Late Bounce Doesn't Go Thunder's Way in Loss at Allen
March 20, 2014 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Wichita Thunder News Release
Allen, TX (March 19th) - Matt Robinson was standing near the left post, a goal-scorers dream as Bryan Pitton got caught out of the net for Allen. His late attempt to tie the game was inches away from finding the back of the net. Unfortunately, it caught iron and a one-goal deficit turned into a three-goal loss as Wichita (25-28-7) got tripped up by the Americans (35-20-5) on Wednesday night at the Allen Event Center. Robinson recorded his team-leading 27th of the season while Tomas Klempa and Ian Lowe also found the back of the net. Wichita is now 3-3-1 against the Americans this year and will close out the season series on Sunday afternoon at INTRUST Bank Arena.
Playing with just nine forwards and five defenseman, the Thunder battled hard in the first 10 minutes. Allen got on the board first as Jamie Schaafsma tipped in a rebound before David Brown was able to cover it at 13:19. The Americans got the first two power plays of the game and cashed in on their second. Madden knocked an American player off the puck just inside the Thunder line and as he was moving up the ice on a potential break-a-way was called for slashing. Schaafsma scored his second at 17:58 on the man advantage with a shot from the circles to make it 2-0. He finished with four points adding two assists over the final two periods. The Thunder spent almost six minutes on the penalty kill during the opening frame, but started the second with a power play when former Thunder defenseman Daniel Tetrault was called for hooking.
Wichita outscored the Americans in the second, 2-1. Lowe whistled a shot off the bar past Pitton at 3:24 on the power play to cut the lead to 2-1. The two teams exchanged calls and Allen got another power play goal from Tyler Ludwig at 11:46 with a one-timer from the deep slot. Robinson caught a beautiful feed from Mike Wilson across the slot and buried it to cut the Allen lead to one, 3-2, heading into the third. The Thunder unloaded 16 shots and held Allen to four at one point. The Americans got a few late and ended with 7 shots on net in the second.
In the third, Bruce Graham stole the puck in the neutral zone and scored on a break-a-way at 9:16 to re-gain a two-goal advantage. At 17:49, Tomas Klempa got the Thunder within one off a face-off after Brown was lifted for the extra attacker. Trailing 4-3 with just over 1:45 left, Wichita won an offensive zone face-off. Mike Wilson fed it across from the right half boards to the bottom of the left circle where Robinson's redirection hit the post. Several Thunder players tried to put the puck in, but Allen was able to keep it from crossing the line. Greger Hanson scored an empty-netter shortly after and made it a 5-3 game with just over a minute left. The Americans added another empty-net goal from Alex Lavoie at 19:15 and won the contest 6-3.
Wichita finishes 2-2-0 this season at the Allen Event Center. The Thunder remain six points back of Tulsa for seventh and five points shy of Arizona for the eighth playoff spot pending tonight's outcome between the Cutthroats and the Sundogs in Prescott Valley. Robinson records his 112th all-time goal in a Thunder uniform and his 194th point of his career. He needs five more to tie Joe Blaznek (117) for fourth place in goals scored and needs two points to pull even with Ron Handy in seventh place all-time in points in Thunder blue. Booras tallies his 13th multi-point and fifth multi-assist game of the year with two helpers. He is riding a six-game scoring streak, scoring eight points over that span (1g, 7a). Klempa has points in his last three, scoring two goals and three assists. Brown suffers the loss, stopping 27 of 31 shots. Pitton grabs the victory, stopping 31 of 34 shots he faced.
Wichita was 1-for-4 on the power play. Allen went 2-for-5 on the man advantage.
Wichita finishes its three game road trip on Friday night in Tulsa at 7:35 p.m. The Thunder returns to INTRUST Bank Arena on March 22nd to host the Oilers for the final regular season meeting between the two teams at 7:05 p.m., which is also Youth Jersey Night. Head over to Pucks Sports Bar for the Thunder Alumni Watch Party on Friday night. Cheer on the Thunder when they take on Tulsa while enjoying the game with some of the Thunder greats. The watch party starts at 7:30 p.m.
2014-15 season tickets are on sale now! Don't delay, contact the Wichita Thunder Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at (316) 264-4625. Stay up-to-date on all the news this season by visiting www.wichitathunder.com.
Central Hockey League Stories from March 20, 2014
- Alex Lavoie Loaned to Oklahoma City of the American Hockey League - Allen Americans
- Sundogs End Cutthroats Nine Game Winning Streak - Arizona Sundogs
- First Cutthroats Loss in March - Denver Cutthroats
- Late Bounce Doesn't Go Thunder's Way in Loss at Allen - Wichita Thunder
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