Wichita, KS (March 7th) - Ryan Van Stralen joined the Thunder a week ago and has already put his name on the map. He scored twice to lead the Thunder past Quad City by the final of 4-1 on Wednesday night at INTRUST Bank Arena.
Kevin Dufour recorded two points, Jeremy Beaudry had two helpers and Nick Riopel stopped 28 shots en route to the victory.
Quad City struck first as Matt Pohlkamp notched a power play goal at 6:22 to make it 1-0. Dufour tied the game at 13:21 as he found a rebound off a shot from Sam Thibault.
In the second, Van Stralen scored back-to-back goals to give the Thunder a two-goal cushion. His first came at 9:05 to make it 2-1 and stood as the eventual game-winning goal. His second was a thing of beauty, stickhandling through defenders to the net and rifled a wrist shot past Eric Hartzell while he was falling down to make it 3-1.
Ralph Cuddemi tacked on an insurance marker at 11:52 of the third period to make it 4-1. Dufour dumped the puck down the left wall and went off for a change. Mark MacMillan got to it near the goal line, fired a shot that bounced to the slot and Cuddemi put it in the net.
Wichita hits 20 wins at home for the first time since joining the ECHL. Van Stralen has two points in each of his last two games and also had his first fight as a pro. Dufour collected his 18th goal of the season and Cuddemi tallied his 25th of the year. MacMillan finished with two helpers as well.
Wichita went 1-for-3 on the power play. Quad City was 1-for-5 on the man advantage.
The Thunder begins an eight-game road trip on Saturday night at Tulsa starting at 7:05 p.m.
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