The series is sitting at one versus one with one more game for the weekend. This match will determine who will walk away with the weekend win. The first match went into overtime followed up by a shootout, and ended in sudden death which the Thunder claimed the victory. The second match was not a contest as the Dragons ended the winning streak of the Thunder 9-0.
The first period was a very technical game with lots of defense and offense from both teams. At the 4:27 mark, two players would through some blows before falling onto the ice. The Thunder player would leave the ice to ensure no injury from the fall onto the ice. Move to the 5:58 mark to watch another physical altercation. Another altercation would happen at the 12:11 mark. This is much of the case for the first period as there were no goals scored.
The second period would start off like the first without all of the penalties. Very offense and defense style game as teams weren’t able to gain an upper hand. Around midway through the second period is when the dragons were able to get a puck past the line. The goal was made by Pietrantonio at the 8:09 mark. Quickly the dragons would score with Jmaeff knocking one in at the 8:20 mark. The thunder would respond with Vennstrom scoring at the 16:35 mark. The thunder wouldn’t stop there as they would tie it up with Grant-Mentis scoring at the 17:45 mark.
With a tied-up weekend series and a two-two game going into the third period, this is important to both teams. The thunder would take the lead with Grant-Mentis scoring his second goal at the 7:42 mark. The dragons wouldn’t let the thunder roll out of town in this fashion. Daae would score to tie up the game at the 18:32 mark.
The game would go into overtime for the second time in three games. The three-on-three overtime would give each team chances to score. At the end of the five minutes, score was still tied. This means that there would be a shootout again just like the game on Friday.
The shootout would start with the thunder missing their first shot. The dragons took advantage and Kelly scored to put them in the lead. The second shot for the thunder would be a miss again. This gives the dragons to win if they score, but it was saved by the goal tender. The third shot for Delaware made it in with Milushkin tying up the shootout. The last shot in the shootout for the dragons would slide off the stick and go wide of the net.
Sudden death would make its appearance again within three days. The sudden death would start off with both of the teams missing their first shots by shooting wide of the goal. The second round of sudden death would be unsuccessful for both teams by goal tender saves. The thunder would send in their third sudden death to be blocked by the goal tender. The dragons’ Vannelli would make the game winning goal in the third round of sudden death.
All three games this weekend were fun and exciting games for fans and the players for both teams. Twice the teams went into sudden death shootouts, there was a sell-out crowd on military appreciation night, and a shutout game.
Three stars of the night went to Aldworth as the third star, Daae got the second star, and the first star went to Jmaeff.
PHOTO CREDIT: Toni.Hill@prohockeynews.com
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