WICHITA, Kan. – For the first time since 2005, the Wichita Thunder are advancing in the Central Hockey League playoffs. 
R.G. Flath and Daniel Tetrault each scored a pair of goals while Kevin Young added a goal and assist and Matt Robinson added a pair of helpers as Wichita sailed to a 6-2 home ice win over the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees in front of 4,516 fans at Intrust Bank Arena on Saturday night. Thunder goaltender Adam Russo, having a light workload, stopped 13 of 15 shots as he racked up his fourth post-season win. Overall the Thunder outshot the Killer Bees 37-15 on the night and 192-121 on the series. Following the game, Russo was quick to praise his teammate’s defensive effort. “The defense was solid all series long,” Russo said. “It’s hard to remain focused in games like that where all the way through the series it’s no more than 20 or 25 shots a game. The guys in front of me pretty much dominated it all the way through.” For the fifth straight game in this series, Rio Grande Valley got on the board first. Forward Jason Dixon grabbed the puck off of a turnover in the neutral zone during a four-on-four situation mid-way through the first and found Aaron Lee to make it 1-0. Dixon picked up the puck and skated into the Wichita zone from the right of Russo, floating a pass across the crease that Lee tapped into the open net. Wichita evened the score at 12:24 with their first power play goal of the series. Following a draw to the right of Murray, Tetrault took a cross-ice feed from Kevin Seibel and fired a shot from outside the right circle that found the net. Matt Summers later missed a chance to put the Thunder on top, coming up short on a shot fired from point blank range with just 12-seconds remaining and the two squads went into the first intermission tied at 1-1. The Killer Bees wasted little time reclaiming the lead, when Dan Gendur found the net just 1:09 into the second period. As Referee Steve Cruickshank held his hand in the air signifying a delayed penalty on the Thunder, Gendur took a cross-ice feed and sailed the puck top shelf past Russo to make it 2-1. From there, however, Wichita shifted the momentum and took control of the period. Two minutes later, Flath intercepted a Rio Grande Valley pass at the top of the right circle, skated in on net and sailed a wrist shot above Murray’s glove to tie it at 2-2. Tetrault added his second tally of the night at the 7:29 mark, taking a pass from Robinson and scoring once again from the top of the right circle. Flath added his second at the 11:41 mark, taking a cross-crease feed from Alex Bourret and hammering the puck home past Murray. The Thunder added two more insurance goals in the third period as they cruised towards the series-clinching win. 31-seconds into the final period, Thomas Beauregard stole the puck at the blue line, marched in all alone, deked Murray and tapped the puck into the open net to make it 5-2. At that point Killer Bees Head Coach Terry Ruskowski replaced Murray with Wylie Rogers. Kevin Young added an empty-net goal with 2:26 remaining to make it 6-2. Wichita now awaits either the second-seeded Allen Americans or the third-seeded Texas Brahmas in the Berry Conference Final. Texas picked up a 1-0 win over Allen Saturday, giving them a 3-2 series lead headed into game six on Tuesday. With the best regular season record in the CHL, the Thunder will enjoy home ice advantage in their upcoming series. Contact the writer at john.hall@prohockeynews.com
