Wichita Survives Wild Contest on Friday vs. Utah

WEST VALLEY CITY, UT (Jan. 24) – Wichita kicked off a seven-game road trip on Friday night in Utah, earning a 6-4 victory over the Grizzlies at the Maverik Center. 

The Thunder stormed out to a 4-0 lead. Utah climbed back into the game with four-unanswered in the second. Wichita came out on top and improved to 4-0-0 in the season-series against the Grizzlies. 

Joe Carroll led all scorers with four points, including his first professional hat trick. Jay Dickman had three points while seven others found the scoresheet. Trevor Gorsuch earned his sixth win of the season, stopping 32 shots. 

Carroll opened the scoring just 6:37 into the first. Dickman found him across the crease on the power play and he made it 1-0. 

At 7:33, Declan Smith recorded his first goal as a pro. Alex Gritz won a board battle near the right corner. He spun back to the goal line, fed a pass into the slot and Smith beat Jake Barczewski to make it 2-0. 

In the second, Carroll recorded his second of the game at 4:38. Dickman started a shorthanded two-on-one break, found Carroll wide open near the left post and he buried it for his 13th of the year. 

Austin Heidemann connected at 6:02 to extend the Wichita advantage to 4-0. He took a shot that hit a defenseman in the leg. Heidemann stayed with the play and popped a shot over Barczewski for his seventh of the season.

Barczewski was lifted out of the game and Vinny Duplessis came on in relief. 

Utah started a rally, scoring three goals in a 2:16 span to cut the lead to one. Mick Messner fired a shot that just got through Gorsuch on the man advantage to make it 4-1. 

Cole Fonstad scored during a two-man advantage with Jake Wahlin and Dickman in the box. His goal cut the lead to 4-2. 

At 10 minutes, Bryan Yoon fired a shot from the line through traffic that made it 4-3. 

Neil Shea tied the game with four minutes to go in the frame. Luke Manning beat a defenseman to a puck in the left corner, slid it to the left dot and Shea beat Gorsuch to the far side for his 15th of the year. 

Just 13 seconds later, Dickman recorded the eventual game-winner. Kobe Walker fed a pass to him during an odd-man chance and he beat Duplessis to the blocker side to make it 5-4.  

Carroll scored his hat trick goal with two seconds left in regulation. Utah pulled Duplessis for the extra attacker and had two faceoffs inside the Thunder zone with 18 seconds left. The Grizzlies won both faceoffs, but Dockery blocked a shot with five seconds left. Carroll found the loose puck and fired it down the ice into an empty net.

Since returning from the Spengler Cup, Carroll has six goals in his last four games. Dickman finished with a goal and two assists, which is his third three-point outing of the season. Nolan Burke and Kobe Walker have assists in back-to-back games. Gritz earned his first ECHL point in his first ECHL game with an assist on Smith's first pro goal. 

Wichita went 1-for-6 on the power play. Utah was 3-for-5 on the man advantage. The Thunder tallied their second shorthanded goal of the season and are now 2-0-0 when scoring with a man in the box. 

The two teams face each other tomorrow night at 8:10 with the second of a three-game series at the Maverik Center.

Our next home game is Tuesday, February 11 as we return to INTRUST Bank Arena after a seven-game road trip. Join us for another Ollie's Bargain Outlet Winning Weeknight and get four tickets and a $20 gift card to Ollie's for just $80. Click HERE to purchase today!

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