By WJBC Sports Staff
BLOOMINGTON – The Bloomington Thunder brought out their inner Chicago Blackhawks over their last two games and finished their Friday night battle with a 5-1 win over the United States National Team Development Program Under-18 team.
In front of a record setting crowd, the Thunder tallied for four goals in the second period and never relinquished the lead. The Thunder (28-17-3-1) kept pace with both the Green Bay Gamblers and the Youngtown Phantoms for fourth place in the Eastern Conference. The Thunder are on a four game win streak and have scored 15 goals in two games.
The environment and anticipation for the second annual Chicago Blackhawks Night reached it’s peak near puck drop. All 3,886 fans in attendance were on their feet to emulate the Blackhawks famed national anthem presentation as Jim Cornelison graced the Thunder sound system with the Star Spangled Banner. 2013 Stanley Cup Champion Jamal Mayers continued the party for the record setting Thunder crowd by dropping the puck and finally ending with the faceoff between the Thunder and Team USA.
The first goal came from Bloomington who took the lead and never looked back. Channeling their scoring prowess they netted four in the second period, starting with Mitchell Chaffee. As the puck rest in the crease, Chaffee found the rebound and batted it into the net for his fifth of the year. The crowd rose to their feet before the referee signaled the goal, but it wouldn’t matter as the Thunder took a 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the second.
Following Chaffee was Wyatt Kalynuk (Western Michigan University) with an absolute bomb from the blue line. The second year defenseman saw the loose puck, took two strides to it, and fired it to the back of the net to take a 2-0 lead before the halfway point of the game. Kalynuk’s second of the year was the game winner, but wasn’t the end of the scoring for the Thunder.
The top two point scorers for Bloomington continued to produce with a combined seven points on the night. Logan Lambdin (Michigan State University) and Tarek Baker (University of Wisconsin) fed Blake Gober for his second goal in as many games with nine minutes left in the period. The one timer on the power play was Gober’s 10th goal of the season. Lambdin then tallied on the power play with just over a minute to play in the second. The Michigan State commit tucked in his own rebound to take a 4-0 lead to the break.
Baker’s playmaker attitude gave him four assists on the night to take him to 44 points (19g, 25a) this season. The number one star of the game and Jeremy Davies (Northeastern University) connected on the final Thunder goal to Lambdin. Davies second assist of the game gave Lambdin a shot at the net and he batted in his second goal of the night, 23rd of the season. The Thunder ended the night 3-for-7 on the power play. Over their last two games Bloomington is 9-for-15 on the man advantage.
A scoreless first period was a physical battle and a bit of a goaltender’s duel. The USHL’s reigning CCM Goaltender of the Week, Hayden Lavigne (University of Michigan) came up with a couple big saves on redirected pucks and matched Joseph Woll (Boston College) with eight saves in the first. Down a man for two occasions, the Thunder penalty kill kept goals of the board with blocked shots and great defensive presence during the middle of the period.
Team USA earned their lone goal on the power play in the third from Trent Frederic (Univeristy of Wisconsin). Frederic’s goal came with less than eight minutes to play, but was too little too late.
Lavigne ended the night with 21 saves in the game and his fourth straight win. Woll suffered his third loss of the season despite 22 saves. The Thunder goaltender has 21 wins this season and is the third-leading goaltender in wins this season.
