Evansville, In.: Although the Thunderbolts showed notable development up and down the lineup in Saturday night’s rematch against the Ice Bears at Ford Center, it was Knoxville who once again came up victorious by a 3-2 score. The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Saturday, October 26th against the Huntsville Havoc at 7:00pm CT.
Following a scoreless first period in which Evansville put up better scoring opportunities while playing strongly in the defensive zone, Knoxville countered with another strong second period performance to put Evansville on their heels. Evansville initially grabbed the first lead of the game at 10:36, as Benjamin Lindberg sniped a shot from the blue line to make it 1-0 Evansville, assisted by Robin Eriksson and Matthew Hobbs. 26 seconds later at 11:02 however, the Ice Bears tied it back up off a goal from Dalton Skelly. 1:15 later at 12:17, Mitch Atkins capitalized off an Evansville-end scramble, scoring to give Knoxville a 2-1 lead. In the third period, Cam Tobey scored into the empty Evansville net at 18:21 to make it 3-1, before Tyson Gilmour responded for Evansville at 18:43 from Logan vande Meerakker and Matt Dorsey to trim the lead to 3-2, although it would not be enough as the Ice Bears took home the victory.
Lindberg and Gilmour each finished with one goal, Gilmour’s being his first professional goal, while Ty Taylor finished with 31 saves on 33 shots. The Thunderbolts and Ice Bears meet once again on Friday, November 29th at Knoxville Civic Coliseum.
