THUNDERBOLTS PREPARE FOR SEMIFINALS REMATCH WITH RIVERMEN  

Evansville, In.:  After coming back in their quarterfinal series to defeat the #2 seeded Huntsville Havoc in three games this past week, the Thunderbolts will face the Peoria Rivermen in the second round for the second consecutive season, for the right to play in the President’s Cup Finals.

                Evansville trailed 1-0 in Game One at Huntsville and rallied to tie in the third period on a goal from Logan vande Meerakker, however the Havoc pulled out the victory by winning in overtime 2-1.  Back at Ford Center for Game Two on Friday, goals from Isaac Chapman and Derek Contessa along with an incredible 47-save performance from Cole Ceci led Evansville to a 2-0 shutout victory, their first shutout win all season long.  In the decisive Game Three at Huntsville on Saturday, the Havoc scored first in the first period, before Evansville rallied with second period goals from Cameron MacPhee and Aidan Litke to take a 2-1 lead into the third period.  The Havoc struck early in the third period to tie the game, but Myles Abbate scored shortly afterward to rip the momentum back, followed by Tyson Gilmour later in the third period to give Evansville a 4-2 lead.  Huntsville got a goal back with just over a minute left, but Evansville held on to win by a 4-3 score to advance to the Semifinals for the second consecutive year.

Game One between the Thunderbolts and Rivermen will be this Wednesday night at the Peoria Civic Center, opening face-off set for 7:15pm CT.  Game Two will be at Ford Center on Friday night, with opening face-off at 7:00pm CT.  Game Three, if necessary, will be on Saturday night at Peoria Civic Center beginning at 7:15pm CT.  Both games One and Three (if necessary) at Peoria can be viewed live on FloHockey with a paid subscription or can be listened to for free on the Thunderbolts Mixlr Channel.

                The Rivermen survived a series-opening scare from the Quad City Storm to take Game One in Peoria 5-4 in overtime on Wednesday.  The Storm dominated early, building a 3-0 lead in the first and second periods, before the Rivermen scored four straight goals, scored by Jordan Ernst, Josh Martin twice, and Alec Baer to take a 4-3 lead early in the third period.  Quad City tied the game at the very last second of the third period to force overtime, before Ernst scored 4:48 into overtime to win Game One for Peoria.  In Game Two at Quad City, rookie Zachary Purcell scored a pair of goals, late in the first and second periods respectively, to give the Rivermen a 2-0 lead through two periods.  Quad City made it a 2-1 game early in the third period, but the Rivermen held on, adding a late empty net goal from Garrett Devine to complete the series sweep over the Storm.

– Lincoln Hatten (Worcester Railers – ECHL)

                – 66 GP, 9 G, 15 A, 24 P, 94 PIM

                – Ty Taylor (Orlando Solar Bears – ECHL)

                                – 0 GP, 0-0-0, 0.00 GAA, .000 SV%