Thunderbolts Sign Defenseman Mackenze Stewart; Put Adams on 14-day IR

On Thursday, the Thunderbolts and Head Coach/Director of Hockey Operations Jeff Bes announced a pair of transactions, led by the signing of defenseman Mackenze Stewart.

Stewart, a native of Calgary, Alberta, is a former NHL draft pick of the Vancouver Canucks, who selected him 186th overall in the 2014 NHL Draft from the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL.  In the WHL with the Raiders along with the Tri-City Americans between 2012-2016, Stewart played 163 games and scored 15 goals along with 16 assists for 31 points, along with 230 penalty minutes.  Stewart played three seasons within the Canucks organization with the AHL’s Utica Comets along with the ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wings and Alaska Aces between 2015-2018, before playing one season in the Detroit Red Wings farm system with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins and ECHL’s Toledo Walleye in 2018-19, before concluding the season with the Innisfail Eagles of the ACHW and playing briefly with the Eagles in 2019-20.  In total professionally, Stewart played 10 games in the AHL, along with 134 ECHL games, scoring 10 goals along with 16 assists for 26 points.  Since 2019, Stewart has remained active in hockey, working in prospect development for the Raiders and attending training camp with the ECHL’s Allen Americans prior to the start of this season.

In additional transaction news, defenseman Bronson Adams has been placed on 14-Day Injured Reserve.

Thunderbolts Open March with 6-2 Win over Storm

Evansville, In.:  After going 6-2-1 in the month of February, the Thunderbolts continued their strong play into the month of March, winning 6-2 over the Quad City Storm and pushing their point streak to seven games (6-0-1) in front of nearly 4,500 fans at Ford Center on Saturday night.  The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Saturday, March 1st against the Quad City Storm at 7:05pm CT.

On an early major power play, the Thunderbolts grabbed the game’s first lead at 1:30 as Tyson Gilmour scored on a rebound from Matthew Hobbs and Nolan McElhaney.  Following numerous chances throughout the first period to extend the lead, Evansville finally found success at 17:31 as Jordan Simoneau sniped a shot past a stick-less Brent Moran from Derek Contessa and Bronson Adams to make it 2-0.  The lead was trimmed to 2-1 however when Brandon Stojcevski scored for Quad City on an individual effort with only 10 seconds remaining in the first period.  Evansville got back to work in the second period, and on a 5-on-3 power play Scott Kirton scored off a rebound from Logan vande Meerakker and Myles Abbate to make it a 3-1 game, followed by Gilmour’s second goal of the game on 4-on-4 action from Abbate and Joey Berkopec to extend the lead to 4-1 at 13:10.

                Stojcevski again played spoiler with a goal in the fading seconds of the second period with a mid-air backhand shot in front of the crease, just barely within height limits of counting, however Evansville still took a 4-2 lead into the third period.  The Thunderbolts did not allow Quad City to get back into the game from there, and at 5:14, Abbate scored on a delayed penalty call from Aidan Litke to put the game further out of reach at 5-2.  At 14:31, Hobbs scored on a tic-tac-toe passing play from Vande Meerakker and Kirton to put the game completely out of reach at 6-2 with Evansville’s third power play goal of the night.  With the win, Evansville has now earned points in seven consecutive games with a 6-0-1 record in the span and are now only 2 points out of 4th place, currently held by the Fayetteville Marksmen, who on Saturday lost 3-1 to Macon.

Gilmour finished with two goals, Abbate scored one goal and two assists, Hobbs and Kirton each picked up a goal and assist, and Simoneau scored one goal.  Vande Meerakker tallied a pair of assists, while Cole Ceci finished with 28 saves on 30 shots on goal for his 15th win of the season.  The Thunderbolts and Storm meet again on Thursday, March 20th at Vibrant Arena at the MARK.  With tonight’s victory, the Thunderbolts clinched victory in the regular season series over Quad City, with 7 games won out of 10 played, and only 2 games remaining.

Individual game tickets and group packages are on sale for the 2024-25 season.  Season tickets for the 2025-26 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 is 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

Thunderbolts Sign Defenseman Jake Mendeszoon to a PTO

On Saturday, the Thunderbolts and Head Coach/Director of Hockey Operations Jeff Bes announced the signing of defenseman Jake Mendeszoon to a Professional Tryout (PTO).

