Wheeler's first pro goal not enough in 5-2 defeat

Fort Wayne, IN – The Iowa Heartlanders completed a three-in-three with a 5-2 defeat against the Fort Wayne Komets Sunday at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. Defenseman Ryan Wheeler scored his first professional goal on a whack from the right slot for the game's final goal and less than three minutes to go.Zach White scored Iowa's first goal. Oliver Cooper tallied twice for Fort Wayne, including a power-play goal with 5:34 to go in the second that gave the K's their first three goal lead, 4-1.Fort Wayne scored three times in the first and led, 3-1, after one. White scored Iowa’s opening-period goal on a stash in at the left post, assisted by Alec Broetzman and Tommy Parran. Broetzman tucked the puck from the right corner to White at the left slot. Jacob Graves scored for Fort Wayne with 9:48 to go on the power play to make it 5-1. Graves waited for it to come to him alone at net front, then boxed out a back checker and shot it low and in. Hunter Jones made a number of acrobatic sprawling saves on odd-man rushes but took the loss with 29 saves. Komets goalie Corbin Kaczperski blocked 13 shots in the final two periods with the Komets ahead by multiple goals and won his first Fort Wayne game with 22 denials.Box ScoreView the team’s full promotional schedule at iowaheartlanders.com/promotions. Iowa is next at home for three games on Mar. 8 at 7:05 p.m. vs. Cincinnati, Mar. 10 at 7:05 p.m. vs. Indy and Mar. 11 at 7:05 p.m. vs. Kalamazoo. March 10 is Iowa’s Marvel Super Hero Night where the team will wear special Captain American jerseys vs. Indy, presented by DASH Auctions. It’s also Special Olympics Night where Special Olympics Iowa will be at the game.Single-game tickets, group ticket options, partial plans and season ticket memberships are available for Heartlanders home games at Xtream Arena.  Call 319-569-goal or visit iowaheartlanders.com/tickets for more information.