Thunderbolts Lose a Tough One to Ice Bears
Friday, February 21st the Evansville Thunderbolts took on the Knoxville Ice Bears in downtown Evansville. The Ford Center would play host for the Southern Professional Hockey League showdown. Evansville came into the game with a record of 11-38 for a total of 30 points on the season. Their opponent would come into the match-up at 29-22 and 63 points for the year. In the standings Evansville was ranked last while the Ice Bears clinched their playoff berth and sat at fourth. The games attendance was 1,776 people on Friday night.
The Evansville Thunderbolts, under the direction of head coach Jeff Bes, would look to Brain Billett in goal tonight to help them secure the win. The game started out slow in the first period. Neither team could break the tie through the first twenty minutes of play. The first period also saw no penalties as both teams played a clean game. Knoxville lead in shots through one period of play with 9, while Evansville followed with 4 shots.
The second period would see a little more action. Each team was faced with three power plays, but still the score stayed at 0-0. Both teams were successful in killing off their three penalties through the second period. Shots on goal for the second period were almost the same as the Ice Bears had 9 and Thunderbolts 5. We looked to the third period for either team to break the tie and go ahead in this game. Goalies were solid through two periods of play. The third and deciding period was up next.
Evansville started out hot scoring just a little over three minutes into the third period. The first goal of the game was scored by Braden Hellems, his sixth of the year, to put the Thunderbolts up 1-0. Later that period, Evansville would strike again. Demico Hannoun would find the back of the net to go up 2-0 by 2 unanswered goals in the third period by the Thunderbolts. Two minutes later, Knoxville would get on the board with an unassisted goal by Gehrett Sargis to make the score 2-1. There was a little under 5 minutes to play now with Evansville up 2-1. Just over a minute later, the Ice Bears would add the tying goal. Josh Pietrantonio would score to tie the game at 2 a piece with a little under 3 minutes to play. Neither team would score again in regulation, sending us to overtime tied at 2.
Both teams earned a point now as we headed to overtime. They would look to get that second point on the night with an overtime winner. The Ice Bears would do just that. Knoxville scored just over a minute into the overtime period. Gehrett Sargis scored the game winning goal for his second goal of the night just into overtime. This propelled Knoxville over Evansville with the 3-2 overtime win. Total shots would end up 30-23 in favor of the Knoxville Ice Bears.
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