Thunder Blow Past Sundogs 5-1
Published on December 22, 2013 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Wichita Thunder News Release
Prescott Valley, AZ - Behind a solid defensive effort and timely scoring, Wichita (8-14-4) ripped past the Arizona Sundogs (9-16-1) on Saturday night, winning by the final of 5-1 at Tim's Toyota Center. Jon Booras and Matt Robinson each had three points while Jesse Dudas and Andrew Martens both had two. Wichita scored five-unanswered goals after giving up the first tally of the game in the first three minutes. The Thunder penalty killing unit smothered Arizona's power play, who had eight chances with the man advantage and one opportunity with a five-on-three. Wichita improves to 1-1-0 on the season against the Sundogs and leaps ahead of Arizona by one point in the standings.
Each team found the back of the net in the first period. Arizona scored first for the second game in a row as Alex Velischek fired a shot from the blue line at 2:37 to make it 1-0. Less than a minute later, Wichita answered to tie game when Booras banged home a rebound after Robinson made a nice play to get to the net. He took a pass from Booras off his foot, got it to his stick and slid it off the post at 3:17.
Wichita took its first lead of the weekend when Martens fired a shot on Chris Rawlings from the top of the left circle. Rawlings appeared to clench the puck against his body, but the whistle never sounded and it squirted over the goal line with Tudor Floru, who was the game's official, in position to call it a goal. At 14:07, the Thunder power play struck as Booras tallied his second of the night on a one-timer from the right face-off dot to increase the lead to 3-1. Wichita kept the momentum going just over a minute later as Jared Walker rifled a slap shot past Rawlings to increase the lead to 4-1. Rawlings was lifted out of the game and in case the starter from the previous night as Andrew Engelage was forced into relief.
At the start of the third, Sundogs coach Kevin Colley was assessed a bench minor for abuse of officials giving Wichita its fourth power play of the night. Arizona was able to kill off the opportunity and then was the beneficiary of three-consecutive power plays as Gruenke, Robinson and Booras each went off for two minutes. The Thunder penalty killing unit held the fort, doing a terrific job of standing the Sundogs up at its own blue line. Taylor Nelson made some key saves in the final minutes including one on Kyle Beattie, who was all alone down the slot. Nelson stood his ground and made a terrific leg pad save. At 18:43, Booras beat Michael Trebish to a loose puck in the left-wing corner, dished it off to Robinson and beat Andrew Engelage through the five-hole to close out the scoring at 5-1.
Wichita improves to 6-5-2 on the road this season and 3-3-0 all-time at Tim's Toyota Center. Robinson had a goal and two assists, moving past Sean O'Reilly into ninth place all-time with 170 points in a Thunder uniform. He is just four goals shy for 100 in his career. Martens finished with a goal and an assist, putting him one point shy of tying Cam Plante in third place all-time for points scored by a Thunder blue liner (36g, 108a144). Booras recorded his second multi-goal game and sixth multi-point game of the season with his two-goal outing. He's six points shy of 500 points for his career, now with 197 goals and 297 assists. Nelson earned his sixth win of the season, stopping 27 of 28 shots. Rawlings took the loss, stopping 15 of 19 shots in 34 minutes before being pulled from the game
Wichita went 1-for-4 on the power play. Arizona was 0-for-8.
The Thunder close out its five-game road trip a week from this past Friday against Tulsa at the BOK Center at 7:35 p.m. Wichita returns home for two games as the St. Charles Chill come to town for the first time-ever.
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 22, 2013
- Mallards Hold off Chill 3-1 - St. Charles Chill
- Mallards Overcome Chill 3-1 - Quad City Mallards
- St. Charles Chill Sets Guys Night Out at Ameristar Casino - St. Charles Chill
- Sundogs Split Set against Thunder, 5-1 Loss - Arizona Sundogs
- Americans Fall to Brampton 6-2 - Allen Americans
- Thunder Blow Past Sundogs 5-1 - Wichita Thunder
- Late Goal Dooms Oilers in 3-2 Loss to Mavericks - Tulsa Oilers
- Mavericks Triumph in Tulsa - Kansas City Mavericks
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