Marinette Youth Hockey Association

The Thunder defeated Geneva (6-5) and Madison (5-2) in pool play and Beloit (3-1) in the semifinal round. Rockford took home the title with a 7-1 victory in the championship game.

“Overall on the weekend, I thought they played great,” Thunder coach Fred Haley said. “They really came together as a team. They all played hard. Other than a couple of lapses, I thought we played very complete games the entire weekend, and I like what we look like.”

In their opening contest on Saturday against the Geneva Cyclones, the Thunder were able to take advantage of 13 penalties committed by the opposition. Four of their six goals came in powerplay situations while Damien Winterbottom came roaring out of the gates.

Logan Sakovitz got the scoring started with assists from Simon Bowers and Blue Haley. Goals from Avery Walloway and Winterbottom made it 3-1 in the second period.

Things almost got away from the Thunder in the final four minutes of the second period when they allowed four Cyclone goals, but they righted the ship with three power-play goals in the third period.

Haley scored early in the period and then assisted Winterbottom to tie the game midway through the period. The Haley to Winterbottom connection provided the game-winner with 3:38 to play while Winterbottom completed a hat-trick and Haley notched a playmaker.

Saturday evening, the Thunder dispatched Madison 5-2 with a pair of goals from Haley as well as goals from Sakovitz, Theron Thayer and Brayden Rounds.

The Thunder took on the host team Sunday morning in a semifinal contest.

The teams battled through a scoreless first period with Glenn Woodworth stopping all 12 shots he faced while his counterpart Connor Brown blocked all 18 Thunder shots.

In the closing minutes of the second period, Winterbottom finally hit paydirt off an assist from Chase Nerat.

Beloit tied the game early in the third period, but a 5-on-3 advantage turned into a goal from Haley with 6:52 to play. With 2:27 on the clock, Winterbottom hit the back of the net again to secure a 3-1 win.

Woodworth turned in his strongest performance of the young season with 43 saves against 44 shots.

In Sunday’s championship game, Rockford blitzed the Thunder with five goals in the first period.

“The Championship game didn’t go the way we wanted it to,” Haley said. “They came out and outplayed us in the first period. I thought the second and third period, we played pretty well, but they just outplayed us in the first.”

Both teams added a goal in the second period with Haley scoring unassisted for the Thunder. Rockford added one more tally in the third to account for the 7-1 final score.

Haley’s unassisted goal in the final was a rarity for the Thunder who tallied 13 assists to go with their 15 goals on the weekend.

Winterbottom and Haley each scored five goals while Haley added four assists and Winterbottom had one helper.

Sakovitz had two goals in the tournament while Walloway, Thayer and Rounds scored as well. Bowers, Thayer and Nerat each had two assists, while Walloway and Natalie Haile each had one.

Woodworth was superb in net. The Thunder netminder racked up an impressive 127 saves against 142 shots in four games for a save percentage of .894.

The Thunder return to action on Friday when they travel to Manitowoc, Wis. to take on Manitowoc United. They will play a pair of games at Iron River, Mich. on Saturday.

Bantam

The Thunder Bantams were swept in a doubleheader at Iron Mountain on Saturday.

The Bantams will host the Battle at the REC Tournament this weekend. They will take on Waunakee (8 a.m.) and Ozaukee (12:30 p.m.) on Saturday before bracket play begins on Sunday.

Peewee A

The Thunder Peewee A team split a doubleheader with Appleton at the Community REC Center on Sunday. The Thunder took game one 6-4 but fell by a final score of 10-6 in game two.

The Peewee A team will play at Iron Mountain on Saturday, Dec. 16.

Peewee B

The Thunder Peewee B team fell with scores of 9-5 and 13-3 at Ozaukee on Saturday. They will travel to Green Bay for a pair of games on Saturday, Dec. 16.

Squirt A

The Thunder Squirt A team dropped a pair of games against Marquette AA with scores of 5-4 and 7-3 and swept Shawano A with scores of 6-1 and 8-0 this weekend.

The Squirt A team will play a pair of games at Manitowoc on Saturday.

Squirt B

The Thunder Squirt B team dropped four games against two different Green Bay teams over the weekend. The Thunder did pile up 12 goals in the four contests.

The Squirt B team will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 30 when they host Green Bay C2.