Since the new ballpark in Wichita has been left dormant for a year, INTRUST Arena decided to host an old fashion duel on Friday night. However, this was not between two pitchers but was a battle of goaltenders as Andrew Shortridge outdueled the Wichita Thunder’s Mitch Gillam in a 1-0 victory for the Kansas City Mavericks. The loss kept the Thunder winless (0-2-1) at home this season.

The lone goal of the game came at the 13:33 mark when Lane Scheidl worked up a burst of speed in the Thunder zone. He snuck behind the Wichita defender, then tucked a backhander past Gillam for his third goal of the year.

From there, it was all Shortridge. A week after being pulled in an 8-4 Thunder rout of the Mavericks, the Kansas City netminder was absolutely brilliant. He stopped 39 shots in all, including 14 in both the first and second periods.

In the third, the Thunder had a golden opportunity to tie the score when Gordie Green received a pass in the neutral zone and headed in on Shortridge on a breakaway, however the Mavericks goalie was able to knock down the wrist shot to keep the Thunder off the scoreboard.

With a little over two minutes left in the game, the Thunder were swarming around the net when Shortridge came up huge again. Green dished a backhand pass to Spencer Dorowicz at the other side of the net. He had a wide open goal, but Shortridge was somehow able to get over and make the stop, then smother the rebound attempt.

With a little over a minute left in the game, Wichita pulled Gillam but they could not get the equalizer.

The loss was the first by the Thunder to the Mavericks this season, dropping the team to 4-2-1 on the season (9 points). The Mavericks moved to 2-3-1.

These teams will meet again on Saturday night. The puck drops at 7:05.

Gamesheet

By Robert Pannier