Thunder split with Capitols in home and home

Posted on March 9, 2015

By WJBC Staff

MADISON, Wisc. – Goals were not as easy to find in the Bloomington Thunder’s second game of the weekend with the Madison Capitols in a 3-0 loss.

The Thunder ran into a hot goaltender in Darren Smith (Ferris State University) who picked up his second shutout on the season. Bloomington falls into a two-way tie with the Chicago Steel for fifth place in the Eastern Conference at 22-21-7 while Madison gains ground on Bloomington with their 20th win of the season.

A scoreless first period was highlighted by saves from both goaltenders. Smith made reaching pad saves on Thunder affiliates Bailey Conger (St. Lawrence University) and Mitchell Mattson (University of North Dakota), while Logan Halladay (University of Minnesota) stopped seven shots in the period to control the tempo. The Cary, NC native finished the game with 25 saves. Despite 15 shots on net in the first, Bloomington could not put the first goal in.

The scoreless tie was broken 42 seconds in the second period by Michael Kabac. His second of the season was one of 15 shots the Capitols had on Halladay in the period against the Thunder’s five. Logan Lambdin and Robby Fosdick would square off later in the period and exchange blows looking to help their teams gain the edge in the game.

The Capitols fed off the momentum and scored their second of the night when Haralds Egle skated right to the high slot and put the unassisted goal in the net at 8:19. Special teams were null and void in the game as the Thunder were 0-1 and the Capitols were 0-2 on the power play.

Nikolas Koberstein (University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Montreal Canadiens) fought with Mitch Hults in the third trying again to boost his team. Bloomington continued in the period looking for a goal on Smith with Pat Curry coming the closest on a feed from Conger. Smith made the save and 29 others in route to his 13th win of the season.

With ten games left in the 2014-15 season, Thunder return home with 51 points still in a battle for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference nine points behind Dubuque and Muskegon. They return home to take on the United States National Team Development Program Under 18 team on Friday at 7 p.m.

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