IceCats Overpower Thunderbirds, 6-4, in Road Victory
FPHL Pee Dee IceCats

IceCats Overpower Thunderbirds, 6-4, in Road Victory

Published on October 17, 2025 under Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL)
Pee Dee IceCats News Release


PeeDee IceCats on game night
PeeDee IceCats on game night
(Pee Dee IceCats)

WINSTON-SALEM, NC - The PeeDee IceCats overpowered the Twin City Thunderbirds 5-3 on Friday night to earn their first road win in history. The IceCats netted four goals in the second period to overtake the Thunderbirds. From there, they added one more tally to get the win. Dominiks Marcinkevics led the IceCats offense with three goals, and Ricardo Gonzalez made 37 saves in the victory.

Box Score:

TCT, #20 Zach White, 5:54, 1st 1-0

TCT, #10 Kalib (Gus) Ford (#18 Roman Kraemer), 8:17, 1st 2-0

PIC, #27 Patriks Marcinkevics, 9:26, 1st 2-1

PIC, #23 Eli Rivers, 5:25, 2nd 2-2

PIC, #11 Dominiks Marcinkevics, PP Goal, 7:09, 2nd 3-2

PIC, #12 T J Prexler, 8:46 2nd 4-2

TCT, #16 Jan Salak, 10:13 2nd 4-3

PIC, #11 Dominiks Marcinkevics (#12 T J Prexler, #7 Timur Rasulov), 14:33 2nd 5-3

PIC, #11 Dominiks Marcinkevics, 11:11 3rd 6-3

TCT, #10 Kalib (Gus) Ford (#36 Dionne Demke 18:09 3rd 6-4

First Period:

The pace of the game rivaled that found at a track meet. Both teams used their speed to create chances early in the period. The Twin City Thunderbirds had seven shots on goal in the opening five minutes. Ricardo Gonzalez was up to the challenge, turning away each shot to keep the scoreline at zero.

The IceCats had a great chance with a breakaway from Konstantin Chernyuk. He skated in and lifted it towards Boris Babik, who steered it aside. The Thunderbirds countered, and Zach White went end to end; he skated in on Gonzalez and scored stick side to make it 1-0 with 14:55 left in the period.

Three minutes later, Zach White created a turnover in his offensive zone and centered the puck to Gus Ford. Ford quickly wristed it on frame and past Gonzalez for the Thunderbirds' second tally at 11:43. The IceCats didn't let the two-goal deficit loom for long. Patriks Marcinkevics collected a loose puck and went coast to coast, juking one defender, skating in on Babik, and beating him with the elevated backhand into the top right corner to make it 2-1 with 10:34 remaining.

Zach White skated strong to the net for Thunderbirds one-on-one and flipped a shot towards Gonzalez. Gonzalez made a great blocker save, his 12th of the frame, to keep the scoreline at 2-1 after 20 minutes.

Second Period:

The IceCats pounced early in the second frame. Eli Rivers corralled a loose puck and sent a shot into the low left corner for the equalizer, making it 2-2 with 14:35 remaining.

The IceCats' offensive spark continued when a shot was tipped out in front and Dominiks Marcinkevics tapped the loose puck home to make it 3-2 IceCats 7:09. The visitors created an odd man rush, Babik deflected the initial shot, but TJ Prexler cashed in the rebound to make it 4-2.

Jan Salak received a centering pass and rifled a shot into the back of the net to make it 4-3 with 9:47 remaining in the second. Later in the period, Dominiks Marcinkevics extended the IceCats' lead back to two. Timur Rasulov threaded a great pass to Marcinkevics, who fired it into the back of the net to make it 5-3. The IceCats played lockdown defense for the final five and a half minutes to take a two-goal lead into the third period.

Third Period:

Gonzalez stood tall in the third period making a key save on Crespo's wrister and totaled seven stops in the first ten minutes.

The Marcinkevics twins connected for another tally. Dominiks Marcinkevics beamed the puck into the upper left corner of the net. His hat trick gave the Pee Dee IceCats a 6-3 advantage.

Gus Ford skated a full circle in his offensive zone, darted past two defenders towards the crease, and flipped a backhand past Gonzalez to make it 6-4 with 1:51 remaining.

Gonzalez made a great pad save with less than one minute left and fought off another shot in the closing seconds. The IceCats captured their first road victory in franchise history, winning 5-3 to improve to 2-0-1 on the season and in first place in the Continental Division.

The IceCats return to the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Arena tomorrow night for another tilt against the Thunderbirds at 6:05 p.m. Catch the broadcast on the IceCats Broadcast Network.

Written by Jonathan Hudson

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Images from this story

PeeDee IceCats on game night
PeeDee IceCats on game night
   



Federal Prospects Hockey League Stories from October 17, 2025


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central