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Comeback Leads to Overtime, Point Streak Continues

November 6, 2015 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Bloomington Thunder News Release


Bloomington Thunder Goaltender Logan Halladay
Bloomington Thunder Goaltender Logan Halladay
(Bloomington Thunder)

BLOOMINGTON, Illinois - For the fifth straight game, the Bloomington Thunder picked up a point, but were unable to take the win over the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders on Friday night. In a 4-3 overtime game, Bloomington came back from a 2-0 deficit before falling in their second straight extra time game. Bloomington (6-5-2) falls to third in the Eastern Conference, while the RoughRiders (7-3-1) improve to sole ownership of second place behind the Dubuque Fighting Saints. Logan Halladay helps pick up the point for the Thunder, making 41 saves in the game.

The first period was held scoreless until the final five minutes when Hugh McGing (Western Michigan University) netted a backdoor feed from Jack Ahcan (St. Cloud State). It was McGing's fourth goal of the season and broke a scoreless tie. The Riders tallied again before the period ended to take a 2-0 lead into the intermission. Pavel Tkachkov scored his first USHL goal on a couple one touched passes by the RoughRiders. Matt Filipe (Northeastern University) and Ahcan picked up assists on the goal.

Bloomington scored their first goal of the game in the second period on the power play. The special teams answered with a short side shot from Tarek Baker (University of Minnesota) to put the team on the board. Both Jeremy Davies (Northeastern University) and Brogan Rafferty (Quinnipiac University) grabbed assists on Baker's fourth goal of the season.

Making save after save, Halladay and the Thunder held off the RoughRiders only two power plays of the game at the end of the second. Halladay made some huge stops, totaling 14 in the period to keep the team down by just one.

The Thunder scored their second of a three-goal streak at the start of the third period. Jake Durflinger broke down the right wing on a 2-on-1 and found Jake Slaker (St. Lawrence University) for a tap in on Ben Blacker (Western Michigan University) to tie the game two minutes into the period. Blacker finished the night with 22 saves and his fourth win.

Then Steven Merl tallied his first of the season. In an individual play, Mitchell Chaffee broke into the zone and stole the puck away from the Rider defense before feeding Merl on the backside of the net. Merl's goal gave the Thunder the 3-2 lead with only eight minutes to play.

The RoughRiders did not go down without a fight, firing 13 shots on net in the third and finally answering to tie the game. A puck bounced to the stick of McGing before being put in the equalizer at 15:28 of the period.

Picking up the point on the night, the Thunder held on until the game was moved to 3-on-3 play and Ahcan fired home the game-winning goal. He completed a three-point night and took the number one star in the game.

Despite the loss, Bloomington won the special team's bout, going 2-2 on the penalty kill and 1-3 on the power play. Halladay moves to 0-3-2 and Blacker has compiled a 4-3-0 record for the RoughRiders.




Images from this story

Bloomington Thunder Goaltender Logan Halladay
Bloomington Thunder Goaltender Logan Halladay
   



United States Hockey League Stories from November 6, 2015


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