Bloomington Thunder fall to Team USA

Posted on March 25, 2017

By: WJBC Staff

PLYMOUTH, Mich. — Team USA jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first period and didn’t look back en route to a 6-0 win over the Bloomington Thunder on Saturday night at USA Hockey Arena.

Jacob Tortora had a pair of goals to lead the Under-18 offensive attack that had goals from five different players, as the Thunder (23-25-4-3, 53 pts) settled for a series split after a 3-1 win over the Under-17 team on Friday night.

Two weeks removed from a Minnesota State High School title, goaltender Zach Stejskal made his debut for the Thunder and stopped 20 shots in relief over the final two periods of play.

After Team USA (22-30-1-2, 47 pts) took a 4-0 lead 2:45 into the second period, Stejskal came into the game and held a potent Team USA offense off the board for the remainder of the period. Stejskal made saves on the first 11 shots he faced before Team USA finally found the back of the net against him at the 4:55 mark of the third period.

The Thunder penalty kill continued to hold strong and limited Team USA to one power play goal on six chances. Over the last nine games, Bloomington has yielded just four power-play goals on 36 chances, converting at an 88.9 percent clip.

Bloomington is back in action next weekend for its final three-game weekend of the season. The Thunder start the weekend on the road at Muskegon on Friday before returning home on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday night is Miller Park Zoo Night, and the first 500 kids 12-and-younger will receive a Zoo animal squeeze toy courtesy of Miller Park Zoo.

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