St. Pierre, Thunder's Gutsy Effort Halted in OT Loss to Idaho

Wichita, KS (Feb. 21st) - Trailing by three goals entering the third period, Wichita (11-31-6-5) mounted a comeback to force overtime only to lose to Idaho (28-20-5-1) by the final of 5-4 on Sunday afternoon at INTRUST Bank Arena. The story of the game, however, was the appearance of emergency back-up netminder Kevin St. Pierre, who appeared in his first pro game since 2010-11. The 40-year old came on in relief of David Shantz, who exited the game with three minutes left in the first period.

Idaho took a quick three-goal lead in just a 2:42 span. Carson McMillan, who netted a hat trick, scored 1:57 into the contest to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. At 2:38 Andre Bouvet-Morrissette beat Shantz to make it 2-0. McMillan added another at 3:39 that upped the lead to 3-0. Ian Lowe got the Thunder on the board after a penalty expired that made it 3-1 after 20 minutes.

Just 19 seconds into the second, Kyle Jean recorded his 10th of the year to make it 4-1.

The Thunder rallied in the final period with three unanswered goals. Christian Isackson recorded his seventh of the year on a power play at 1:18. Domenic Alberga cut the lead to one at 9:20 with his first goal in a Thunder uniform. At 15:48, Kale Kerbashian beat Brandon Komm with a wrist shot from the right circle that tied the contest at four. For the second night in a row, Wichita and Idaho headed into overtime.

In the extra session, Wichita controlled the play early and nearly ended it when a Dean Chelios wrist shot caught the iron. McMillan completed the hat trick with two minutes left that handed the Steelheads a 5-4 victory.

Wichita has played past 60 minutes in its last four games. Kale Kerbashian and Christian Isackson have goals in back-to-back contests. 10 different players recorded points in the losing effort. St. Pierre stopped 11 of 13 shots. Komm claimed the win, stopping 39 of 43 shots he faced.

Wichita was 1-for-4 on the power play. Idaho went 0-for-3 on the man advantage.

The Thunder finishes its four-game home-stand next Friday against the Allen Americans starting at 7:05 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-