tomorrow night for Rebrand Night when the Bobcats transform into the Appalachian Aliens. Puck drop is slated for 7:30 PM, and tickets are available at blueridgebobcats.com/tickets.