Thunder Drop 2-1 Contest in Mavericks Home Opener

Independence, MO (October 24th) - Wichita traveled to Independence for their first meeting of the season against Missouri at the newly-named Silverstein Eye Center Arena on Saturday night. Despite scoring first, two second-period power play goals were the difference as the Thunder fell by the final score of 2-1 to the Mavericks. Dalton Reum tallied his first of the season in the losing effort. Wichita drops to 0-2-0-0 in the Independence Cup Series.

Wichita broke through against Mavericks netminder Josh Robinson when Dalton Reum stepped into the play and one-timed a pass from Todd Hosmer to make it 1-0 with less than five minutes left in the first.

The second period belonged to Missouri, outshooting Wichita 11-3 and found the net twice on the power play. At 7:37, Joey Sides was called for a high-sticking double minor. Andrew Courtney created some traffic in front of the Thunder net and tipped in a shot from Trevor Ludwig to equal the score. Missouri took advantage of their fifth power play chance when Ludwig found some room down the slot, caught a pass and beat Grant Rollheisier to make it 2-1 at 15:20 for the Mavericks first lead of the game.

In the third, Wichita was forced to kill off two more penalties and finished with seven against in the contest. A late flurry was not enough as Robinson made some key saves with traffic in front of his net and held on for the win.

Reum scores his second goal as a pro and first since last October. Todd Hosmer and Michael Neal each tallied assists. Rollheiser takes his first loss of the season, stopping 25 of 27 shots. Robinson claims his fourth win of the year, stopping 17 of 18 shots he faced.

Wichita went 0-for-4 on the power play. Missouri was 2-for-7 on the man advantage.

The Thunder finish the weekend with an afternoon tilt at Quad City starting at 4:05 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 ECHL

The 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-