By WJBC Staff
BLOOMINGTON, Illinois – Friday night at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum the Bloomington Thunder and Dubuque Fighting Saints put on a back and forth show in Game 3. The final score was a 6-4 finish that was exciting down to the final seconds with an empty net goal sealing the win for Dubuque. They now lead the series 2-1 with Game 4 coming on Saturday night from the Coliseum. Bloomington was down 2-1 against the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders and won two straight to take the series in five games.
It was a good pair of days for Alec Mehr (Brown University). After committing to an Ivy League school on Thursday, Mehr picked up his third goal of the post season to give the Thunder the 1-0 nod. Mehr came down the left wing with Ethan Somoza (Bemidji State University) on a 2-on-1. The Irvine, CA native, elected for the shot and beat Hunter Miska (University of Minnesota-Duluth) through the five hole.
The Fighting Saints would die the game a few minutes later on a short-handed goal from Shane Kavanagh (Providence College) the Thunder came back with a power play goal less than 30 seconds later. Blake Gober (Penn State University) was in the perfect spot as Wyatt Kalynuk (Western Michigan University) faked his shot. Instead, the defenseman fired a hard pass at Gober, who redirected it past the Fighting Saints goaltender to take a 2-1 lead that would stand into the intermission.
If anyone expected the game to lighten up by any means, they would’ve been wrong. The Fighting Saints came back with an all out attack to start the period. Bloomington came through with a huge penalty kill at the start of the period, but as Somoza made his way back to the defensive zone Mitchell Smith (Yale University) tied the game. Michael O’Leary (University of Notre Dame) then took the lead 30 seconds later on a crazy bounce that found it’s way in the net.
Cameron Spicer (University of Maine) picked a great time for his first goal of the season, tying the game at three. His shot found it’s way through traffic and into the net. Picking up assists were Patrick Curry (Boston University) and Tarek Baker (University of Wisconsin) on Spicer’s long shot.
The game was only tied for another three minutes. The Thunder would head to the penalty kill and in the final seconds of another great effort, Fighting Saints Captain Keegan Ford (Michigan Tech University) made it 4-3 on a drop pass and shot. In the playoffs, Ford has had a flare for offense, scoring 11 points from the blue line. He is now tied with Jake Slaker for the Clark Cup Playoff scoring race.
A physical and tense third period resulted in 10 penalty calls, as opposed to six in the first two stanzas. To start the third, Gober was sent in for tripping and the Fighting Saints capitalized to finish the game 2-of-5 on the power play. Joey Keane (Miami University) scored his first of the playoffs and the eventual game-winning goal.
The Thunder battled and wouldn’t go down without a fight. IN the final two minutes, Bloomington picked up a power play goal with the net empty. Curry sealed a two-point night fighting for a rebound and scoring his third of the post season. Within striking distance, the Thunder pulled their goaltender again and tried to tie the game. A few chances and eventually a power play with only 20 seconds left, the Thunder battled to the final buzzer.
The Fighting Saints ended the game with an empty net goal to take the final score and the advantage in the series. Hayden Lavigne (University of Michigan) suffered the loss in the game, but made 25 saves in between the pipes. The high scoring game caused Miska to make 38 saves in the win as the Thunder peppered the net 42 times.
Once again, the Thunder will be fighting for their playoff lives on Saturday night at the Coliseum. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. as Game 4 will either force Game 5 of the end of the series. Bloomington has not lost back-to-back games since the month of February.
