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Evansville, In.: In a role reversal following the 5-1 loss in Peoria on Friday, the Thunderbolts reversed course, dominating the Rivermen and defeating them 5-1 in front of almost 5,000 fans at Ford Center on Saturday night. The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Saturday, January 7th against the Peoria Rivermen at 7:00pm CT. For tickets, call (812)422-BOLT (2658), go to EvansvilleThunderbolts.com, or visit the Ford Center Ticket Office.
Only 19 seconds into the game, Andrew Shewfelt nearly gave the Thunderbolts an early lead with a penalty shot attempt, however the shot was stopped by Rivermen goaltender Ben Churchfield. The early pace of play by the Thunderbolts however was rewarded only 18 seconds later when Felix Sasser scored from Fredrik Wink and Hayden Hulton to put Evansville in front. In the second period, the score remained 1-0 until 13:22, when Hulton deflected a shot past Churchfield to make it 2-0 on the power play, assisted by Joseph Leonidas and Wink. Less than 2 minutes later at 15:16, Aaron Huffnagle scored on a rebound from Cameron Cook and Leonidas to further extend the Thunderbolts lead to 3-0. Later in the period, Dillon Hill squared off with Rivermen captain Alec Hagaman in the game’s only fight.
In the third period, it remained 3-0 for almost the entire first half as the offense on both sides settled down. However, the Rivermen did find some life as Tyler Barrow scored on a takeaway in the Evansville zone at 8:58 to cut Evansville’s lead to 3-1. The Thunderbolts defense shut down the Rivermen attack as they tried to inch closer, and with 4:33 remaining Mike Ferraro scored on a 2-on-1 rush from Scott Kirton and Brendan Harrogate to put the game away with a 4-1 lead. With Churchfield pulled, Huffnagle added one more goal into the empty net from Matthew Barron and Cook at 17:18 to wrap up the 5-1 Thunderbolts win.
               Huffnagle scored two goals, Hulton scored one goal and one assist, while Sasser and Ferraro finished with one goal each. Leonidas, Cook and Wink each tallied two assists, while Zane Steeves stopped 34 of 35 shots faced for his 10th win of the season. These two teams meet again on January 6th at Ford Center.
