Evansville, In.: The Thunderbolts’ incredible run through the President’s Cup Playoffs came to a victorious end on Thursday night at Ford Center, with Aidan Litke’s overtime goal completing the sweep of the Knoxville Ice Bears in the final series, as the Thunderbolts captured their first-ever President’s Cup Championship.
Late in the first period, the Thunderbolts grabbed the game’s first lead as Logan vande Meerakker scored on the rush on a power play at 19:14 from Nolan McElhaney. Following a relatively low-event second period, the Ice Bears tied the game 1-1 as Brendan Dowler scored 2:25 into the third period of play. In overtime, unlike Wednesday night’s Game One in Knoxville which required double overtime, it took only 1:30 for Litke to score the golden goal, as Ethan Price fed Litke with a pass from the near corner to the net-front, where Litke sniped the puck over Knoxville goaltender Stephen Mundinger to finish the climb to the top of the mountain, with captain Matthew Hobbs fittingly earning a secondary assist on the goal as well. After losing Game One of the first round of the playoffs at Huntsville in overtime, the Thunderbolts did not lose again, finishing the postseason with an astounding 6-0-1 record, the 6-game win streak also being their first since 2019-20, coming in the best possible time of the year. In goal for every game of the playoffs and finishing with an astronomical .962% save percentage, Cole Ceci was awarded Playoff MVP Honors.
Vande Meerakker and Litke finished with one goal each, while Ceci finished with 29 saves on 30 shots. There will be a special rally on the Ford Center Plaza on Tuesday, April 29th from 6:00pm to 8:00pm to celebrate the Thunderbolts’ President’s Cup Championship.
