Thunderbolts Trade Fensterstock to Mayhem for Rights to Huffman

On Monday, Head Coach/Director of Hockey Operations Jeff Bes announced a trade that sends forward Cooper Fensterstock to the Macon Mayhem in exchange for the rights to defenseman Caleb Huffman.

The Thunderbolts trade Fensterstock to the Macon Mayhem in exchange for defenseman Caleb Huffman.  Huffman is in his first full professional season, having played 26 games with the Macon Mayhem, scoring 4 goals and 9 points along with an even plus/minus rating.  Huffman turned pro late in the 2024-25 season, playing 6 games with the Wichita Thunder of the ECHL.  The native of Fairbanks, Alaska played three seasons of junior hockey in his home state with the Kenai River Brown Bears of the NAHL, recording 5 goals and 24 points in 86 regular season games and captained Kenai River in 2022-23.  Huffman enrolled at the University of Alaska-Anchorage and played a season and a half of Division 1 NCAA hockey between 2022-2024, scoring 1 goal and 2 points in 42 games before playing a final season of collegiate hockey at Simon Frasier University in British Columbia in 2024-25, scoring 3 goals and 16 points in 20 games before joining Wichita.  

Thunderbolts Trade Woernle to Fayetteville for Fensterstock

On Monday, Head Coach/Director of Hockey Operations Jeff Bes announced a trade that sends defenseman John Woernle to the Fayetteville Marksmen in exchange for forward Cooper Fensterstock.

Fensterstock joins the Thunderbolts after starting the season with the Fayetteville Marksmen, tallying 1 goal and 9 points in 23 games. The Charlotte, North Carolina native played three seasons of NCAA III with SUNY-Geneseo between 2022-2025, tallying 19 goals and 48 points along with only 16  penalty minutes in 69 regular season games. Before heading to college at SUNY-Genesco, Fensterstock spent two separate seasons with the Amarillo Bulls of the NAHL, where he had 35 points in 39 games his first season and 35 points in 52 games his second season.

Thunderbolts Rally to Earn Point in Shootout Loss to Storm

Moline, Ill.:  Down 2-1 and no further behind thanks to great goaltending from Cody Karpinski, the Thunderbolts rallied to force overtime and shootout, however the Thunderbolts shootout woes continued as they fell short, 3-2 Storm the final score in Moline on Saturday night.  The Thunderbolts’ next home game at Ford Center will be on Sunday, March 8th against the Macon Mayhem at 3:00pm CT.

In the final game of 6 for the Thunderbolts in a grueling 9-day span, the Thunderbolts managed to open the scoring as Myles Abbate scored on the rush from Tyson Gilmour and Matthew Hobbs at 11:50.  Quad City charged back however, as Leif Mattson scored on a breakaway at 15:15, and Davis Kirkendall scored on a rebound at 19:01 to give Quad City a 2-1 lead after one period.  Karpinski made a pair of huge saves, on Taylor Pryce in the final minute of the first period, and Denver Craig early in the second period, to keep Evansville within a goal, and the Thunderbolts gained momentum as a result, finally managing to tie the game with 2:04 remaining in the second period as Jordan Simoneau scored on a turnaround shot from Dmitry Yushkevich and Evan Miller.  Evansville outshot Quad City 13-6 in the third period, but neither goaltender yielded the rest of the way in regulation or in overtime.  In the shootout, Simoneau scored on Evansville’s fourth attempt, but Jesper Tarkiainen tied the shootout moments later, and Brodie Girod scored the winning goal in the bottom of the fifth round, as Evansville fell to 2-6 this season in shootouts, still gaining a point to stay in 2nd place by two points over Pensacola.

Abbate and Simoneau scored one goal each, and Karpinski finished with 31 saves on 33 shots, along with 3 saves on 5 shootout attempts.  The Thunderbolts and Storm meet again on Friday, March 21st at Ford Center, with the Storm clinching the regular season series with an 8-5 lead.

Season tickets, Individual game tickets and group packages are on sale for the 2025-26 season.  Call 812-422-BOLT(2658) or visit our website (www.evansvillethunderbolts.com) for details.

About Evansville Thunderbolts: The Evansville Thunderbolts is the area’s only professional hockey team. The Thunderbolts are a proud member of the SPHL.  The team is owned and operated by VW Sports, L.L.C, a subsidiary of VenuWorks, Inc. www.evansvillethunderbolts.com

Thunderbolts Sign Bernard to SPC; Huffnagle-Simard on 14-Day IR

On Saturday, Head Coach/Director of Hockey Operations Jeff Bes announced several transactions, led by signing of forward Seth Bernard to a standard contract and the signing of forward Aiden MacIntosh from his professional tryout to a standard contract.

Bernard joins the Thunderbolts following the conclusion of his collegiate hockey career at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, with whom he scored 38 goals and 72 points in 101 regular season games between 2022-2026, including 11 goals and 23 points in 27 games this season, leading his team in both goals and points.  The native of Braintree, Massachusetts also played one season of collegiate prep hockey in the NCDC with the Manchester Junior Monarchs in 2021-22, scoring 5 goals and 11 points in 43 games.

MacIntosh signed a standard contract following a successful five-game professional tryout with the Thunderbolts, scoring 2 goals and 4 points along with a +3 rating.  The Moncton, New Brunswick native recently joined Evansville following the conclusion of his Canadian collegiate hockey career with York University.

In other transaction news, forward Aaron Huffnagle and defenseman Beren Simard have been placed on the 14-Day Injured Reserve.

Thunderbolts Sign Defenseman Carter Poulin to PTO

On Friday, Head Coach/Director of Hockey Operations Jeff Bes announced signing of defenseman Carter Poulin to a professional tryout (PTO).

Poulin joins the Thunderbolts following the conclusion of his collegiate hockey career at Rivier University, with whom he scored 11 goals and 36 points in 88 regular season games.  The native of Berlin, New Hampshire recorded 3 goals and 7 points in 25 games this season prior to joining the Thunderbolts.