By WJBC Staff
BLOOMINGTON – Logan Halladay has turned up his play as he nears the end of his USHL career, and the third-year netminder took that to another level on Thursday night against the Green Bay Gamblers.
Halladay earned his fourth career shutout with a 29-save performance, and Jake Durflinger scored the only goal of the game, as the Bloomington Thunder topped the Gamblers, 1-0, on Thursday night at the Bloomington Coliseum.
“It was a good character win for us,” head coach Dennis Williams said. “We had to play for each other and we did. Halladay was solid in net for us and gave us the opportunity to win. We held them off the scoresheet and you’re not going to do that very often against that kind of team.”
With the Gamblers (34-22-2-2, 72 pts) a win away from clinching the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, the Thunder (25-26-4-3, 58 pts) came out strong from the opening puck drop and had a 13-7 edge in shots on goal through the opening period. Although the Thunder didn’t score in the first, that start set the tone for the rest of the game in which the Thunder posted 37 total shots on goal and limited Green Bay to 29.
Durflinger, the Thunder’s captain, finally ended the scoring draught 38:31 into the game, beating Green Bay netminder David Hrenak upstairs on a blast from the right wing wall. After an offensive zone faceoff, the Thunder managed to hold the zone as Durflinger stepped in front of the Green Bay clearing attempt. He then fired a slap shot past the glove hand of Hrenak for his 12th goal of the season.
With the unassisted tally, Durflinger had the only point of the game, and now has three points in his last two contests after a two-assist night against Cedar Rapids this past Sunday. He is one point from matching his career-high of 29 points, which he posted last season.
Halladay made that goal stand up with his first shutout of the season. The Merrimack College commit has yielded two goals or fewer in eight of his last 10 starts. In that stretch, Halladay boasts .939 save percentage.
“I was really proud of them. I thought our guys battled hard,” Williams said. “We have one more to finish it off. I just said to them, ‘Just stay true to each other and finish off the season on a high note.’”
The Thunder conclude the regular season with Fan Appreciation Night on Saturday, as they face the Muskegon Lumberjacks.