Thunder bid for sweep of Sioux City falls short

Posted on December 3, 2016

The Thunder lost 4-2 to Sioux City at home on Saturday. (WJBC File Photo)

By WJBC Staff

BLOOMINGTON — Eeli Tolvanen scored at the 7:59 mark of the third period and the Sioux City Musketeers held on for the remainder of regulation to salvage a series split with a 4-2 win over the Bloomington Thunder on Saturday night at the Coliseum.

Bidding for a sweep of the Western Conference’s first place team, Bloomington (10-9-3-0, 23 pts) held a pair of one-goal leads in the first and second periods. But Sioux City (16-4-1-0, 33 pts) responded on both occasions and withstood a late Thunder barrage in the waning minutes of regulation to deny Bloomington a third straight win.

Bloomington had the early lead in the game, striking in the first six minutes of the first period to go up 1-0. After posting an assist in the opener on Friday, Alec Mehr (Brown University) beat Sioux City goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks at the 5:20 mark of the first for his third goal of the year.

Five minutes later, Sioux City answered with Jacob Wilson’s tally to knot the score at one.

It stayed tied until the second period when the Thunder again struck in the early portion of the frame to take the lead back. After being on the receiving end of a slick pass on Friday night to score the game winner, Vlad Dzhioshvili had one of his own to give the Thunder a 2-1 edge. Dzhiosvhili slipped behind the Sioux City defense along the left wing and then sent a feed from the left circle to the right circle for Ethan Somoza (Bemidji State). Somoza went top shelf with a one-timer to beat Kivlenieks for his fifth of the year.

But again, Sioux City had a response. Jackson Kean beat Thunder netminder Gabe Mollot-Hill (Providence College) on a one-timer from the low left circle, tying the game at two with 6:43 left in the middle frame, a score that stayed tied until Tolvanen’s game-winning goal in the third.

In his third consecutive start, Mollot-Hill made 18 saves on 21 shots for the Thunder. Kivlenieks turned aside 19 of 21.

The Thunder play the next two weekends on the road before a two-week holiday break, starting with a Saturday night tilt against Team USA next weekend in Plymouth, Michigan. Faceoff is slated for 6 p.m. CT.

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