Macon, Ga.: After a 1-0 lead was nullified midway through the second period, the Thunderbolts sparked a momentum surge and quickly regained the lead, defeating the Mayhem 3-1 in Macon on Friday night. The Thunderbolts’ next home game at Ford Center will be on Friday, February 13th against the Huntsville Havoc at 7:00pm CT.
The Thunderbolts had to navigate through a major penalty midway through the first period but killed off the penalty successfully, and just moments later counterattacked to take the game’s opening lead at 15:18 as Isaac Chapman scored from Derek Contessa and John Woernle. Macon put on the pressure in the second period, and at 13:47 the Mayhem tied the game on a net-front redirection by Michael Herrera. Evansville’s offense instantly roared to life and levied an appropriate response, as Myles Abbate scored on the rush only 31 seconds later, assisted by Matthew Hobbs and Cameron MacPhee to give Evansville a 2-1 lead at 14:18. Off a face-off in the second period’s final moments, Chapman scored his second goal of the night, redirecting a shot from Max Thiessen into the net with less than one second remaining to extend Evansville’s lead to 3-1, also assisted by Contessa. The third period went scoreless, and Evansville skated away with two big points and a 3-1 victory to leap back into 4th place in the league standings.
Chapman led the way with two goals, Abbate scored the game-winning goal, and Contessa tallied a pair of assists. In goal, Kristian Stead stopped 22 of 23 shots for his 17th win of the season. The Thunderbolts and Mayhem meet once again on Saturday, February 7th at Macon Coliseum, with Macon now leading the regular season series 2-1.
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