Game 2 of the 2016-2017 season, saw the Wichita Thunder welcome the Missouri Mavericks (0-3-0-0) to INTRUST Arena Friday night. After falling on opening night 4-3, the Thunder looked to even their record and, thanks to two short-handed goals and a power-play goal, they would skate away with a 4-1 victory. That evened the Thunder record at 1-1-0-0.

The first period started off with the Missouri Mavericks dominating play. In fact, it would be easy to say that the first period was a frame of halves. The Mavericks dominated play in the Thunder end and would score just 5:33 into the game. Darren Nowick beat Wichita goalie Scott Greenham during a scramble in front of the net for his first goal of the year. It was the sixth shot of the game to that point, and the Mavericks outshot Wichita 9-2 through the first 10 minutes of play, but from then on the Thunder dominated.

It started with a fight between Tyler Elbrecht and Ian Lowe. A couple of big hits by the Thunder had the Mavericks riled up and it seemed like a fight was inevitable. A scrum ensued that eventually led to the two heading to the penalty box.

A little less than three minutes later the Thunder would find themselves on the power-play. Jack Rodewald’s shot was redirected by Chris Rumble into the goal for his first goal of the season. The power-play goal made the score 1-1.

Just 10 seconds later Wichita would take a penalty and 38 seconds after that they would take their third penalty of the game. The Thunder were impressive in killing off the 5-3 and the first period ended with the score tied at one and another penalty would put Missouri on the power-play entering the second period.

The Wichita Thunder would take command of this game within the first few minutes of the second frame. With the man advantage, the Mavericks were a little lackadaisical in trying to get the puck into the Thunder end. Macoy Erkamps made a great play to knock the puck back into the neutral zone where Vince Arseneau carried it in. He used the defenseman as a shield, carrying into the visitor end before wristing a shot over the shoulder of Missouri goalie Eamon McAdam for the short-handed goal to make it 2-1.

It was a huge turning point in the game and 2:15 later Wichita would extend their lead. In the Mavericks end, Alex Krushelnyski made a nice pass across the crease to Rodewald. Rodewald used the defenseman as a shield and wristed a shot passed the screened Missouri goalie to make it 3-1. It was Rodewald’s second goal of the year.

It would stay that way through the period. The Mavericks looked like they had a shot to cut the deficit to one when a redirected shot began to trickle under the legs of Greenham and looked like it may slide into the net, but the referee lost sight of the puck and blew the whistle before it could get to the line, ending the threat.

The second period would end 3-1 with the shots favoring the Mavericks through the first two frames, 29-27. The Thunder had taken both penalties in the period and had six of the eight penalties that had been assessed but were dominating play, especially on the special teams.

In the third it would be their special teams play once again that would lead the way for Wichita. With the Mavericks holding the man advantage, Krushelnyski carried the puck into the Missouri end on a two-on-one. Matt DeBlouw broke for the net and was standing right on the door step as Krushelnyski made a great pass that the forward tipped in for the goal, the second short-handed goal of the game for the Thunder. DeBlouw’s first goal of the season made it 4-1.

The Mavericks battled to try to get back into the game, but Greenham stood tall. He stopped two point blank shots as the Thunder looked to slow down the pace of the contest. Wichita would kill off four more penalties during the frame and would finish off with a three-goal victory.

Greenham was quite impressive in evening his record on the season, stopping all but one of the 40 shots against him. Rodewald had a goal and an assist, and Krushelnyski and Erkamps both added two assists.

The Wichita Thunder are off for the next three days as they begin a four-game road trip Tuesday night at South Carolina. The trip will include a game at Atlanta and two in Greenville. The next home contest for the Thunder is November 4 against Utah.

Boxscore

By Robert Pannier