Ste-Marie OT goal lifts Thunder past IceGators

Bloomington, Ill.—The Louisiana IceGators first overtime outing of the season did not end the way that they hoped it would.

Darick Ste-Marie scored an unassisted goal with 12 seconds left in the extra period to give the Bloomington Thunder a 3-2 victory over the Louisiana IceGators.

Bloomington (2-5-0) and Louisiana (6-2-1) meet again Saturday night at U. S. Cellular Coliseum.  The opening faceoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

“We let one slip away,” said IceGators head coach Kevin Kaminski.  “We got off to a great start by dumping pucks, being physical, and creating turnovers.  Then we tried the fancy way in the second period and got outworked, outhit, and outskated.”

Jake Trask gave the IceGators and early 1-0 lead by scoring off aShawn McNeil assist at the 3:47 mark of the first period.

Bloomington bounced back in the second, scoring twice in eight seconds.  Tyler Noseworthy recorded a goal off a Kevin Waldrod feed at 9:41 of the frame.  Burke Gallimore scored at 9:49 of the period off a Travis Granbois assist.

The IceGators’ penalty kill unit kept the squad in the game.  Adam Stuart posted a shorthanded goal with 2:42 left in the second period to tie the game.

“We had our chances in the third period and in overtime, but our execution was off,” Kaminski said.  “Plus, we didn’t have traffic in front of the net to make [the Thunder] miserable.”

Kaminski added that his players’ performance left much to be desired.

“Our play was unacceptable tonight,” Kaminski said.  “We had too many passengers on the team.  It’s a 60-minute game, and we have to be desperate every shift.”