Boise, ID (Dec. 16th) - Wichita snapped its four-game losing streak on Saturday night, knocking off Idaho by the final of 5-3 at CenturyLink Arena.
The victory pulls the Thunder back into a second-place tie with the Steelheads in the Mountain Division with 36 points.
Jeremy Beaudry, Jamie Doornbosch, Travis Brown and Ralph Cuddemi each had multi-point games. Shane Starrett grabbed his eighth win of the season in his return to the Thunder line-up.
Wichita got on the board first as Beaudry fired a one-timer from the left point that caught the glove of Ryan Faragher and found its way in the net to make it 1-0. It was the first time in the last five games that the Thunder scored the first goal.
Tommy Thompson and Charlie Dodero scored 22 seconds apart in the second, giving Idaho its first lead of the game. Idaho appeared to take a 3-1 lead at 15:25 when Daniel Tedesco slid one near the left post past Starrett. The official ruled it a goal on the ice. After conferring with the goal judge, he changed the call and it was disallowed. Cuddemi evened things up at 19:19 with a power play goal to make it 2-2. Right off a face-off, he found a loose puck and slid it past Faragher for his seventh of the season. His goal came just seven seconds into the man advantage.
In the third, Evan Polei gave Wichita the lead for good with his third of the year at 2:11. He came out of the corner and fired a wrist shot past Faragher's glove to make it 3-2. Lane Bauer got into the act at 9:35 to make it 4-2. Mark MacMillan stole the puck near the left half wall, curled behind the net and fed it to Bauer in the slot. Idaho got one back at 10:24 as Jefferson Dahl recorded a power play tally to cut the lead to 4-3. Doornbosch re-gained a two-goal advantage at 11:01 with his first of the season. Cuddemi was all alone near the net, had the puck slide to the right post and Doornbosch tucked it in from behind the goal line to make it 5-3.
Beaudry led all scorers with three points (1g, 2a). Doornbosch and Cuddemi each had a goal and an assist. Brown had a pair of helpers. Starrett stopped 38 of 41 shots. Faragher gave up five goals on 30 shots he faced.
Wichita went 2-for-6 on the power play, which is the first multi-goal outing for the man advantage since November 18th. Idaho was 1-for-4 on its opportunities.
The Thunder returns home on Tuesday night to host the Tulsa Oilers in the StoneWolf Casino Cup Series starting at 7:05 p.m.
Individual tickets for all games are on sale now. Season tickets are still available for purchase. Get your seats for just $15 per month. All it takes is a $50 deposit per seat to reserve yours today. To learn more, click here or contact a Thunder representative at the office today!
Follow along with us on our social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter (@wichita_thunder), Snapchat (wichthunder), Instagram (Wichita_Thunder) and LinkedIn.
-Thunder-