 Evansville, In.: Behind a two-goal night from Zachary Bennett and another stellar performance from goaltender Zane Steeves, the Thunderbolts got the upper hand on the Quad City Storm, winning 5-2 on Saturday night at Ford Center. The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Wednesday, December 28th against the Birmingham Bulls at 7:00pm CT. For tickets, call (812)422-BOLT (2658), go to EvansvilleThunderbolts.com, or visit the Ford Center Ticket Office.
The first goal of the night came from the Storm, as Matt Ustaski scored with 37 seconds remaining in the first period to give Quad City a 1-0 lead. The Thunderbolts responded with a strong start to the second period, as Scott Kirton scored at 1:34 from Kyle Thacker and Mike Ferraro to tie the game, before Bennett scored his first goal, unassisted, just a few minutes later at 4:17 to give the Thunderbolts their first lead. Later in the second period, Mike Ferraro found the back of the net to extend the Thunderbolts lead to 3-1, assisted by Brendan Harrogate and Kirton.
In the third period, Mathieu Cloutier snuck a shot past Storm goaltender Bailey Brkin at 7:03 to make it 4-1 Evansville, assisted by Fredrik Wink and Dillon Hill. The Storm fought back on a power play chance as Ustaski scored once again at 9:18 to pull the Storm to within a 4-2 deficit. In response, Bennett scored his second goal of the game a few minutes later at 12:07 from Hill and Aaron Huffnagle to put the game away as the Thunderbolts secured the 5-2 victory to remain tied for 2ndplace in the SPHL standings.
Bennett scored two goals, Ferraro and Kirton finished with one goal and one assist each, and Cloutier scored one goal.  Hill tallied two assists, while Zane Steeves stopped 35 of 37 shots faced in net for his 8th win of the season. These two teams meet again on February 10th at Ford Center.
