For immediate release
For more information, contact: Joel Silverberg, Director of Broadcasting (865) 525-7825, joel@knoxvilleicebears.com.
Knoxville gave up two goals early in the second period and never recovered as the Ice Bears fell to the Evansville Thunderbolts 5-0 at the Ford Center Friday night.
Logan Flodell helped keep the game scoreless at the first intermission with a series of saves on Knoxville’s penalty kill. He got a piece of Matt Hobbs’ shot from between the circles and the puck slid towards the goal line behind him until Troy Button scooped the puck and sent it out of the zone. Button made another stop moments later on Myles Abbate’s shot from the right circle off a cross-ice feed. Button got in front of Abbate’s shot, deflecting it out of play.
Flodell slid to his right to stop Scott Kirton’s shot from the left circle. He later denied Evan Miller’s chance from in front after Jordan Simoneau found him with a slip pass from behind the net.
Knoxville had chances of its own on the power play, but Dawson McKinney and Davide Gaeta fired wide from the left circle and Cody Karpinski stopped Jason Brancheau’s shot from the slot.
Scott Kirton poked in a loose puck 54 seconds into the second period to open the scoring for Evansville. Aiden MacIntosh scored less than a minute later to make it 2-0. Matt Hobbs scored from in front of the crease to give the Thunderbolts a 3-0 lead at the break.
Joey Berkpoec scored from the high slot at 1:41 of the third to make it 4-0. Evan Miller added a power play goal at 15:20 to cap off the scoring detail.
Flodell finished with 26 saves. Karpinski stopped 21 shots for Evansville.
The Ice Bears return to Knoxville to host Huntsville Saturday night. Evansville awaits a visit from the Havoc Sunday afternoon.
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 and five-time regular season 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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