By WJBC Staff
MUSKEGON, Mich. – Christiano Versich scored his first goal with Bloomington and Logan Halladay stopped 36 shots, but Zach Berzolla scored with 3:10 left in overtime to send Muskegon past the Thunder, 2-1, on Thursday at L.C. Walker Arena.
Halladay, who has yielded two goals or fewer in each of his last three starts, put together his highest save total with the Thunder (20-23-6, 46 pts) since the first weekend of October to help Bloomington stretch its point streak to three games.
After the Thunder had a chance in the offensive zone in the middle of the overtime session, Muskegon (30-16-4, 64 pts) forced a turnover and jumped out to a three-on-two rush the other way. Berzolla capitalized on that rush with his fourth goal of the season, sending Bloomington to its first overtime loss since Nov. 23.
Following a scoreless first period, Versich got the Thunder on the board in the early stages of the second. Versich, who has point in three of his first four games in a Thunder uniform, continued his hot stretch with his first goal since being acquired prior to last week’s trade deadline. On a two-on-one rush into the offensive zone, Versich held the puck in the slot and snapped a shot past Muskegon netminder Keith Petruzzelli to make it a 1-0 lead just 2:02 into the middle frame.
Muskegon responded on the exact opposite end of the period, as Casey Gilling got a feed from Marc Del Gaizo and beat Halladay from the slot to knot the score at one with 2 minutes, 31 seconds left in the period. Bloomington outshot the Lumberjacks 11-10 in the third period, but the game remained tied until the overtime session where Muskegon had a 3-1 edge in shots on goal.
Ethan Somoza posted an assist on Versich’s goal to stretch his modest point streak to four games.
The Thunder finish off the two-game series with Muskegon on Friday night at 6:15 p.m. before returning home to face Team USA (U17) on Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. for Relay For Life Night.
