Marinette Youth Hockey Association

 

The Thunder made it two-in-a-row against Manitowoc United with an easy 7-3 victory Friday night. The same teams had met two weeks earlier with the Thunder coming out on top 3-1.

“All in all it was a pretty good game,” commented coach Fred Haley. “We came out in the third period a little rough, but they were pushing it hard so give them credit. We need to get a little better at our passing, but I think on the whole, we’re coming around pretty well.”

Simon Bowers got the scoring started when he sank one from near the blue line midway through the first period. Damien Winterbottom added another one minute later, and the Thunder led 2-0 through the first period.

After a United goal early in the second, Blue Haley ripped off three unanswered goals and the rout was on. With 6:02 on the clock, Haley removed a Manitowoc defender from the puck and scored on a breakaway. Three minutes later, Chase Nerat punched one in with an assist from Logan Sakovitz and the Thunder lead swelled to 6-1 entering the final period.

Manitowoc scored twice in the third period before Theron Thayer cleaned up a mele in front of the net to cap the scoring at 7-3.

Glenn Woodworth racked up 19 saves against 22 shots in the victory.

The Thunder faced a quick turnaround after that Friday night contest with two games beginning at 9:30 a.m. in Iron River, and the team showed some fatigue.

A slow start put the Ice Hawks up 3-1 through one period of play. Iron River put two quick goals on the board to start the second period, stretching its lead to 5-1.

The Thunder began to make some headway by closing out the second period with back-to-back goals from Haley.

Fifteen seconds into the third period, Damien Winterbottom pushed the puck to Theron Thayer who found Addison Lacy waiting on the back side of the net for her first goal of the season.

That closed the gap to 5-4 and sparked some life into the Thunder who pushed ahead 7-5 with Brayden Rounds’ second goal of the day and numbers three and four from Haley.

However, Iron River’s Dominick Brunswick matched Haley’s four-goal effort with his third and fourth strikes of the day in the final five minutes to knot the contest at 7-7.

Game two of the doubleheader saw the Thunder jump ahead 2-0 with goals form Haley and Rounds, but Brunswick scored twice including one with just 19 seconds remaining in the first to tie the game 2-2.

Rounds put the Thunder up 3-2 with an assist from Haley early in the second period, but the Ice Hawks closed the game with three unanswered goals to take a 5-3 victory.

“We had tired kids today because we played a lot of games quickly, and it showed in that third period where they were not moving real well,” Coach Haley said after the games. “I though the rest of the day we played ok at times and sloppy at other times. We’ve got things to work on with passing and making sure we’re looking for each other, and just playing a stronger game.”

Ethan King worked the second game in net for the Thunder, finishing with 12 saves against 17 shots.

Haley and Rounds handled the bulk of the offense for the Thunder all weekend. Haley racked up eight goals and two assists, while Rounds had four goas and three helpers. Lacy (one goal, three assists), Winterbottom (one goal, two assists), Nerat (one goal, one assist) and Thayer (one goal) also scored while Sakovitz (three) and Caiden Radtke contributed assists.

The Thunder now stand at 5-4-1 after opening the season with ten consecutive road games. They will play their home opener with a tough doubleheader against Marquette on Saturday, December 30 before hosting the Battle at the REC January 5-7.

BANTAM

The Thunder Bantams reached the championship game of their Battle at the REC Tournament. The Thunder defeated Waunakee 3-2 and Ozaukee 4-0 before falling 5-1 to the Green Bay Bobcats.

Goals from Wes Baty, Jack Aftanas and Jesse McClarren led the Thunder to a hard-fought 3-2 win over Waunakee while Grace Loomis turned away 17 of 19 shots in goal.

Loomis then pitched 4-0 shutout with 15 saves against Ozaukee. Conner Radtke found the net twice while Bryce Vincent and Dixon Polzin scored as well.

That put the Thunder in the championship game where they squared off with a Green Bay team that had beaten them by a combined score of 14-0 in two games two weeks earlier.

The Bobcats still got the better of the Thunder, but this time the gap narrowed to 5-1 thanks to a first-period goal from Aftanas and 24 saves from Loomis.

The Thunder will travel to Marquette for a pair of games on Saturday, December 17.

SQUIRT A

The Thunder Squirt A team took a pair of convincing wins over Manitowoc with scores of 13-0 and 10-2 on Saturday.

Ashton Behrens needed just six saves to preserve the shutout in game one.

Carter Campbell and Liam Hofer each scored five goals on the day. Liam Puser (4), Henry Karkkainen (2), Henry Schutt (2) and Behrens (2) each scored multiple goals, while Owen Campbell, Cade Ruleau and Finn Eastmen found the net as well.

The Squirt A team improved to 8-4 on the season and will return to action at the Rhinelander Hodag Invitational this weekend.