Thunderbirds Dominate Ice Breakers

By Zak DeBeaussaert 

Winston-Salem, NC - The Carolina Thunderbirds put their foot on the gas and through the floor on Saturday night with a big 9-0 win over the Mentor Ice Breakers in front of a sellout crowd.

Mike Baker opened up the scoring at 5:36 into the first period with a left point shot that found its way past Kelly Curl and into the net. Later on, Jan Salak fired a quick wrist shot that kissed off the left post past Curl and in. The score after one was 2-0, Carolina and the shots were an even more ludicrous 23-7 at intermission.

The shot total continued to climb and the goals continued to pour in from there on out. Karel Drahorad picked up a short handed tally at 4:30 into the second after Curl gave up a juicy rebound off a Josh Pietrantonio shot. Next up was Joe Cangelosi who had back-to-back goals before the halfway mark that would eventually run Curl out of the game. Unfortunately for Mentor fans, Derek Moser did not fare much better on this night. Taylor Love would score 2:03 into Moser's time on the ice with a snipe to the top left corner, and it was 6-0 at the break.

Carolina wasn't done there though. Michael Bunn scored at 1:33 into the third and made it a touchdown lead for the Thunderbirds. Love would add his second at the 10:44 mark, and Ray Boudiette got a goal in his first home game of the season on the power play to make it 9-0. 

For what it's worth, Carolina has never scored 10 goals in a game in franchise history and will still be searching as a Jay Croop's potential goal was waived off for goaltender interference in the second period. Christian Pavlas set an FHL record with this win, as no goaltender in FHL history has ever had five shutouts in a season until now. His 19 saves got the job done and kept the Ice Breakers scoreless. Kelly Curl takes the loss, stopping 27 of 32 shots, and Derek Moser in relief stopped 28 of 32. 

The Thunderbirds now look ahead to the Elmira Enforcers for a two-game weekend set at the Annex. Tickets are available at the Fairgrounds Box Office or online at TicketMaster.

3 Stars of the Game:
Joe Cangelosi
Mike Baker
Brad Nolan 

Attendance: 3,175

Photo credit: J. Jackson