Thunderbirds Down Dashers

By Nate Williamson

Danville, IL - The Danville Dashers fell at home on Sunday evening to a Carolina Thunderbirds team that looks primed for postseason play, after putting up double digits for their second straight game. The Dashers were far and behind in this contest from the beginning, and fell by a final score of 10-2.

The Thunderbirds scored four times within the first eleven minutes of the game, with the first goal coming from Josh Pietrantonio with just 6:11 off the clock. Petr Panacek scored the next two goals, finding himself on a breakaway both times, at 7:38 and 10:15. The fourth goal came just seven seconds after Panacek's second tally when Jiri Pestuka, who had already assisted twice, found twine.

Ray Boudiette was the next scorer at just 1:33 into the second period. Danville finally got on the board from newly acquired Sam Turner, his 1st goal as a Dasher in his first game. The morale boost didn't last long as Pestuka got his second of the night, on tic-tac assists from Jay Croop and Michael Bunn. Jiri Pargac found the back of the net for his first of the night as the period was winding down to bring the score to 7-1.

It wasn't long after the start of the third period when Chase Fallis scored on assists from Pargac and Taylor Love. Fred Hein got one back for the Dashers with a slap shot that beat Carolina goaltender Frankie McClendon to pull Danville back to 8-2. Hein continued a recent hot streak, and had several offensive opportunities that served as a bright spot on the otherwise dark day for the Dashers. The final two goals came from Pargac and Pietrantonio at 15:01 and 17:19 to bring the game to the final score of 10-2.

Carolina looked to be in peak form once again as they head towards the final weekend of regular season games. The Dashers will look to rebound from a weekend sweep against the same Carolina team on Friday night in Danville, their last home game of the season.

Photo credit: LMB Studios