Huntsville, Ala.: For the second year in a row, the Thunderbolts have pulled off a comeback series victory against a Top-Two seeded team, defeating the Huntsville Havoc 4-3 at the Huntsville Ice Sports Center on Saturday night, winning the series 2-1. The Thunderbolts will again face the Peoria Rivermen in the President’s Cup Semifinals, with Game Two at Ford Center next Friday, April 18th, face-off at 7:00pm CT.
The Havoc opened the scoring 6:24 into the game, as Austin Alger scored on a steeply angled rebound chance. Despite heavy pressure, the Thunderbolts bent but did not break and got to the first intermission down only 1-0. Evansville found their game in the second period, starting at 6:48 as Cameron MacPhee banked a shot in off Mike Robinson to tie the game 1-1, assisted by Scott Kirton and Isaac Chapman. Three minutes later at 9:49, Aidan Litke scored on a fadeaway shot from the top of the near circle on the final second of a power play, assisted by Benjamin Lindberg and MacPhee to give Evansville their first lead of the night, the 2-1 lead holding to the second intermission.
Evansville faced adversity early in the third period, as Dylan Stewart scored by squeaking a puck barely through Cole Ceci and across the goal line, the goal confirmed following official review. Evansville responded almost immediately, with Myles Abbate bursting from the neutral zone and scoring on a breakaway from Lindberg at 3:09 to give the Thunderbolts the lead once again, 3-2. Later in the third period, Evansville got some insurance as Tyson Gilmour scored on a 4-on-2 rush, scoring on his own rebound while crashing the net, assisted by Chapman and Litke at 14:03. In a last gasp for Huntsville, Sam Ruffin got a shot through on a 6-on-5 push at 18:46 to trim the lead to 4-3, but the Thunderbolts successfully held on the rest of the way to the buzzer to get back into the SPHL’s Final Four for the second consecutive year, Gilmour’s goal holding up as the game and series-winning goal.
MacPhee and Litke each scored a goal and assist, Abbate and Gilmour finished with one goal each, and Lindberg along with Chapman tallied two assists each. In goal, Ceci stood tall once again, stopping 58 of 61 Havoc shots for the win. The win was also the Thunderbolts’ first road regulation-time victory in franchise playoff history. Game One of the President’s Cup Semifinals against the Rivermen at the Peoria Civic Center will be on Wednesday, April 16th at 7:15pm CT, Game Two at Ford Center will be on Friday, April 18th with opening face-off at 7:00pm CT, and Game Three, if necessary, will be back at the Peoria Civic Center on Saturday, April 19th at 7:15pm CT.
