THUNDERBOLTS HOLD ON IN BIRMINGHAM, DEFEAT BULLS 3-2

Pelham, Ala.:  The Thunderbolts built up a 3-0 lead, and Evansville’s defense along with goaltender Ty Taylor made the lead stick as Evansville won 3-2 over the Bulls in Pelham on Saturday night. The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Friday, January 24th against the Pensacola Ice Flyers at 7:05pm CT.

                Logan vande Meerakker opened the scoring for Evansville 3:50 into the first period by driving the net and scoring on the rebound, assisted by Myles Abbate and Matthew Hobbs.  Shortly afterward at 7:23, Hobbs deflected in a shot from Anthony Hora to extend the lead to 2-0, also assisted by Scott Kirton on Evansville’s lone power play of the evening.  In a strong second period for Evansville, the lead was further gapped to 3-0 as Brendan Harrogate scored at 10:41, set up by Scott Kirton and Aiden Wagner.  The goal for Harrogate marked his 100th point as a Thunderbolt, becoming the third player in franchise history, along with Kirton and Austin Plevy, to achieve the milestone.  The Bulls’ push back came in the third period, as Drake Glover scored a power play goal at 1:48, and with 10 seconds remaining, Carson Rose trimmed Evansville’s lead to 3-2, however the Thunderbolts successfully held on in the final seconds for the 3-2 victory to jump over Birmingham into 7th place in the league standings, and remain 6 points above the playoff line.

                Hobbs scored a goal and assist, Vande Meerakker and Harrogate scored one goal each, and Kirton tallied a pair of assists.  In goal, Ty Taylor finished with 38 saves on 40 shots for his 6th win of the season.  The Thunderbolts and Bulls’ next scheduled meeting will be on Friday, April 4th at Ford Center, face-off set for 7:05pm CT.