By Brian Tosti/Bloomington Thunder
BLOOMINGTON – The Bloomington Thunder wrapped up the regular season from the U.S. Cellular Coliseum on a comeback overtime game. The final score ended 5-4 Chicago, but the Thunder overcame two separate two-goal deficits to send it to the extra period. In front of nearly 3,000 fans, Bloomington (36-18-4-1) finished their play before the 2016 Clark Cup Playoffs grabbing a point in 14 of their last 15 games played. Chicago finished their 59th game 26-26-4-3 and rest in seventh place of the Eastern Conference.
Bloomington now awaits the schedule for the post season, to be released Monday. The Thunder are the number four seed in the East and will meet the Anderson Cup Champion Cedar Rapids RoughRiders in the first round.
In his 200th game, Butrus Ghafari (Western Michigan University) had himself a nice first period. The defenseman was able to tie the game in the first on two separate plays one minute apart. The first goal for the Thunder came as Ghafari handled a rebound from Ethan Somoza (Bemidji State University) behind the net. Feeding another assistant captain in front of the net, and Tarek Baker (University of Wisconsin) redirected it into the net. Baker picked up his 20th goal of the season on the play to cut the lead in half.
The two assistants connected again, less than 40 seconds later to tie the game. On the power play, Baker looked to the slot for an open man and found Ghafari for a blast at the blue line. The future Bronco netted his second of the season on the play to tie it up.
Four straight goals came in the first period over a four-minute span as Chicago scored the first two of the game at the nine and 10:40 marks. On the power play Christiano Versich (Colorado College) redirected a shot from Matt Kiersted (University of North Dakota) on the power play and then Haralds Egle (Clarkson University) connected on a rebound from the post.
Late in the period, Chicago came back to take the lead at the end of the period. Max Zimmer (University of Wisconsin)netted his 14th of the season on a one-timer shot from the slot. Jake Jaremko (Minnesota State University-Mankato) added his 45th point this season on the assist.
In the second period, the Thunder and Steel traded blows in the second period. The physical battle resulted in chances for the Thunder and Steel on the power play. Bloomington was 1-for-6 in the game on special teams while the Steel were 3-for-8 on the night.
Bloomington found themselves down three times in the third and the Steel added their fourth goal on the night with a 5-on-3 power play mark. Marc Johnstone (Sacred Heart University) scored the goal, his sixth of the season, on a rebound as he was falling to the ice.
While the Thunder were on the kill, Mitchell Chaffee took it down the ice shorthanded for a goal just over a minute later. His seventh of the season made it 4-3 with less than six minutes to play. Ghafari added an assist on the goal, his third point of the night and finished the game with the number one star.
The game was tied less than four minutes later. Mitchell Mattson (University of North Dakota) chose a great time to score his second goal of the season. Steven Merl (University of Michigan) assisted on the goal from behind the net as Mattson came up with the biggest goal of the night.
Chicago ended the game in overtime on a 4-on-3 power play goal from Zimmer, his second of the night. The Thunder finished the game on back-to-back overtime defeats from Friday and Saturday night.
