THUNDERBOLTS OPEN MARCH WITH 6-2 WIN OVER STORM
Evansville, In.: After going 6-2-1 in the month of February, the Thunderbolts continued their strong play into the month of March, winning 6-2 over the Quad City Storm and pushing their point streak to seven games (6-0-1) in front of nearly 4,500 fans at Ford Center on Saturday night. The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Saturday, March 1st against the Quad City Storm at 7:05pm CT.
On an early major power play, the Thunderbolts grabbed the game’s first lead at 1:30 as Tyson Gilmour scored on a rebound from Matthew Hobbs and Nolan McElhaney. Following numerous chances throughout the first period to extend the lead, Evansville finally found success at 17:31 as Jordan Simoneau sniped a shot past a stick-less Brent Moran from Derek Contessa and Bronson Adams to make it 2-0. The lead was trimmed to 2-1 however when Brandon Stojcevski scored for Quad City on an individual effort with only 10 seconds remaining in the first period. Evansville got back to work in the second period, and on a 5-on-3 power play Scott Kirton scored off a rebound from Logan vande Meerakker and Myles Abbate to make it a 3-1 game, followed by Gilmour’s second goal of the game on 4-on-4 action from Abbate and Joey Berkopec to extend the lead to 4-1 at 13:10.
Stojcevski again played spoiler with a goal in the fading seconds of the second period with a mid-air backhand shot in front of the crease, just barely within height limits of counting, however Evansville still took a 4-2 lead into the third period. The Thunderbolts did not allow Quad City to get back into the game from there, and at 5:14, Abbate scored on a delayed penalty call from Aidan Litke to put the game further out of reach at 5-2. At 14:31, Hobbs scored on a tic-tac-toe passing play from Vande Meerakker and Kirton to put the game completely out of reach at 6-2 with Evansville’s third power play goal of the night. With the win, Evansville has now earned points in seven consecutive games with a 6-0-1 record in the span and are now only 2 points out of 4th place, currently held by the Fayetteville Marksmen, who on Saturday lost 3-1 to Macon.
Gilmour finished with two goals, Abbate scored one goal and two assists, Hobbs and Kirton each picked up a goal and assist, and Simoneau scored one goal. Vande Meerakker tallied a pair of assists, while Cole Ceci finished with 28 saves on 30 shots on goal for his 15th win of the season. The Thunderbolts and Storm meet again on Thursday, March 20th at Vibrant Arena at the MARK. With tonight’s victory, the Thunderbolts clinched victory in the regular season series over Quad City, with 7 games won out of 10 played, and only 2 games remaining.
