Saturday, October 14, 2000

 

Thunder drowned by Liberty Lake in Third Period Flurry

October 14, 2000Liberty Lake, WA…The Eugene Thunder came out and played another hard game tonight, but found themselves on the losing end of a 4-1 game against the Lumberjacks tonight at Ice World USA in Liberty Lake, Washington. The Thunder hit the ice tonight in spirited fashion. They were revved up and took it to the Lumberjacks early. Sean MacDonald, Jeff Knebel and Chance Lau all set the tone, finishing their checks and forcing the Lumberjacks to keep their heads up. Newcomer Andreas Kollander was brilliant at times, dancing with the puck from end to end, using nifty stick plays to turn his former teammates inside out. But don’t let this Swede fool you, he can throw a body check that’ll knock your teeth out. And he did.Cory Johnson was solid in the net for the Thunder, easily handling most of the shots put on him and controlling his rebounds. Liberty Lake did manage to score a goal in the first period following a broken Thunder play in the neutral zone, but the boys just responded by picking up the pace. And Johnson remained strong, turning away several good scoring opportunities by the Lumberjacks in the waning minutes of the first.The second period was hard fought. Literally. The majority of the penalties called in this game came in the second period. The Thunder was unable to capitalize on their man advantage situations. Their penalty kill was perfect, however. Freddy Martinez, Chance Lau and Sean MacDonald continued to display their talents while short handed, breaking up many plays and making the breakout difficult for opponents. Tonight proved that the Thunder may have finally cracked the Lumberjacks’ formerly lethal powerplay into child’s play.The Thunder started the third period off on the right foot as Andrew Fields drew Lumberjack goalie Ryan Cantu across his crease and slid the puck in the net to tie the game at 1-1. It only took Liberty Lake :08 seconds to answer back however. After 25:36 minutes of shutout hockey, Cory Johnson was unable to stop a blistering shot by Lumberjack forward Jesse Semenza and once again Liberty lake was leading the game by a goal, 2-1.Mark Demmer and Garrett Carter’s absences finally began to take their toll on the Thunder as the third period rolled on. The Thunder squad looked tired at times, stick checking instead of taking the body and letting the Lumberjacks box them into their own zone. Max Manders, Aaron Roberge and Eric Graftaas all dug in and tried to find some extra reserves, but Liberty Lake kept coming and scored two quick goals to jump out to a 4-1 lead. The boys continued to battle. Jake Meisenheimer, Tommy Baker and Cory Howard worked hard in the corners and did their best to clear the front of the net. Forwards Nolan Baker and Alan Rasmussen rolled up their sleeves and managed to put together a few threatening scoring chances in the final ten minutes of play, but in the end, the Thunder fell short."The boys played a good game tonight," said Coach Kelly Hubbard. "We had a let down there at the end, but we could have won this game. We could have won last night’s game. If we work hard for 60 minutes and take the body for 60 minutes, we can win. We need to get a few more shots on goal, we need to teach the new guys our systems, but we’re competitive. We were in these games this weekend and it’s just a matter of putting it all together."

The Thunder have until December 1^st to work on the finer points of their game before their next re-match against Liberty Lake. But the Thunder’s next home games are Friday, October 20^th and Saturday, October 21^st against Puget Sound at the Lane County Ice Arena.

 

Player Statistics

Saturday, October 14, 2000 vs. Liberty Lake Lumberjacks

No.	Name	G	A	Pts.	PIMs	PP	SH	GWG	FG
1	Martin Stehl
2	Andreas Kollander				5
4	Cory Howard				2
7	Max Manders
8	Sean MacDonald
9	Freddy Martinez
10	Eric Graftaas
11	Chance Lau	0	1	1	4
12	Andrew Fields	1	0	1
14	Aaron Roberge
16	Nolan Baker
17	Mark Demmer
19	Jeff Knebel
21	Garrett Carter
23	Jake Meisenheimer
24	Tommy Baker				5
27	Alan Rasmussen				2
30	Cory Johnson

 

 

No.	Name	Mins	W	L	T	GAA	Svs	Sv%	SO
1	Martin Stehl		0	0	0
30	Cory Johnson	60	0	1	0	4.00	37	.902