Cuddemi Tricks Wings in 7-3 Win on Teddy Bear Toss Night

December 12, 2017 - ECHL (ECHL) - Wichita Thunder News Release

Wichita, KS (Dec. 2nd) - Ralph Cuddemi recorded his second-career hat trick to pace the Thunder offense to a 7-3 victory over Kalamazoo on Teddy Bear Toss Night at INTRUST Bank Arena.

Matt DeBlouw scored twice and Travis Ewanyk recorded three assists to help Wichita improve to 15-2-2 on the season.

Cuddemi brought the waterfall of teddy bears at 4:36 of the first. He stole the puck near the Wichita line, skated up the right wing and beat Joel Martin to the glove side and made it 1-0. Greg Chase made it 2-0 at 6:54 as he received a pass across the slot from Chad Butcher and buried it past Joel Martin. Wichita broke the game open in the second, scoring four times and three in a five-minute span. Cuddemi potted his second marker at 1:50, tipping in a point shot from Samuel Thibault. Just over a minute later, DeBlouw made it 4-0 with his fourth goal of the season. Dyson Stevenson made a terrific play off the rush, fed a pass back to DeBlouw and he fired a one-timer past Martin. DeBlouw recorded his second of the night at 5:32, stealing the puck from a defenseman behind the Wings net and beat Martin with a backhand off the post to make it 5-0.

Kyle Bushee got the Wings on the board at 6:37 with his third goal of the season. Evan Polei made it 5-1 with 24 seconds left in the second. He fired a one-timer past Martin from the slot for his second of the season. In the third, Kyle Blaney scored his third of the year at 14:18 to make it 6-2. Kalamazoo added another at 15:04 as Brendan Bradley beat Joel Rumpel with a backhand and made it 6-3. With 35 seconds left, Cuddemi recorded his hat trick goal and put an exclamation point on a 7-3 win.

Wichita set a new season-high in goals in a game. Cuddemi netted the team's first hat trick of the season. Butcher recorded two helpers and was a +3. Rumpel claimed his eighth win of the season, stopping 35 of 38 shots. Martin suffered the loss, stopping 18 of 25 shots he faced.

Wichita went 1-for-4 on the power play. Kalamazoo went was 0-for-5 on the man advantage.

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