The No. 11 may be considered a lucky number by many, but it sure is not by the Wichita Thunder. For the 11th time in a row the team fell, this time losing to the Toledo Walleye 4-1. Tyson Spink led the visitors to victory, scoring a goal and adding 2-assists, and two early power-play goals doomed the Thunder on this night.

The Thunder have been struggling early in the first period of late, and that would be the case on this night as well. An early penalty put the Walleye on the power-play and they would capitalize at the 2:18 mark. Tylor Spink passed down low to Evan Rankin who fired a pass across the front of the net to the other side where Tyson Spink was left alone. He one-timed the puck into the net to stake Toledo to the early lead.

Less than two minutes later the Walleye were on the power-play again. This time Mike Borkowski passed the puck to Tyson Spink who was along the boards. He passed to Rankin near the side of the net. Rankin corralled the puck and like a power-forward posting up at the basket, he turned to one side then went to his backhand and put it into the net for his 23rd goal of the season.

A little over three minutes later the Wichita Thunder would cut that lead in half. Alex Vanier fired a shot from the point that hit off the boards and bounced back in front of the net. Zach O’Brien fired the puck on net and Jake Patterson made the save, but Maxime St-Cyr got the puck and put it in for his second goal since joining the Thunder.

Six minutes later the Walleye would extend their lead back to two. Zach Nastasiuk received a puck near the blue line and split between two Wichita defenders. He then beat Thunder goalie Drew Owsley between the legs for his eighth goal of the year to make it 3-1.

The second period would remain scoreless, making it the first time in 14-periods that the Thunder would not give up a goal. However, four-minutes into the third period it would be a three-goal Walleye advantage. A terrible giveaway in the Thunder end gave Tyson Spink the puck in front of the net. He passed the puck to Tylor Spink who put it in for his 18th goal of the year. That would make it 4-1 which would be the final.

The Toledo Walleye were led by Tyson Spink who had a goal and 2-assists. Tylor Spink added a goal and an assist as did Evan Rankin. Jake Peterson saved 28 of 29 shots. Drew Owsley gave up 4-goals on 32-shots, but his defense did not help him at all on this night.

These two teams will face off again tomorrow night. The puck drops at 7:05.

Boxscore

By Robert Pannier