Some minor tweaking to the Bantam AE lineup combined with a much more relaxed looking team led the visiting Ingersoll team to earn a well deserved road victory over the Caledonia Thunder on Sunday night 4-2. This is the first time this season the Express have beaten the Thunder.
Ingersoll came out early with the fore check and pressure on the Thunder and were more aggressive in their puck retrieval and winning races to the puck. It wouldn't take long for the Express to grab the lead. Defenseman Matt Overreem picked up the puck in the neutral zone and skated through the Thunder defense. Overreem fired a wrist shot past the Caledonia goalie 1:15 into the game.
Matt O. crosses the blue line just before he gives Ingersoll the early lead.
Ingersoll would take the one goal lead late into the second period. Caledonia finally broke through the Express defense with 1:40 left in the period to tie the game at 1-1. The tie would not last long as forward Caleb Clifford would knock a pass in from center Tyler Bergman just 0:12 later, restoring the one goal lead.
Emmitt Robinson carries the puck through the neutral zone into the Caledonia end.
With the lead going into the third period the Express would have to maintain their solid effort and keep the pressure on the Thunder, and they did just that when their hottest line over the past three games (Emmitt Robinson, Ben Scott, and Luke Turner) would generate some offensive zone pressure. The puck would end up on defenseman Cam White's stick. White's shot would fall right to Scott who gave the Express a well earned two goal lead with 12:45 left in the game.
Joey Parkhill puts the pressure on the Thunder defense.
The Thunder would not go away easily and only took 0:26 seconds to cut the Express lead back to one goal. With 1:34 left in the game Caledonia would call a timeout and pull the goalie for an extra attacker.
After winning the faceoff and entering the Ingersoll zone the Thunder could not sustain any pressure as Ingersoll would gain possession of the puck in the corner. Forward Matt Molnar would get the puck and fire it up the ice where center Isaiah DeWit out raced the Thunder defense and put the game away with an empty net goal.
The same two teams will play again Monday night in Ingersoll at 8 pm.