Evansville, In.: In the last two home games, Ford Center has been the house of great defensive hockey for the Thunderbolts, who after holding Peoria goal-less nine days ago, shut out the Havoc 1-0 on Friday night. The Thunderbolts’ next home game at Ford Center will be on Saturday, February 21st against the Peoria Rivermen at 7:00pm CT.
After a scoreless first period in which the shots were 6-5 Huntsville, the Thunderbolts became the dominant team in the second period, outshooting Huntsville 12-3 and scoring the period’s lone goal as Myles Abbate scored on a rebound from Tyson Gilmour and Will van der Veen at 13:50. The third period was marked with more great defense by Evansville, allowing the Havoc only 6 shots on goal. In the final three minutes, before the Havoc could pull Brian Wilson, Evansville drew two penalties on Huntsville with 2:24 and 0:52 remaining, taking away any hope of a last-second comeback from the Havoc as the final seconds ticked away without danger. This was the first time in franchise history that the Thunderbolts have secured shutout victories in back-to-back home games, against the SPHL’s two top-ranked teams to boot. Previously, the closest the Thunderbolts came to this feat was a pair of shutout wins over the span of three home games in the 2022-23 season, winning 5-0 over Quad City on November 13th and 3-0 on December 3rd, separated only by a 4-0 loss to Quad City on December 2nd.
Abbate scored the lone goal, while Kristian Stead stopped all 15 shots on goal for his 18th win of the season and 9th career professional shutout, his 2nd as a Thunderbolt and Evansville’s third shutout win of the season. The Thunderbolts and Havoc meet once more on Sunday, March 15th at Ford Center, with the regular season series tied 3-3.
Season tickets, Individual game tickets and group packages are on sale for the 2025-26 season. 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