Rivermen Earn 5th Straight Win over Thunder

December 20, 2013 - SPHL (SPHL)
Bloomington Thunder News Release


PEORIA - The Bloomington Thunder mitigated a first period Peoria onslaught but lost to the Rivermen 6-2 for the hosts' fifth straight win on Friday night at Carver Arena.

The Rivermen opened the scoring just 2:41 into the game when Nick Wheeler tipped in a Charlie Carkin drive from the left point. Thunder forward Ron Cramer was issued a major spearing penalty and game misconduct midway through the opening period, but the Rivermen didn't score on the long power play despite two minutes of a two-man advantage and led 1-0 at the first break despite outshooting the Thunder 21-2.

Peoria capitalized on their next 5-on-3 power play with 15:56 remaining in the middle period when Nick Prockow knocked a rebound into an open net. The Thunder answered on a nifty far-side one-timer by Kevin Walrod from Tyler Noseworthy and Sy Nutkevitch with 11:24 showing to cut the Thunder deficit to 2-1. The hosts regained a two-goal advantage with 6:34 remaining before the second intermission with a Garrett Vermeersch conversion of a Parker Stanfield centering pass from behind the goal, but the Thunder got it back with 5:25 left on Walrod's second goal of the game when he crashed the slot and backhanded a Travis Granbois pass from the right wing to cut the Peoria lead to 3-2. The Rivermen answered with 3:35 remaining in the middle period on a Corey Tamblyn swat that trickled past Thunder goalie B.J. O'Brien to put Peoria ahead 4-2 at the second intermission.

The Rivermen took advantage of a bounce in front of the net when Steve Morra collected a rebound off the left post and slapped the puck into an open left side with 9:24 remaining in regulation to increase the lead to 5-2. Vermeersch took a centering pass at the doorstep with 6:05 remaining on assists from Parker Stanfield and Jarrett Rush for the final score.

O'Brien took the loss with 33 saves while Eric Levine earned the win while stopping 21 shots. The Thunder were 1-for-7 on the power play while the Rivs went 2-for-7.

The Thunder continue the three-game weekend set with the Rivermen with a 7:05 p.m. Saturday face-off at U.S. Cellular Coliseum. SpongeBob SquarePants will the the special guest before and during the game. Kids 12 and under eat free from the 6:05 gate opening until the first Thunder goal thanks to SERVPRO. The teams return to Peoria for the weekend finale on Sunday at 3:15 p.m.

U.S. Cellular Coliseum will be busy with the Bloomington Junior Blaze on Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday and Monday at 11 a.m. against the Berkley Bruins in Midwest Junior Hockey League play. The Thunder visit Fayetteville, N.C. on the Friday and Saturday after Christmas. All Thunder games can be heard inside U.S. Cellular Coliseum on 93.7 FM and on WJBC.com and America One Sports subscription video. Links to the online broadcasts are on www.bloomingtonthunder.com, where fans can also find information on the team as well as on Facebook and Twitter (BLMThunder) or by calling 309-434-2980.



SPHL Stories from December 20, 2013


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