By WJBC Staff
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Marko Reifenberger picked a good time for his first career goal with the Thunder.
With Bloomington tied at two with the Omaha Lancers in the last five minutes of regulation, Reifenberger tallied the first goal in his eight career games to give the Thunder a hard-fought 3-2 win over the Lancers at the Coliseum on Friday.
The eventual game-winning play started with a shot from the right point from Jason Smallidge as Reifenberger went crashing to the goal mouth. After swatting the initial follow-up chance off the right post, Reifenberger sent a spinning backhander into the back of the net to give the Thunder the lead for good.
Reifenberger’s goal was the third and final goal in a back-and-forth third stanza that had followed a defensive-minded first two periods. Bloomington took a 2-1 lead at the 7:33 mark of the third before Omaha tied the game with 6:33 remaining. But when Reifenberger’s hard-nosed effort in front of the net earned him a second chance with 4:40 to go in regulation, he wouldn’t be denied to help the Thunder to their second-straight victory.
August von Ungern-Sternberg opened the scoring in the third period with an impressive individual effort of his own. After intercepting a pass in the neutral zone, von Ungern-Sternberg split three Lancers players to spring himself free on an abbreviated breakaway. He then beat Omaha goaltender Jacob Acton for his first career goal to make it 2-1.
Omaha would tie the game on Brian Matthews’ rebound goal a little less than six minutes later to knot to score briefly. That goal was the last the Lancers would get against a stingy Bloomington defense led by another strong game from goaltender Gabe Mollot-Hill (Providence College). Mollot-Hill stopped 31 of 33 shots to earn his second-consecutive win.
Vlad Dzhioshvili started the scoring in the Thunder’s first matchup with a Western Conference foe with his third goal in two games. Dzhioshvili (Cornell University) intercepted Acton’s breakout feed behind the Lancers goal and then banked the puck off a Lancer player in front of the goal and into the back of the net at the 16:34 mark of the first.
The Thunder finish off the two-game series with Omaha at 7 p.m. on Saturday night at the Coliseum. Saturday is Ag Appreciation Night presented by Illinois FFA. For tickets, call the Thunder at 309-434-2980.
