The Mississippi Seawolves hosted the Carolina Thunderbirds for a second night on April 6. The Mississippi Seawolves were holding their annual Autism Awareness night and wore specialty sweaters for the occasion, featuring puzzle pieces.
For over the first half of the first period, both #33 Joseph Sheppard of the Seawolves and #35 Cody Karpinski of the Thunderbirds earned their keep as they blocked shot after shot that came their way. The first puck to cross the goal line didn’t happen until 14:19 with the Seawolves scoring first (goal #4 Matt Stoia, asststed by #10 Philip Wong and #23 Jackson Bond). #10 Kalib Ford answered back with a goal at 15:42 with assistance from #118 Roman Kraemer and #8 Justin Bioni. At 19:50, #33 Joseph Sheppard made a dash for the bench, giving the Seawolve the extra attacker on the ice and allowing #4 Matt Stoia to gain the lead with his second goal of the night (with assists from #11 Lucas Helland and #23 Jackson Bond). The first period ended with the Seawolves in the lead 2-1.
7:53 into the 2nd period, #19 Danny Liscio of the Seawolves took a hooking penalty, and gave #25 Dawson Baker the chance to tie the game at 8:14 (assisted by #10 Kalib Ford and #6 Jacob Schnapp). The Thunderbirds took the lead at 15:22 when #4 Jospeh Kennedy got the assist from #21 Nate Keeley and #15 Chris Ciolek and scored his first goal of the night. Shortly after, at 16:34, #18 Roman Kraemer scored with the assits coming from #16 Jan Salak and #8 Justin Bioni. The second period closed with the Thunderbirds in the lead 4-2.
The third period continued with some chippyness in the beginning with Seawolves #45 taking a boarding penalty at 2:34. #8 Justin Bioni of the Thunderbirds found himself in the sin bin for hooking at 12:11. The 3rd period did not see a goal until 16:28, when #14 Jon Buttitta was able to find the back of the net (assisted by #21 Nate Keeley and #23 Gordon Whalen). The final goal of the night came at 19:13 with #14 Jon Buttitta getting another goal and assists from #21 Nate Keeley and #15 Chris Ciolek.
In the end, the Thunderbirds beat the Seawolves 6-2. The third star of the game with Kalib Ford (Thunderbirds) with 1 Gl, 1 Asst and 2 Pt. The second star was Matt Stoia (Seawolves) with 2 G, and 2 Pts. The first star of the game went to Jon Buttita (Thunderbirds) with the last 2G, 0 , and 2 Pts. The Seawolves had one more game to finish out the weekend with the Columbus River Dragons. The Thunderbirds hit the road to head home and prepare to face the River Dragons on April 11.
Match report by Sarah Carman
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