Dickman, Stinil Lead Thunder Past Heartlanders

CORALVILLE, IA (Feb. 21) – Wichita began a four-game road trip on Wednesday night, earning a 5-4 victory over Iowa at Xtream Arena. 

Jay Dickman and Michal Stinil led the way with two goals apiece. Trevor Gorsuch claimed the win, stopping 44 shots.

Brett Budgell opened the scoring at 13:16 of the first. Louka Henault dumped the puck into the Wichita zone. The puck took a crazy bounce into the slot and Budgell found an open net to make it 1-0. 

Dickman tied the game at 15:51, redirecting a shot from Dominic Dockery that got past Hunter Jones. 

Stinil gave the Thunder a 2-1 lead at 9:47 of the second. He stole a loose puck near the top of the crease and banged home a power play marker for his 20th of the year. 

At 11:19, Dickman recorded his second of the game on the man advantage to make it 3-1. Lleyton Moore fired a shot wide of the net from the blue line. Dickman got to a loose puck off the end boards and beat Jones for his 21st of the year. 

The Heartlanders battled back to tie the game with two goals in less than a five-minute span. Budgell beat Gorsuch at 14:34 with a wrist shot from the right circle on the power play to cut the lead to 3-2. 

At 19:12, Dakota Raabe tied it as he pounced on a rebound through the slot and tallied his fourth of the year to make it 3-3. 

Wichita re-gained the lead at 13:03 of the third period. Kobe Walker stole a loose puck near the Thunder line, skated away from the defense on a breakaway and beat Jones to make it 4-3. 

Stinil added his second of the night at 16:33 to make it 5-3. Quinn Preston created a turnover at the Iowa line and came in on a two-man breakaway. He slid a pass over to Stinil, who he beat Jones with a beautiful stickhandling move for his 21st of the season. 

Casey Dornbach cut the lead to one at 18:29 to make it 5-4. The Heartlanders pulled Jones for the extra-attacker and he beat Gorsuch from the edge of the left circle for his ninth of the year. 

Iowa had several chances down the stretch, but Gorsuch held down the fort and Wichita escaped with a 5-4 win. 

Wichita went 2-for-3 on the power play. Iowa was 1-for-3 on the man advantage. 

The Thunder have won three-straight for the first time since October. Wichita has scored five goals in three-straight games. 

Dickman has points in four-straight (3g, 5a). Stinil has points in three-straight (4g, 1a). Walker has goals in back-to-back outings. Watts has five assists in his last four contests. Preston has assists in three-straight. Bradley Marek has points in three-straight games (3g, 2a).

Wichita continues its road trip on Friday night against the Indy Fuel.

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