Offense Comes Alive in 5-1 Rout of Chill
December 14, 2013 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Wichita Thunder News Release
St. Charles, MO - The Thunder offense came alive on Saturday night, propelling Wichita (7-13-4) past the St. Charles Chill (6-13-4) by the final of 5-1. Ian Lowe had a pair of goals and Matt Robinson registered three assists to pace a balanced attack that improved to 5-4-2 on the road. The Thunder are now 1-1-1 against St. Charles this season and will close out the regular season-series against the Chill at the end of the month in the Air Capital.
Like last night, Wichita jumped out an early lead 12 minutes into the game. Robinson made a nice play cutting towards the slot and dropped a pass to Lowe who buried it past Robby Moss for the 1-0 lead. 35 seconds later, Andrew Martens made it 2-0 when he skated from his own blue line up the left wing and put a wrist shot to the short side of Moss at 12:42. St. Charles was able to get on the board at 15:48 with a power play goal after Jared Walker was sent off for interference. Dan Weiss sent a one-timer from the left circle past Taylor Nelson and made it 2-1.
Lowe added his second of the game at the 4:30 mark of the second period to re-gain the two-goal advantage collecting a nice feed from behind the Chill net from Nick McParland. The Thunder defense clamped down and only allowed four shots on net in the frame.
In the third period, Wichita converted on its third power play of the night as Jon Booras sniped a one-timer off the back crossbar to make it 4-1. The goal light never went on, but referee Zak Blazic was in position and the initial call on the ice was a goal. He spoke to the goal judge and it stood as called. At 15:32, Jared Walker lifted a pass over a defender's head to Dustin Donaghy and he found the back of the net with a wrist shot off the back crossbar to increase the lead to 5-1 and would close out the scoring.
Wichita scored two or more goals for the first time in five games. Martens registered his 35th goal and 141st point in a Thunder uniform with his fourth goal of the season. He has 19 points on the season and is in first place in scoring for CHL blue liners. Robinson recorded his first assist of the season (3a) and was a +3 earning the number 1 star. Nelson won for the fifth time on the year, stopping 25 of 26 shots. Moss took the loss, stopping 21 of 26 shots he faced.
Wichita went 1-for-3 on the power play. St. Charles was 1-for-4.
Wichita will be back in action next week as the team heads to Arizona to face the Sundogs for the first time this season for a two-game set. The five-game road swing ends with a rematch against the Oilers on Friday, December 27th at 7:35 p.m.
Individual game tickets are on sale now. Season tickets and mini plans are still available. 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 off-season by visiting www.wichitathunder.com.
Central Hockey League Stories from December 14, 2013
- Mallards' Streak Snapped in Rapid City - Quad City Mallards
- Sundogs Net the Cutthroats - Denver Cutthroats
- Offense Comes Alive in 5-1 Rout of Chill - Wichita Thunder
- Sundogs out Cutthroats in 3-4 Win - Arizona Sundogs
- Pitton and the Americans Shut Out Missouri 3-0 - Allen Americans
- Thunder Scores Five to Upend Chil - St. Charles Chill
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