Pelham, Ala.: The Thunderbolts showed no quit despite trailing 5-0 going into the third period, rallying for four unanswered goals albeit falling just short by a 5-4 score in Pelham on Friday night. The Thunderbolts’ next home game at Ford Center will be on Saturday, October 24th against the Quad City Storm, opening face-off at 7:00pm CT.
Evansville outshot the Bulls 11-8 in a close first period but fell behind 1-0 as Ashton Paul scored for the Bulls at 11:08. In the second period, the Thunderbolts were under siege as the Bulls scored three power play goals, and one goal after a power play, to take a 5-0 lead with goals by Brady Lynn at 5:17, Aiden Wagner at 9:17, Matt Wiesner at 10:14, and Kyren Gronick at 12:04. Instead of throwing in the towel, the Thunderbolts went to work in the third period, starting 24 seconds into play as Dustin Hutton scored off a set-up from Jordan Simoneau to make it 5-1. On the power play, Will van der Veen sniped home a shot from Hutton and Seth Bernard to make it a 5-2 game at 2:38. On another power play at 7:54, Hutton scored once again from Derek Contessa and Caleb Huffman to trim the deficit to two goals, before Bernard’s goal off a face-off from Contessa at 8:53 suddenly put Evansville right back to within a goal. Despite several great chances, Evansville’s luck ran out the rest of the way, falling just short 5-4 in a spirited effort that will hopefully follow them home for Saturday night’s home game against Quad City.
Hutton led the way with two goals and an assist, Bernard scored one goal and one assist, Van der Veen added one goal, and Contessa tallied a pair of assists. In goal, Sebastian Resar finished with 26 saves on 31 shots. The Thunderbolts and Bulls meet once again on Friday, November 20th at Pelham Civic Complex, with the Bulls leading the season series 1-0.
Single game and season tickets for the 2026-27 season are on sale now. Call 812-422-BOLT(2658) or visit our website (www.evansvillethunderbolts.com) for details.
About Evansville Thunderbolts: The Evansville Thunderbolts are 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