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Firsts for Conger, Merl in Thunder Win

March 7, 2015 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Bloomington Thunder News Release


Bloomington, IL - The Bloomington Thunder again used special teams to their advantage and picked up a 4-2 win over the Madison Capitols in Saturday nights game from the U.S. Cellular Coliseum. The game kicked off a home and home with the Capitols and put the Thunder up to 22-20-7on the season and 3-0-0 on the season series.

Bloomington managed to fire 46 shots on net including a two period total of 37 in route to their second straight win. They trail the Muskegon Lumberjacks and the Dubuque Fighting Saints by nine points for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Just like theirlast game against the Chicago Steel, an affiliate player helped start the scoring as Bailey Conger (St. Lawrence University) scored a goal in his United States Hockey League debut. The goal was then matched just 40 seconds later at 8:47 by Freddy Gerard (Ohio State University) who score his 14thof the season. Two more goals were put in by the Thunder to end the first. Steven Merl continued the firsts for Bloomington, grabbing his first goal with his new team and chased goaltender Garrett Metcalf from the game with 12saves through 12 minutes of work. Then Jake Slaker who earned the first star, scored at 17:18 to make it 3-1 with a power play goal. He would later turn in an assist and being one of three Thunder players to have a multi-point game

In the second, Ryan Galt (University of Nebraska-Omaha) found a juicy rebound from NikolasK oberstein's (University of Alaska-Fairbanks) shot on the power play and worked it past goaltender Darren Smith(Ferris State). The Thunder went 2-3 on the power play. Their only blemish on five penalty kills came at 18:16 on a 5-on-3 goal by Daniel Willett. The defenseman potted his sixth of the year to cut the lead in half.

Bloomington openedthe third with another goal to extend their lead. Playing the puck in front ona 2-on-1, Van Barr (Western Michigan University) connected with Matt Mendelson (Penn State University) who tipped it in at 6:50. Mendelson continues to lead the team in points with 34 (13g, 21a) on the season. Tommy Muck managed to score one with under three to play but the goal was not enough to start a comeback.

Thunder goaltender Hayden Lavigne (University of Michigan) rebounded in a big way, stopping 29 shots to earn his 13thwin of the season and eighth with the Thunder.

Sunday, the Thunder head to Madison to take on the Capitols for the fourth and final time in a 3:00 pm CST game.



United States Hockey League Stories from March 7, 2015


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