Evansville, In.:  Rounding out a tiring stretch of six games in nine days, including three separate road trips, the Thunderbolts gave it their all but fell just short to the Macon Mayhem and their goaltender Josh Boyko, 4-2 on Sunday night at Ford Center with almost 5,000 in attendance.  The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Friday, January 5th against the Quad City Storm, puck drop at 7:00pm CT.
                The Mayhem benefited from two lucky bounce goals in the first five minutes to take a 2-0 lead, as a Derek Contessa lob went off a Thunderbolts defenseman and into the net at 3:00, and a shot from Tanner Nagel bounced in off another Evansville defenseman shortly afterward at 4:24.  Evansville got on the board at 10:11, as Dmitri Yushkevich rocketed a shot into the net unassisted on a power play to cut Evansville’s deficit to 2-1.  However, Macon offered a response as Jake Goldowski deflected a shot in at 12:07 to make it 3-1 Macon.
After a scoreless second period, Michael McChesney made it a 4-1 game, wiring a shot to the top corner at 4:29.  Late in regulation, Myles Abbate got one back for Evansville on the power play from Scott Kirton and Bair Gendunov, but despite outshooting Macon 46-33, the Thunderbolts could not get more than two goals on Josh Boyko in the 4-2 loss, ending the month of December with a still-strong 6-4-2 record and remain in 8th place ahead of Knoxville and Macon.  Despite the tough loss, the crowd of almost 5,000 was loud throughout the evening, and enjoyed a thrilling postgame fireworks show to round out the night.
Yushkevich and Abbate each finished with one goal, while Hayden Lavigne stopped 29 of 33 shots faced.  The Thunderbolts and Mayhem meet again on Friday, March 15th at Macon Coliseum.
