Thunderbolts Defeat Rivermen in Five Games, Successfully Repeat as SPHL Champions
SPHL Evansville Thunderbolts

Thunderbolts Defeat Rivermen in Five Games, Successfully Repeat as SPHL Champions

Published on May 10, 2026 under SPHL (SPHL)
Evansville Thunderbolts News Release


Peoria, IL: Rallying from 2-0 down in the best-of-five series, the Thunderbolts completed the historic comeback with a 6-4 game five victory in Peoria on Saturday night, becoming the fourth team in SPHL history to win back-to-back President's Cup titles.

It was Peoria who struck first, with Alec Baer scoring at 7:01 to give the Rivermen a 1-0 lead. Only 39 seconds later, Evansville struck back as a dump-in bounced off Rivermen goaltender Nick Latinovich, the fumble tapped in by Isaac Chapman at 7:40 to tie the game 1-1, assisted by Matthew Hobbs and Anthony Mollica. Riding the momentum and outshooting Peoria 12-5 in the first period, Evansville grabbed a 2-1 lead at 17:07 as Cameron MacPhee scored off a behind-the-net pass from Myles Abbate and Hobbs. Peoria struck back early in the second period, as Jordan Ernst tied the game at the 2:56 mark, before the Thunderbolts rattled off two quick goals to take a 4-2 lead and chase Latinovich with four goals on 16 shots; Scott Kirton scored at 4:14 off a setup from Evan Miller, followed 38 seconds by Hobbs at 4:52 as he banked in a wrap-around attempt, assisted by Kirton. Latinovich was replaced by Jack Bostedt, but that did not immediately stop the scoring as Chapman scored once again on a rush to the net from Aaron Huffnagle at 10:18 to give Evansville a 5-2 lead after two periods.

The Rivermen made their last stand in the third period as they had done in the last two games in Evansville and scored twice to tighten the Thunderbolts' lead to only 5-4 as Mike Gelatt scored at 5:46, followed by Ernst on the game's only power play at 14:54. However, before the Rivermen could go for the tie by pulling Bostedt, the Rivermen gave up the puck right by their own net, with Derek Contessa scoring to give Evansville a 6-4 lead with 1:58 remaining, assisted by Abbate and Miller to allow the Evansville bench as well as the hundreds of Thunderbolts fans who made the trip to breathe a sigh of relief. The Rivermen finally pulled Bostedt, but it was too little too late as the Thunderbolts completed the reverse sweep, coming back from a 2-0 series deficit to become the fourth SPHL team in history to win back-to-back President's Cup Titles, joining the Knoxville Ice Bears of 2008 and 2009, the Pensacola Ice Flyers of 2013 and 2014, and most recently the Huntsville Havoc of 2018 and 2019. Captain Matthew Hobbs was awarded Playoff MVP honors, scoring 1 goal and 9 assists for 10 points along with a +10 rating in 12 playoff games.

Chapman finished with two goals including the game-winning goal, Hobbs finished with one goal and two assists, Kirton scored one goal and one assist, while MacPhee and Contessa scored one goal each. Miller and Abbate tallied a pair of assists, while Kristian Stead finished with 24 saves on 28 shots on goal, in net for every game and all eight Thunderbolts wins of the playoffs.

Season tickets for the 2026-27 season are on sale now. Call 812-422-BOLT (2658) or visit our website (www.evansvillethunderbolts.com) for details.

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SPHL Stories from May 10, 2026


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