Mendeszoon joins the Thunderbolts following the conclusion of his collegiate hockey season at Western New England University, where he played alongside recent Thunderbolts signing Nolan Dawson, with whom he tied the team lead in scoring with 15 points, and like Dawson served as an  alternate captain.  The Methuen, Massachusetts native played four seasons of college hockey with Western New England (2023-2025) and SUNY-Brockport (2021-2023), scoring 4 goals and 34 points in 97 regular season games.  Prior to college, Mendeszoon played two seasons of college hockey with the New Hampshire Avalanche of the EHL between 2018-2020, scoring 11 goals and 60 points in 88 games, and won an EHL Championship in 2018-19. 

Thunderbolts Push Point Streak to Six Games Despite Shootout Loss Storm

Evansville, In.:  Although the Thunderbolts’ winning streak hit the end of its’ run at an impressive five games, the Thunderbolts did manage to gain a point to keep that streak rolling following a 2-1 shootout defeat to Quad City at Ford Center on Friday night.  The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Saturday, March 1st against the Quad City Storm at 7:05pm CT.

Both goals of regulation time came very quickly, as Brandon Stojcevski scored for Quad City only 31 seconds into the game, answered by Jordan Simoneau scoring off a net-front pass from Cameron MacPhee at 2:00 to tie the game at 1-1.  The game got more progressively defensive from there, and no further goals were scored in regulation, or in the five minute overtime period.  In the shootout, Tyson Gilmour opened the scoring in the fourth round before Artyom Zhuk tied the shootout in round five.  Leif Mattson scored in round seven and the Thunderbolts were unable to extend the shootout from there, with the Storm winning the shootout and game 2-1.  Despite the loss, Evansville still finished the month of February with an impressive 6-2-1 record.

Simoneau scored Evansville’s lone regulation goal, while Cole Ceci finished with 30 saves on 31 shots on goal in regulation and overtime, along with five saves on seven shootout attempts.  The Thunderbolts and Storm meet again on Saturday, March 1st at Ford Center.

Individual game tickets and group packages are on sale for the 2024-25 season.  Season tickets for the 2025-26 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 is 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

Thunderbolts Rally to Defeat Ice Flyers in Overtime in Fifth-Straight Win

Pensacola, FL.:  For the second time in three nights, the Thunderbolts rallied from two goals down in the third period to force overtime, where the Thunderbolts completed the three-game weekend sweep with a 3-2 overtime win over the Ice Flyers in Pensacola on Sunday afternoon.  The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Friday, February 28th against the Quad City Storm at 7:05pm CT.

In the first period, Greg Susinski scored off a face-off at 16:10 to give the Ice Flyers the first lead of the night.  On a major power play in the second period, the Ice Flyers extended the lead to 2-0 as Blake Tosto scored at 13:02.  Following an unsuccessful penalty shot attempt for Scott Kirton early in the third period, Isaac Chapman scored shortly afterward by deflecting an Aidan Litke shot at 8:01 to indeed make it a 2-1 game, with an assist also going to Matthew Hobbs.  Following a clutch penalty kill in the final 6 minutes of regulation, the Thunderbolts tied the game as Chapman snapped home a one-timer from Kirton with only 2:30 remaining to tie the game and force overtime.  In overtime, Litke stripped Pensacola’s Jonathan Bartuccio-Pereira of the puck in the Evansville zone and streamed up ice on a 2-on-1 rush, electing to shoot the puck which beat Ricardo Gonzalez between the pads for the game-winning goal at 3:16 of overtime, as the Thunderbolts completed their 3-in-3 sweep of the Ice Flyers, a franchise-first against the same team and franchise-second overall.  The 5-game win streak is also the first for the Thunderbolts since January 28th to February 11th of 2023.

Chapman finished with the pair of third period goals while Litke scored the overtime game-winning goal plus an assist.  In goal, Cole Ceci finished with 37 saves on 39 shots on goal for his 14th win of the season.  The Thunderbolts and Ice Flyers do not meet again this regular season, with Evansville winning the regular season series 4-1.

Individual game tickets and group packages are on sale for the 2024-25 season.  Season tickets for the 2025-26 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 is 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