Third Period Surges Eagles Past Thunder

Loveland, CO (April 6th) - Wichita battled back twice to tie the game on Friday night, but ultimately fell to Colorado by the final of 7-4 at Budweiser Events Center.

Ralph Cuddemi had two goals while Mark MacMillan and Ryan Van Stralen each finished with two points.

Wichita fell behind 3-0, but fought back into the game. Colorado took a 2-0 lead in the first period with goals from Collin Bowman and Teigan Zahn.

Early in the second, Ryan Olsen made it 3-0 as he handled a bouncing puck through the slot and scored past Shane Starrett. MacMillan cut the lead to 3-1 during a delayed penalty as he fired a one-timer from Jeremy Beaudry past Lukas Hafner. Ryan Van Stralen scored at 6:52 and made it a 3-2 game as he buried a breakaway past Hafner. Cuddemi netted his first of two at 11:08 that tied it at three.

Brady Shaw re-gained the lead for the Eagles at 10:46 as he found a puck at the right circle and beat Starrett. 22 seconds later, Cuddemi stripped the puck from Matt Register near the net and tied the game at four.

The Eagles took the lead for good when Jake Marto's point-shot got through Starrett and made it 5-4. Olsen added his second of the game at 13:29 to increase the lead to 6-4. Wichita had a late power play and pulled Starrett for the extra attacker. Drayson Bowman fired a loose puck from inside the Eagles zone all the way down the ice into the empty cage and closed the scoring at 7-4.

Cuddemi has four goals in his last three games. Van Stralen netted his seventh of the season and MacMillan potted his 21st of the year.

Wichita went 0-for-5 on the power play. Colorado was 1-for-3 on the man advantage.

The Thunder closes the season tomorrow night with their final meeting against the Eagles at 8:05 p.m. CST.

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