CHL Wichita Thunder

Thunder Falls Twice in Missouri

November 16, 2009 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Wichita Thunder News Release


The Thunder played in their first overtime game of the season on Friday, falling 3-2 in a shootout to the Missouri Mavericks in the first ever game at the Independence Events Center. The Thunder opened a 2-0 lead behind goals from Joel Hanson and Marc Belanger. With the Thunder leading 2-1 late in the third, Jeff MacDermid tied the game with a shot from the boards with less than five minutes left in regulation. The Thunder survived two Mavericks' power plays in overtime before falling 3-0 in the shootout round. Scott Campbell saved a season-high 41 shots as well as a second period penalty shot by Nick Sirota.

Wichita lost 4-2 to the Mavericks the following night. Wichita again took the early lead, this time behind a power play goal from Troy Ofukany. Missouri rallied for three unanswered power play goals in the second period in a span of 3:12. Mike Kneeland scored his third goal of the season at 10:27 in the third to make it a one-goal game, but the Mavericks scored an insurance goal at 14:47 leading to their victory. Campbell saved 33 of 37 in the loss.

Kneeland Among Rookie Leaders

Mike Kneeland scored his third goal of the season on Saturday night and now ranks tied for third in goals among CHL rookies.

Congrats to Batty

Right wing Mike Batovanja and his wife Stefanie welcomed baby daughter Reese into their family last Sunday. Batovanja has two goals this season and leads the Thunder with 35 PIM.

Campbell Logging Minutes

Scott Campbell, who saved a season-high 41 shots on Friday night, is seeing plenty of action in his first rookie season. The 24-year old ranks fifth in the league in minutes played at 481:04 and has started five consecutive games. Campbell owns a goals against average of 3.12 and a save percentage of.900.

Power Play Improvement

The Thunder snapped an 0 for 32 streak on the man advantage on Friday night. Overall, the Thunder went 2 for 8 on the power play last weekend for a 25.0% success rate.

Pilkington Joins Thunder

Wichita signed center Brett Pilkington last week. Prior to arriving in Wichita, Pilkington had 158 points in 191 career games. The Calgary native scored 29 points in 35 games with the ECHL's Bakersfield Condors last year. Pilkington also played four years of college hockey at Bowling Green State University where he was a teammate of former Thunder goaltender Jon Horrell.

Injury Update

Jason Duda (back) and Chris Kovalcik (knee) remain on the 30-Day IR.

Up Next

The Thunder has a busy week ahead with four games scheduled in a span of six days. Wichita heads to Tulsa on Tuesday night, before hosting Arizona on Friday and welcoming the Oilers on Saturday. The Thunder makes its second trip of the week to the BOK Center on Sunday evening. Both home games begin at 7:05 p.m. For tickets, call the Thunder office at (316) 264-GOAL.

Check out the Wichita Thunder Statistics



Central Hockey League Stories from November 16, 2009


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