By WJBC Staff
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – A back and forth game, which traded leads and ties ended in a 6-4 win for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, ending the Bloomington Thunder’s seven game win streak.
The Wednesday night affair finished with a five-goal third period where the Thunder tied the game to start the period. Bloomington (15-9-2-1) suffered their first loss in over a month as the RoughRiders (17-7-2-0) move into a tie for second place in the Eastern Conference with the Green Bay Gamblers.
The Wild third period opened as Jake Slaker netted his sixth goal of the season on the power play. After missing the final minutes of the second period, the San Diego, CA native put the wrap around behind Ben Blacker 3:33 into the period. The goal tied the game at three as the Thunder went 1-for-3 on the power play.
Then the RoughRiders answered on their next power play. Despite the Thunder killing off five power plays in the game, the sixth ended with a goal from Luke Morgan for his 10th of the season. Less than 30 seconds later, the RoughRiders cashed in again. Matt Gosiewski found a rebound on the ensuing play and put it in the net for his fifth of the year.
Just over a minute later, the Thunder bounced back to make it 5-4. Tarek Baker redirected a puck over Blacker on a pass from Vlad Dzhioshvili.. Baker earned his sixth of the season to give the Thunder a chance with over 11 minutes to play.
The final goal of the game came from John Snodgrass who outlasted Hayden Lavigne before putting it five-hole for his fourth of the season.
Cedar Rapids struck first in the game eight minutes in as Jack Achan scored his fifth goal of the season. The defenseman picked off the puck at center ice and shot one from a low angle and into the net to break the scoreless tie.
Lavigne came away with a huge stop on the goal line for the Thunder to keep the game at a one-goal deficit. The goaltender finished the game with 31 saves, but suffered his first loss in five games. On the next face off the Thunder came down the ice and scored to tie the game. Logan Lambdin scored his seventh of the season on a pass from Slaker before beating the RoughRider goaltender. Slaker was one of three players for the Thunder with a multi-point game.
The tie game would hold until the final 30 seconds of the period when Butrus Ghafari fired a puck from the point. It deflected off of Pat Curry and into the back of the net to give the Thunder a 2-1 lead at the first intermission.
As quick as the Thunder took the lead at the end of the period, the RoughRiders would answer to start the second. Zac Robbins also got a tip on a puck from Cal Burke before finding the back of the net for his third of the season. The shot came just 31 second into the period and the RoughRiders were not done there.
Cedar Rapids was held off the board on three power play chances in the second, but netted the go ahead goal on a turnover at the Thunder blue line. Taylor Brierley poked the puck and went down the ice to score his first goal of the season for a 3-2 lead.
Blacker ended the night with 24 saves and his 13th win of the season. Cedar Rapids continues their hot streak with an 8-1-1-0 record in their last ten, while the Thunder are 7-3-0-0 in their last ten games.
The Thunder return to the U.S. Cellular Coliseum to ring in the New Year against the Madison Capitols. Their 7 p.m. game will be the second meeting between the Thunder and Capitols this season and first at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum. The Thunder came away with a 2-1 win in their first meeting.
