January 16 Game Report

Thunder came out of the tunnel saturday wearing purple (in a show of support for the Vikings) for an afternoon matinee with AQ who was hosting in white. First period was mired with penalties and lacked any possible sense of flow as it went from 5v4 to 4v4 to 4v3 to 5v3 to 4v3 to 4v4 to 4v5 to 3v5 to 4v5 before returning to even strength. Mike Briganti was assessed a minor CFB (looked like a rough at worst to me) midway through all that madness and missed the back half of the first frame where the focus seemed to be more on the officials than the game. On one of the many shorthanded situations Hebs made a nice block to thwart an attempted pass across the crease to the back door. Shots were 7-5 to the good for Thunder.

Second stanza saw more of the same PIM madness, but Thunder managed to take advantage of a 2-man advantage early when Chess-man drilled Dohr in the shoulder with a blast from the high slot, after receiving a finely threaded pass through traffic from Justin Simonelli on the grassy knoll, and as Dohr's shoulder went back and to the left, the magic biscuit found its way through for the goal. Thunder could not convert on the remaining 5 on 4. Instead, AQ would rally just after play returned to even strength when Jake Vogl went long taking a feed from Nick Montinarelli to get behind the Thunder D and ended up beating Cumming 1 on 0 to tie things up. Six minutes of give and take later, Vogl bagged his second, assisted by Bernie Gauthier and Nico Gonzalez, to convert a 4v3 AQ advantage and take the lead, despite several nice saves by Cumming during the kill. Cheese got the baton from Ganti, taking his turn in loserville for another marginal CFB. Conan O'Brien filled the void nicely while Cheese and Ganti were incarcerated. Other notable moments sprinkled throughout the period include a new maneuver that can only be described as a sliding backside block for Sherry, a pair of textbook harrys for Grims and Vypes, and several nice pinches by Hebberect to keep Thunder on the attack. Oh, and how about the diving cover-up by Ian on the back door to stymie what appeared to be the old "SIR play" where you intentionally shoot the puck off the back wall hoping it will kick out front for a tap in. Shots were 9 a side, and it was 2-1 AQ going to the cut.

Thunder kept the pressure on throughout the third but were repeatedly denied until late in the period when Matt Keough would cash in a gritty rebound, assisted by Cheese and Sherry, to force overtime. Shots were 12-8 for a 3-period total of 28-22 Thunder. Greece owned the extra frame with seven shots to nada for AQ, but the game ended quietly, a 2-2 tie. Not a bad road point to keep the Thunder undefeated in 2010 as their record advances to 5-3-2-1. First star goes to AQ's Jake Vogl with a pair of goals. Second star goes to Brandon Chess-man with a goal and assist. Third star goes to Matt Keough with his first varsity goal, the GTG that forced OT. Both goalies played well with Cumming saving 20 of 22 for Thunder and Dohr stopping 33 of 35 for AQ.