By Brian Tosti/Bloomington Thunder
For the first time this season the Bloomington Thunder topped their opponent by over one goal in a 4-1 finish with the Chicago Steel. The Saturday night game gave the Thunder a six game win streak, which is the longest in team history and third longest in the United States Hockey League this season.
Bloomington (14-8-2-1) is in fourth place in the Eastern Conference with 31 points this season. Chicago (10-14-2-2) is in seventh place with 24 points. The Thunder are just shy of first place in the conference, three points behind the Dubuque Fighting Saints and Cedar Rapids RoughRiders.
Assistant Coach Mike Watt talked about the team’s commitment during the win streak saying, “It’s well deserved. We have got 23 guys that work hard and have bought into the system. They understand what we want to do, how we have to accomplish it, and how to go about executing. If you get 23 guys doing it you are in pretty good shape.”
Blake Gober continued his streak as the hottest goal scorer for the Bloomington Thunder with his third straight goal, and ninth of the season. Gober had help unofficially from Vlad Dzhioshvili (Cornell University) who moved toward the net and caused a screen. The Thunder’s leading scorer evaded two defensemen and shot the puck past John Lethemon (Michigan State University). The goal was initially waived off but ruled a good goal after conversation, giving the Thunder a 1-0 lead over the Steel with under 11 to play in the period.
Then the Thunder would connect on a power play with under a minute to play in the period as Jeremy Davies (Northeastern University) picked up his fourth point in three games. Butrus Ghafari (Western Michigan University) shot a one-timer that was redirected right to Davies. The second year defenseman batted the puck in off the backhand and make it 2-0 at the intermission. With that goal, the Thunder were 1-5 on the power play and ended the night 4-4 on the penalty kill.
“It’s one of our goals on our power play, especially with (Davies),” said Coach Watt. “He has such good hands out there. He is so good around the net that he is able to create that play and get a goal out of it.”
The Thunder had a 5-on-3 chance to extend the lead at the start of the third period but were unable to capitalize on the play. Lethemon stopped 29 shots in the game as the Thunder outshot the Steel 33-18.
“That’s just our game. Limit the amount of grade-A chances that we give up per game,” commented Watt on the shot differential. “You’re going to give them up from time to time, but as long as you are keeping them in single digits you are doing a good job. By limiting the total shots we limit their grade-A chances.”
Chicago was able to net their only goal in the second period. Bobby Hampton (Northeastern University) redirected his first goal of the season into the Thunder net eight minutes into the middle period. Ruslan Rakhmatov and Alex Frye earned assists on the play as Rakhmatov shot the puck off the faceoff win.
With a 2-1 lead to start the third, the Thunder were able to fend off the Steel on a power play and minutes later extended their lead. After a Mitchell Chaffee shot, Ethan Somoza (Bemidji State University) found Jake Durflinger on the far side of the net for a tap in. It was the Walnut Creek, CA native’s seventh goal of the season to give them the 3-1 lead.
“That’s the first time all year that we have scored multiple goals that we can sit on late in a game. We didn’t have to worry too much about match ups toward the end especially against their top line. That was a good feeling,” said the Thunder coach who’s team won 13 games this season by just one goal.
In the final two minutes, Bloomington’s Logan Lambdin scored his seventh of the year on the empty net to seal the win. Hayden Lavigne (University of Michigan) earned help from the defense in the night but also made 17 saves to earn his 12th win of the season.
The Thunder have over a week off for their Christmas break, but will be back in action on Tuesday, December 29 in Sioux Falls, SD. They take on the Stampede to kick off a two game road stand to end the calendar year. The 7 p.m. game will be the second and final meeting between the Thunder and Stampede after a 4-3 win in October.
