Koules Buries Former Team with OT Winner

Moline, IL (March 5th) - Miles Koules was acquired earlier this week in a trade with the team he was facing on Saturday night. He made them pay, scoring 25 seconds into overtime to help Wichita (13-33-6-6) claim a 3-2 win over Quad City (26-24-4-2) at i-Wireless Center.

Domenic Alberga led the way for the Thunder with a pair of goals while Adrien Lemay earned his first win in a Thunder uniform.

Quad City jumped out to a two-goal lead with a pair on special teams. Their first came from Vladimir Nikiforov at 2:14 for his seventh of the season. Less than two minutes later, Matt Neal intercepted a pass at his own blue line, skated down on a shorthanded breakaway and beat Lemay to make it 2-0. Alberga cut into the lead with is first of the contest at the 12-minute mark and his fifth of the season. Quad City finished the first with a two-man advantage that would carry over into the second.

In the second, Wichita killed off two five-on-three power plays in the frame and pulled even at 6:23 when Alberga put home his own rebound for his sixth of the year.

Wichita controlled much of the third period, outshooting the Mallards 11-2 to one point. Both goalies were solid and the game headed into overtime.

Koules made quick work of his former team. He caught a pass off the bench wall, came down on his off-wing and beat Musico from the left face-off dot for the game-winner.

Wichita has appeared in three-straight games past regulation and two-straight in the season-series against the Mallards. Koules has game -winners in back-to-back games, scoring the shootout winner on Friday night. Alberga had his first two-goal game of the season. Lemay stopped 29 of 31 shots in the winning effort. Musico suffers his second overtime loss, stopping 31 of 34 shots he faced.

Wichita was 0-for-2 on the man advantage. Quad City went 1-for-6 on the power play.

Wichita closes the weekend tomorrow afternoon at Evansville starting at 5:15 p.m.

Individual tickets for all games are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased at the INTRUST Arena Box office, by calling 855-755-SEAT or go online at www.selectaseat.com.

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About the ECHLThe ECHL began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states and has grown into a coast-to-coast league with 28 teams in 20 states and one Canadian province for its 27th season in 2014-15. There have been 541 players who have started their career in the ECHL have gone on to play in the National Hockey League, including 29 who made their NHL debuts in the 2013-14 season. The ECHL had affiliations with 26 of the 30 NHL teams in 2013-14, marking the 17th consecutive season that the league had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL. Further information on the ECHL is available on its website at ECHL.com, as well as on Twitter and Facebook.

-Thunder-