By Brian Tosti- Bloomington Thunder.
BLOOMINGTON, Illinois – The Bloomington Thunder put an exclamation point on their Military Appreciation game with the Des Moines Buccaneers early on Friday night. A 4-1 win from the U.S. Cellular Coliseum was the result of a fantastic performance by the Thunder to open the weekend. Bloomington (18-10-2-1) is 3-0 all time against Des Moines (15-15-2-0) who sits in seventh place in the Western Conference. Bloomington is just two spots behind the Green Bay Gamblers with one game in hand for third place in the Eastern Conference.
It was the fastest start in team history as Tarek Baker (University of Wisconsin) stayed red hot for the team 15 seconds in. Bloomington’s leading scorer made it eight goals in five games with a shot beating Jan Ruzicka on the near side post. The Verona, WI native is the hottest goal scorer in the United States Hockey League and leads the team with 22 points (13g, 9a) in his sophomore season.
The Thunder dominated the offensive side of the puck through the first period of play outshooting the Buccaneers 12-5. Then Jake Durflinger scored for the Thunder after a shot hit the post from Jeremy Davies (Northeastern University) at the blue line. The d-man held the line and eventually the puck found it’s way to Durflinger for an easy tap in goal from the crease. The power play goal was his ninth of the season and added assists to both Brogan Rafferty (Quinnipiac University) and Vlad Dzhioshvili (Cornell University).
When it seemed like the Thunder would run away with it after the first, but the Bucs made a goalie change and were able to counter on the offensive side of the puck as well. Kenny Hausinger netted his 12th goal of the season at 6:05 to bring the Bucs within one before the Thunder took hold of the game.
Two minutes later, the Bucs turned the puck over at center ice and Alec Mehr played the puck on a delayed penalty call. He gave it to Steven Merl (University of Michigan) who started a 2-on-1 with Sean Harrison (Union College). The Anchorage, AK native netted his third goal of the season on a back door feed in his first game back from injury.
Davies finished off the second with his sixth goal of the year on a blast from the point. The second year player and leading defenseman for the Thunder fired the puck off a faceoff with six minutes left in the period. The goal snuck past goaltender Nick MacNab (Yale University) who finished the night with 14 saves in relief.
Ruzicka picked up the loss with 10 saves in the game while Logan Halladay earned his fifth win of the year making 18 saves. His game high of nine came in the third period as he stopped two power play charges with the net empty from the Bucs in under five minutes. Halladay’s 2.24 goals against average is fourth best in the USHL this season
The Thunder will look to extend their win streak to three games on Saturday night when they head to Plymouth, MI. They face the U-17s of the National Team Development Program for the third time this season after winning the first two matchups 3-2.
