Sunday, October 1, 2000

 

Thunder prevail 4-3 in OT against Liberty Lake LumberjacksOctober 1, 2000EUGENE, OR…The Eugene Thunder came to play this afternoon. From the first drop of the puck to the last, the team competed hard in every facet of the game. Exploding for three goals in the first period, the Thunder gave the Lumberjacks a taste of what it’s like to be down early.Eric Graftaas started the scoring a little over a minute into the period as he danced through the offensive zone and flipped a one-handed shot 5-hole on the Lumberjacks’ goalie. Then the Thunder powerplay began coming to life. While the Thunder failed to score on any man advantage opportunities, they did manage to run Liberty Lake ragged, scoring twice within seconds of Lumberjack penalties expiring. Garrett Carter, today’s acting captain, fired a point shot that had eyes at the 13:48 minute mark to put the Thunder up 2-0. Three minutes later, Mark Demmer, Aaron Roberge and Eric Graftaas worked over the Liberty Lake penalty killers again. Roberge found Demmer high in the slot with a beautiful pass. Demmer made no mistake sinking it for the 3-0 Thunder lead.In a perfect reversal of Saturday night’s game, the Lumberjacks called a timeout after the third goal to try to get their heads back in the game. They even went so far as to switch goalies in an effort to control the damage being inflicted by the Thunder on the scoreboard. The brief break in the action did nothing to dampen the Thunder’s calculated attack. Chance Lau, Max Manders and Josh Friedman stepped up their aggressive forecheck and merciless body checking.Defenseman Joe Cetta cracked a skate blade at the end of the period and was unable to resume play for the rest of the game. That cut the Thunder defensive corps to four skaters. Cory Howard, Jake Meisenheimer, Garrett Carter and Tommy Baker all answered the bell, playing tough defense in their own end, finishing their checks and staying out of the penalty box.Liberty Lake hit the ice in the second period as if they were all shot out of a cannon. The Thunder did not back down. Sean MacDonald and Jeff Knebel set the pace, slowing down the Lumberjacks offense through the neutral zone and breaking up plays all over the ice. Chance Lau continued to pester the Lumberjacks in their own end, intercepting passes and disrupting the Liberty Lake break out.It’s hard to keep a good team down for long though. Josh Friedman was sent to the box at 3:48 of the period, opening the door for the Lumberjacks’ effective powerplay. The Thunder played tough, keeping Liberty Lake to the outside, but four seconds after Josh left the penalty box, the Lumberjacks scooped the puck into the net from the middle of a goalmouth scramble.This time, the Thunder didn’t let up. They continued to stick to their game plan, driving the Lumberjacks zone, throwing their weight around and controlling much of the play. In net for the Thunder, Martin Stehl was strong when he needed to be; eating pucks, giving up few rebounds. Aaron Roberge spent another game as king of the faceoffs, virtually unbeatable. Freddy Martinez and Andrew Fields played tough and combined for several exciting drives through the neutral zone, making plays and creating quality scoring chances.The Lumberjacks kept coming, scoring two more hard working goals before the period’s end to tie the game, 3-3. Their skill and experience kept them in this game, even as their goalie stood tall in net. The Thunder outshot the Lumberjacks in this period for the first time this weekend.The third period was tense. The game would be decided by the final period alone. The Thunder continued to press. Liberty Lake was aggressive, peppering Stehl with 17 shots. Martin was perfect, letting nothing past. Liberty Lake found themselves in penalty trouble late in the period, giving the Thunder some breathing room and a chance to win it all. The Lumberjacks didn’t give up, sometimes forechecking with three players while on the penalty kill. Just before the third period ended, the Lumberjacks took a roughing penalty. As the game went into overtime, they were still a man short and that was all the opportunity the Thunder needed to win the game. The Lumberjacks continued their suicidal 3-man forecheck while penalty killing, but the Thunder broke it out of their zone in what resulted in a 3 on 1 drive. Mark Demmer ripped a shot from the top of the right circle. The goalie barely even blinked, but the flashing red goal light told the tale – the Eugene Thunder were victorious. A great triumph for the Thunder after an up and down weekend against the favorite to win the NorPac Division Title. "This proves we can compete with the best teams in the league, with the older teams." said GM, Dean Gorman. "Liberty Lake is going to get better, these are the first games they’ve played together, but we’re going to get better, too. We’re going to gel and we’re going to mature. The new guys are already fitting in well with the team and we’re on our way. This game is just the beginning for us."

The Thunder will write the next chapter of their season next weekend when they faceoff against I-5 rivals, the Portland Pioneers. Game time is 7:30 pm both on Friday, October 6^th and Saturday, October 7^th at the Lane County Ice Arena.

 

Player Statistics

Sunday, October 1, 2000 vs. Liberty Lake Lumberjacks

No.	Name	G	A	Pts.	PIMs	PP	SH	GWG	FG
1	Martin Stehl
4	Cory Howard				2
6	Joe Cetta				2
7	Max Manders				2
8	Sean MacDonald
9	Freddy Martinez
10	Eric Graftaas	1	1	2					1
11	Chance Lau
12	Andrew Fields	0	1	1
14	Aaron Roberge	0	2	2
15	Josh Friedman				2
16	Nolan Baker
17	Mark Demmer	2	1	3	2	1		1
19	Jeff Knebel
21	Garrett Carter	1	0	1
23	Jake Meisenheimer
24	Tommy Baker	0	1	1
30	Cory Johnson

 

No.	Name	Mins	W	L	T	GAA	Svs	Sv%	SO
1	Martin Stehl	60	1	0	0	3.00	37	.925
30	Cory Johnson		0	0	0