Knoxville, Tn.: Coming back from a 3-2 deficit late in regulation, Scott Kirton scored to force overtime, where Derek Contessa scored 7:07 into the second overtime to win Game One of the President’s Cup Final for Evansville on Wednesday night at Knoxville Civic Coliseum. The Thunderbolts and Ice Bears will play Game Two at Ford Center on Thursday night at 7:00pm CT.
In the first period, the Thunderbolts opened the scoring at 6:27, as Tyson Gilmour scored on a rebound from Logan vande Meerakker and Kirton to give Evansville a 1-0 lead. The Ice Bears came back minutes later to tie, as Dawson McKinney scored on a power play at 9:15. The Thunderbolts got the lead back at 13:16, as Myles Abbate scored off a deflection of a Benjamin Lindberg shot to give Evansville the lead once again 2-1, also assisted by Isaac Chapman. However, Knoxville again tied the game as Derek Raposo scored at 15:04 off a face-off, with the game tied 2-2 going into the first intermission. Knoxville scored the lone goal of the second period despite being outshot 19-4, with McKinney scoring once again off a back-door pass at 4:28, giving the Ice Bears their first lead of the night. The score remained the same through the second period and for most of the third period, before Scott Kirton scored on a turnaround shot from around the net on a power play with 5:06 remaining in regulation to tie the game 3-3, assisted by Matthew Hobbs and Vande Meerakker. The Thunderbolts faced danger early in the first overtime, facing two penalties, which they successfully killed to get back to 5-on-5. Finally, at 7:07 of the second overtime, Contessa scored on a rebound from Chapman and Abbate to win the game for Evansville 4-3, giving Evansville a 1-0 series lead going back to Ford Center on Thursday.
Kirton and Abbate each finished with a goal and assist, Gilmour and Contessa each scored one goal, while Chapman and Vande Meerakker each tallied a pair of assists. In goal, Cole Ceci finished with 33 saves on 36 shots. Game Two will be at Ford Center on Thursday at 7:00pm CT, and Game Three, if necessary, will be played at Knoxville Civic Coliseum on Sunday afternoon, face-off at 2:00pm CT.
