February 13 Game Report

On the eve of Valentines there was a lot of love in the air at the shore as Thunder played visitor to Irondequoit on their senior nite. Jim Soufleris was at the mic to announce the IHS seniors as well as your very own Thunder seniors who showed a lot of class by remaining on the ice for the duration of the Eagles ceremony. IHS senior Rachel Zwitzer performed the anthem and then Thunder Captain Brandon Cheeseman and Eagles Assistant Jesse Haliniak participated in a ceremonial first face off with IHS Senior Captain David York, who came out to drop the puck, as he was unable to participate in his senior nite contest due to a recent injury he had sustained. Had we known about this in advance, perhaps we could have gotten Thunder Sophomore Keenan Mahoney in on the ceremony, as he too was recently sidelined by an unfortunate injury. Despite all the IHS hoopla, fans in the visitor stands were clearly in a Thunder State of Mind.

I'm from the Thunder State that's...
In Lake-shore,
Hockey jungle where dreams are made of,
Theres nothing you can’t do,
Now you’re on Thun-der,
this team will make you feel brand new,
Big goals will inspire you,
lets hear it for Thun Der, Thun Der, Thun Der

It was a nite of fun with the Vyverbrother (Vyper/Snake) and Grimmy (Jared/Tyler) tandems taking to the ice as blueline brothers. The Simmy bro's got to play together as well, with Andrew taking the baton from Ian to backstop his brother Justin. Everyone was rallying 'round to try and get senior forwards Matt Lerch and Tyler Lepore their first goal and while they were unable to accomplish this feat, it was truly an inspiration to see the whole team cheering them on and being so supportive of one another. Thunder closed out the regular season on a high note with a 6-1 win over Irondequoit and a whole lot of unity going into the post season.

Not much doing in the opening period other than a 5 on 3 each way with no conversion. Vyper turned a harry into a shorthanded scoring chance but the the Eagles keeper held onto his bid. First frame was scoreless with shots 11-8 in Thunder's favor.

Curran O'Brien broke the seal 6 minutes into the second, when he put away the rebound from a shot right on by AC. Cheese followed it up with a goal of his own based on sheer determination, as he bulled his way through traffic and got up in the goalies grill to get the puck across the line, assisted by Tyler Grimshaw. ASim came in for Cumming with 2:09 to go in the second. Almost a minute later, Dan Vyverberg called for Matt Keough to chip the puck by his check and then Vyper lugged the mail down the left side with two Thunder forwards going to the net. Thought he might slide it over but instead he let a snapper go from outside that grazed the top of the goalies glove and into the goal to make it 3-0 Thunder. IHS came back with a whimper with 3 seconds left in the second as Nick Papas got by ASim with a deflection off a Thunder player's skate, assisted by Peter Barilla and Mike Basta.

It was 3-1 Thunder at the end of two and by this point in the game I am pretty sure everyone in the building had to have seen/heard Lady GaGa or was it GooGoo, carrying on in the stands. She was wearing a homemade Thunder T adorned with glitter and such, a pair of oversized aviators, like the ones the baby wore in the hangover, and a purple plaid hunting hat complete with the ear flaps. Nobody seemed to know who she was or where she came from. Athena parents said she must be from Odyssey and of course Odyssey parents said no, she's from Athena. While the story remains largely unconfirmed, rumor has it she is an alumni from one of the Thunder schools who was in the stands to avenge some remarks made by the IHS camp when Thunder played the Eagles last year. Methinks this could be fodder for a reality show someday.

Back from the break, IHS swapped their netminders witrh Blake Billitier coming in for Vinnie Guida between the pipes. Mike McNuggetSkillet posted a fourth marker for Thunder with 5:36 to go, assisted by Matt Lerch and Justin Simonelli. Mike Briganti notched another, two minutes later, putting away the rebound from a shot by Tyler Lepore, assisted by Cheese. Exit Billitier, enter Joe Hall in net for the Eagles. Lerch sprung Eric Hostetter who found Simmy coming down the left side and then Simmy buried the wrister to get Lerch his second point on the season. When all was said and done, Thunder had 13 different point getters, as they defeated Irondequoit 6-1 with everyone getting in on the action.

This win advances Thunder's record to 8-3-3 (9-6-4-1 overall), garnering them second place in the west division and 7th seed in the Class A sectionals. First star goes to Tyler LePore who "stole the show" while logging his first career point. Second star goes to Matt Lerch who played tough throughout and racked up a pair of assists for his first Thunder points. Third star is shared by Cheese and Simmy with a goal and assist apiece.