Evansville, In.:  The red goal light was fittingly ever-present for Saturday night’s First Responders’ Night at Ford Center, as Evansville scored eight times in an 8-3 victory over the Quad City Storm to improve to a winning record of 6-5-2.  The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Saturday, December 7th against the Huntsville Havoc at 7:05pm CT.

                Scoring first for Evansville was Derek Contessa, finishing off a Brendan Harrogate chance at the side of the net, awarded after review at 9:31 with a secondary assist to Tyson Gilmour.  The Thunderbolts then picked up their first shorthanded goal of the season, as Matthew Hobbs fed Scott Kirton on a breakaway, where he scored at 13:12 to extend Evansville’s lead to 2-0.  2:35 into the second period, Harrogate tapped in a loose puck on the goal line, assisted by Contessa and Grayson Valente to make it 3-0.  Just over a minute later at 4:07, Hobbs scored on a rebound from Kirton and Logan vande Meerakker to make it a 4-0 game.  At 8:33, Harrogate scored once again on a power play chance, assisted by Jordan Simoneau and Vande Meerakker to make it a 5-0 game and end the evening for Storm goaltender Brent Moran.

                Quad City broke the shutout of Ty Taylor immediately after their goaltending change at 9:07, the goal scored by Leif Mattson on a power play chance to make it a 5-1 game.  At 14:33, Vande Meerakker scored on a 2-on-1 rush, assisted by Scott Kirton to make it 6-1 Evansville.  The assist for Kirton was his third point of the game and his 115th as an Evansville Thunderbolt, breaking the all-time franchise record previously held by Austin Plevy (114 points).  The Storm answered back at 15:03, as Nicola Levesque took advantage of Taylor being knocked down to the ice, scoring to make it a 6-2 game.  Evansville regained the 5-goal lead at 19:41, as a Hobbs shot was saved but batted in by a Storm player, assisted by vande Meerakker and Kirton to give Evansville a 7-2 lead after two periods.  In the third period, Nick Pennucci got the Storm their third and final goal of the night at 6:01, before Vesalainen finished the scoring with a breakaway goal at 13:29 from Nolan McElhaney and Benjamin Lindberg, the assist for McElhaney being his first professional point.  With the victory, the Thunderbolts have won five of their last seven games, improving to 6-5-2 as they hit the road for their next five contests.

Leading the offense, Hobbs and Harrogate each finished with two goals and an assist, while Kirton and Vande Meerakker each picked up a goal and three assists.  Contessa and Vesalainen ended the evening with a goal and assist each, and in goal, Ty Taylor finished with 31 saves on 34 shots for his second win of the season.  The eight goals scored were the most the Thunderbolts have scored in a single game since January 28th, 2023, in an 8-2 win over the Macon Mayhem at Ford Center.  The Thunderbolts and Storm meet once again on Wednesday, November 27th at Vibrant Arena.

Individual game tickets, group packages, and season tickets are on sale for the 2024-25 season.  Call 812-422-BOLT or visit our all-new website (www.evansvillethunderbolts.com) for details.

About Evansville Thunderbolts: The Evansville Thunderbolts is the area’s only professional hockey team. The Thunderbolts are a proud member of the SPHL.  The team is owned and operated by VW Sports, L.L.C, a subsidiary of VenuWorks, Inc. www.evansvillethunderbolts.com