Friday, November 10, 2000

 

Thunder Prevail Over Portland Pioneers, 4-3 in Overtime

November 10, 2000PORTLAND, OR...Tonight's contest between the Thunder and Pioneers began in a mass of confusion. Newly named Captain, Sean MacDonald found himself headed to the box early in coincidental penalties and Portland came out hard. After having lost two games last weekend to Puget Sound, the Pioneers were eager to hand the Thunder a walloping. And during the first period, it looked like the Thunder might be willing to let the Pioneers walk all over them. Goaltender Cory Johnson stood tall and turned away 14 shots to hold the Thunder in the game, but the intensity from the guys was not what coach Kelly Hubbard was looking for. Defensive breakdowns lead to quality scoring chances for the Pioneers and at 11:45 Mitch Dixon was able to get one by Johnson to put Portland up 1-0.The second period saw two fights that livened the crowd and seemed to finally catch the Thunder's attention. As both teams traded time in the penalty boxes, Garrett Carter scored on the powerplay to tie the score, 1-1 at 10:18 of the period. Portland's captain, Darrel Draper answered back, also on the powerplay, 1:09 later to put Portland back on top. The Thunder battled and the penalties kept coming. A total of 42 penalty minutes were called in the second period alone. Eric Graftaas, Freddy Martinez saw a lot of time on the penalty kill. And the defensive corps earned their stick blades tonight. Andrew Fields, a regular penalty killer who is out with a shoulder injury, was sorely missed. Though the Thunder fought the good fight, Portland's Darrel Draper managed to put one more puck in the net before the period ended to extend Portland's lead to 3-1.The Thunder were not quite ready to roll over though. It only took them 45 seconds in the third period to bury the puck again. Jeff Knebel potted his first goal of the season to bring the Thunder back within one goal. From there, the kids dug in. Portland found themselves getting into more penalty trouble, while the Thunder kept their heads. Peppering the Pioneer's goalie with 19 shots, Nolan Baker, Alan Rasmussen and Chance Lau were out on the ice bumping and grinding, creating scoring opportunities and moving the puck nicely. Josh Ankney, Max Manders and newcomer Cassidy Esty all hustled up and down the ice, hitting and causing a general commotion wherever possible. In the end, everyone's hard work paid off as the game came down to it's dying moments. Goaltender Martin Stehl, who replaced an ailing Cory Johnson at the beginning of the third period, was pulled with 1:36 left in the period. Eric Graftaas, Aaron Roberge, Mark Demmer, Alan Rasmussen, Andreas Collander and Garrett Carter worked hard together attempting to get that game tying goal. Off a face-off won by Roberge, Mark Demmer was able to snipe the puck past the fallen Portland goalie to tie the game at 3-3 with only :38 seconds remaining in the game.Eager to end this one, the Thunder went out in the overtime period to win and win fast. It only took 11 seconds. Mark Demmer, high off his game tying goal, took another pass from Aaron Roberge to score his second overtime game winning goal of the season, sending the rest of the Thunder tumbling off the bench as if they'd won the Stanley Cup. Tonight was a good night for the Thunder. And they'll have all week to cherish it.

The Thunder's next home stand is Friday, November 17th (7:30 pm), Saturday, November 18th (7:30 pm) and Sunday, November 19th (1:00 pm) against the Yukon Claimjumpers at Lane County Ice Arena.

 

Player Statistics

Friday, November 10, 2000 vs. Portland Pioneers

No.	Name	G	A	Pts.	PIMs	PP	SH	GWG	FG
1	Martin Stehl
4	Cassidy Esty
7	Max Manders				2
8	Sean MacDonald				4
9	Freddy Martinez
10	Eric Graftaas
11	Chance Lau				2
12	Andrew Fields
14	Aaron Roberge	0	2	2
16	Nolan Baker				2
17	Mark Demmer	2	1	3	4			1
19	Jeff Knebel	1	0	1
20	Josh Ankney				5
21	Garrett Carter	1	1	2		1			1
23	Jake Meisenheimer
24	Tommy Baker	0	1	1	2
27	Alan Rasmussen				7
29	Andreas Collander				2
30	Cory Johnson

 

 

No.	Name	Mins	W	L	GAA	Svs	Sv%	SO
1	Martin Stehl	20:11	1	0	0.00		1.00
30	Cory Johnson	40:00	0	0	3.00	30	.909