Evansville, In.: After falling behind 3-2 with less than a minute to play in regulation, the Thunderbolts rallied seconds later to tie the game, force overtime, and defeat the Fayetteville Marksmen in overtime 4-3 on Friday night at Ford Center. The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Saturday, February 4th  against the Fayetteville Marksmen at 7:00pm CT. For tickets, call (812)422-BOLT (2658), go to EvansvilleThunderbolts.com, or visit the Ford Center Ticket Office.
Evansville survived an early rush from the Marksmen and jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening period, as Aaron Huffnagle opened the scoring from Felix Sasser and Brett Radford at 8:57, before Bryan Etter scored on a delayed Marksmen penalty from Huffnagle and Derek Osik at 10:33. Fayetteville played the proverbial reverse card in the second period, tying the game off goals from Shane Bednard at 2:43 and Drake Glover at 5:22 to make it a 2-2 game. The star in the second period’s remainder and most of the third period was Thunderbolts goaltender Trevor Gorsuch, who put on a goaltending clinic to hold off the Marksmen, who had almost all of the momentum in that timeframe.
As the third period carried on, the Thunderbolts started gaining momentum and more offensive opportunities, but could not find the go-ahead goal. Instead, it was Fayetteville’s Taylor McCloy who scored with 28 seconds remaining in regulation to put Fayetteville in front by a 3-2 score. Showing incredible willpower, the Thunderbolts pulled Gorsuch in the next shift and tied the game back up with only 12 seconds remaining, as Scott Kirton scored from Osik and Brendan Harrogate at 19:47 to force overtime. In extra time, Radford scored the winning goal from Harrogate and Butler at the 1:44 mark of overtime, completing one of the biggest Thunderbolts comebacks in recent team history, 4-3 over the Marksmen.
               Radford and Huffnagle each scored one goal and one assist, Etter and Kirton finished with one goal each, while Osik and Harrogate each tallied two assists. Gorsuch stopped 35 of 38 shots faced in net for his 5th win of the season. This win was the 20th of the season for the Thunderbolts, making this 2022-23 season the 4th in 6 total seasons that the Thunderbolts reach 20 or more wins. The Thunderbolts and Marksmen meet again on Saturday, February 4th at Ford Center.
