For immediate release
For more information, contact: Joel Silverberg, Director of Broadcasting (865) 525-7825, joel@knoxvilleicebears.com.
Brady Fleurent scored twice in the third period, Kristian Stead made 31 saves and the Knoxville Ice Bears beat the Quad City Storm 6-1 Saturday night at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum.
The Ice Bears (35-9-4) have won their last three games and are 8-1-1 in their last ten. Knoxville finishes the regular season with a 3-1 record against the Storm (28-13-8).
Fleurent found a loose puck in the slot and put it past Bailey Brkin on the power play at 11:35 of the third to put Knoxville ahead 3-1. He scored again on an empty net at 17:01 from his own half of the ice.
Andrew Bellant scored just 2:09 into the game with a wrist shot from the slot. Carter Shinkaruk tried to make a cross-ice pass in his own zone and Bellant stole it behind the blue line. Bellant skated in between the circles and beat Brkin’s glove to put Knoxville ahead early.
Knoxville made it 2-0 at 15:33 of the first with Stepan Timofeyev’s 15th of the season. Razmuz Waxin-Engback carried the puck into the zone off the right wing, muscled between two Quad City skaters to get to the high slot and flipped the puck to Timofeyev in the left circle. Timofeyev then ripped a one-timer blocker side and Brkin had no chance.
Connor Fries scored less than a minute later after stealing a pass in the Knoxville zone. He skated the puck to the left circle and beat Stead up high with a wrist shot.
Quad City nearly tied it in the final seconds of the second period. A shot from the right point by Dillon Fournier was kicked into the slot by Stead, who dove to get a piece of Taylor Pryce’s follow-up attempt. Kyler Matthews then cleared the slowly rolling puck off the goal line and Shane Bennett’s ensuing attempt went high. Bellant cleared the puck to preserve Knoxville’s lead at the second intermission.
Waxin-Engback scored on a backdoor one-timer at 15:14 of the third to make it 4-1. Timofeyev slipped the puck from the right hash to the left circle and Waxin-Engback fired it on net for the power play goal and Waxin-Engback’s 20th of the season.
Following Fleuren’t empty net tally, Sam Turner scored off a rebound 19 seconds later to cap off the scoring. Brkin made 24 saves for the Storm.
The Ice Bears will host Peoria on Thursday night at 7:30. There will be a beer garden in the Coliseum plaza starting at 4 p.m. before the game. Tickets are available at www.knoxvilleicebears.com.
ABOUT The Knoxville Ice Bears: The Knoxville Ice Bears organization began in 2002 and was an inaugural charter member of the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) in 2004. As four-time SPHL Champions, the Ice Bears are an experienced and established organization, offering the city and its’ visitors a balanced product of highlight-reel hockey, unique and exciting intermission activity and endless fan interaction, presenting the most affordable, family-friendly way to enjoy sports and entertainment. Season, Partial Season and Flex Tickets are now on sale. For more information, visit www.knoxvilleicebears.com or call (865) 525-7825.
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