Thunder Weekly - April 6th

Wichita, KS (April 6th) - Wichita kept its playoff hopes alive with two imporant wins last week. Read about the week that was and get ready for the final week of the regular season right here:

LAST WEEK'S GAMES - Wednesday, April 1st Allen at Wichita, 4-3 W (OT) -Mike MacIntyre scored in round seven of the shootout to propel the Thunder to a 4-3 win over Allen on Wednesday night. Justin Bernhardt scored twice and Ian Lowe broke a month-long goal drought in the second. Saturday, April 4thBrampton at Wichita, 5-1 W -Danick Gauthier had three points and Grant Rollheiser was outstanding in net, stopping 26 of 27 en route to a 5-1 win over his old team on Saturday night.

THIS WEEK'S GAMES - Wednesday, April 8thTulsa at Wichita, 7:05 p.m., online stream only at ustream.com. Search Wichita Thunder.

Friday, April 10th Tulsa at Wichita, 7:05 p.m., online stream only at ustream.com. Search Wichita Thunder. -Student Rush Night, presented by Kansas National Guard Saturday, April 11thAllen at Wichita, 7:05 p.m., online stream only at ustream.com. Search Wichita Thunder. -Fandemonium and Team Photo Night, presented by WTI, Team Photo Giveaway presented by Green Lantern Express Service Car Wash, Eaton Place, Newman University and U.S. Air Force

**Pre-game begins 15 minutes prior to start of all games. All games can be heard on www.wichitathunder.com or on your smart phone with the UStream App using the keyword Wichita Thunder** TEAM CAPSULEOverall: 32-29-2-6Home: 16-14-0-3Road: 16-15-2-3Last 10: 4-6-0-0Streak: 2-0-0-0Rank: 5th place Central Division, 72 points TEAM LEADERSGoals: Gauthier, 30Assists: Gauthier, Lowe, 38Points: Gauthier, 68+/-: Meland, +5PIM: Lizon, Milan, 178 PLAYOFF PUSH - Wichita kept its playoff hopes alive this past week, winning both games and moving within three of the Tulsa Oilers for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Central Division. The Thunder and the Oilers will play back-to-back games this week that will play a major role in deciding who will go to the post-season. Wichita finishes the year at home on Saturday night against Allen while Tulsa closes out 2014-15 at Quad City. STONEWOLF STRUGGLE - Wichita has had it fair share of struggles this season against Tulsa. The Thunder are looking to break a four-game losing streak in the StoneWolf Casino Cup Series. Wichita's last win against the Oilers came in a 2-1 victory on December 17th at the BOK Center. The Thunder will have hosted Tulsa four times in a row after this week. Wichita is 2-6-1-3 in the regular-season series. POWERFUL - Danick Gauthier finished the week with four points and another multi-point game on Saturday night. He had an assist on Wednesday night and followed that up with three points (2g, 1a) on Saturday night. The Brossard, PQ native has 20 multi-point outings this season, five of which he has scored two or goals and has recorded three points in a game six times this season. He moved into a second place tie in power play goals with 12, scoring back-to-back markers on the man advantage against the Beast. SHE'S A 10! - Along with Danick Gauthier, Justin Bernhardt and Kenton Miller flourished this week as well. The forward line combined for 10 points (5g, 5a) this past week. Bernhardt continues to torch the Allen Americans, recording two more goals against Allen on Wednesday night. Eight of his 15 goals have come against the Americans. He also added two helpers on Saturday night. Miller had an assist on Wednesday and followed that up with the first goal of the game on Saturday night. OH CAPTAIN - Ian Lowe scored in back-to-back games this week, pushing his totals to 19 goals and 57 points on the season. The fourth-year pro needs two points to equal his career high when he recorded 59 points (28g, 31a) during the 2012-13 season. His 38 assists this year is a new high in that category.

LEADING THE WAY - With the injury to Nikita Kashirsky, Dan Milan assumed the role of assistant captain on Wednesday night. Last season, the Detroit, Michigan native played for Brampton, appearing in 50 games, racking up 108 penalty minutes and tallying 10 points (2g, 8a). He has already set new career highs in assists (16), points (17) and penalty minutes (178). The Tampa Bay Lightning product has earned one call-up this season to the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL.

THUNDERBOLTS… Danick Gauthier is in 14th place in goals (30)...Ian Lowe is tied for sixth (10)...Lowe is in 11th place for shots on goal (223) while Gauthier is in sixth (235)…Mike Wilson is fourth in scoring by a d-man (46) and tied for fourth in power play assists (18) while Gauthier is tied for 17th (14)…Justin Bernhardt is fifth in the league in shooting percentage (25.4%, 15/59)…Tim Boron is seventh in the league in minutes played (2,504), 17th in saves (993), 13th in wins (20)…Grant Rollheiser is tied for eighth in shutouts (3) and 12th in saves (1,060)…Wichita is 13-2-0-1 when leading after one...Wichita is 19-2-0-2 when leading after two… Individual tickets are on sale now. Don't delay! Tickets can be purchased at the INTRUST Arena Box office, by calling 755-SEAT or go online at www.selectaseat.com. Stay up-to-date on all the news during the season by visiting www.wichitathunder.com. 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-