Pelham, Ala.: After falling behind 2-1 in the second period, the resilient Thunderbolts scored three unanswered goals to defeat the Birmingham Bulls 4-2 on Thursday night in Pelham and enter a tie for 1st place in the SPHL standings. 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.
The first period was void of any goals or penalties, while the second period began with a goal from Scott Kirton, assisted by Brendan Harrogate and Mike Ferraro to give Evansville the first lead at 1:29. Minutes later at 4:37, Mike Davis tied the game for Birmingham, and at 12:01 Zac Masson scored to give the Bulls a 2-1 lead. In the last second of play in the second period, Aaron Huffnagle flipped the puck from behind the net, and it bounced into the net off the back of Birmingham goaltender Hayden Stewart to tie the game at two-apiece, assisted by Fredrik Wink and Matthew Hobbs at 19:59.
In the third period, Kirton scored unassisted on a partial breakaway to give the Thunderbolts their second lead of the game, 3-2 at 1:43. After several close calls in the Evansville zone that were nullified by both Thunderbolts goaltender Trevor Gorsuch and the Evansville defensemen, the Bulls pulled Stewart in the final two minutes for one last attempt at tying the game. From almost 200 feet, James Isaacs scored the empty net goal with 48 seconds remaining to seal the 4-2 Evansville victory.
               Kirton scored two goals, while Huffnagle and Isaacs finished with one goal each. Trevor Gorsuch stopped 45 of 47 shots faced for his 3rd win of the season. These two teams meet again on January 13th at Pelham Civic Complex.
