Hat tricks carry Thunder
Published: February 4, 2010
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The first double hat trick in franchise history propelled the Bloomington PrairieThunder to a 7-5 International Hockey League victory over the Flint Generals before 2,081 people Wednesday at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum.
Defenseman Matthew Spiller and left wing Craig Macdonald combined to post the first double hat trick in the four-year history of the PrairieThunder, while fellow defenseman Jason Lepine registered a club record five assists.
The victory move Bloomington’s record to 20-17-2-4 and 46 points ahead of a two-game weekend series at Muskegon. The teams meet at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Spiller scored the game’s first goal on a power play with assists to Jon Booras and Macdonald, who finished with four points, with 69 seconds remaining in the first period.
Macdonald added the first goal 100 seconds into the second period on the second of five successful power plays in 10 attempts. He was assisted by Rick Varone and Lepine.
The PrairieThunder extended the advantage to 3-0 two minutes later on a power play effort by Spiller with assists to Lepine and Booras.
Zac Pearson added the third of four Bloomington goals in the second period on a short-handed effort off assists by Matt McIlvane and Justin Sawyer at the 5:04 mark. Macdonald then scored with 1:54 left in the period on assists by Booras and Lepine to give Bloomington a 5-1 advantage heading into the third period.
Macdonald completed his hat trick 45 seconds into the third period on a power play with assists to Booras and Lepine. Back-to-back goals by John Ronan after a John Mori short-handed goal pulled Flint within 6-4 with 3:36 remaining.
Spiller completed his first hat trick in his eight-year professional career on a power play with assists to Booras and Lepine with 2:21 to go. Jason Pence completed the game’s scoring 39 seconds later.
Sebastian Dahm earned the victory in net for Bloomington by stopping 24 of 29 shots. The PrairieThunder owned a 40-29 advantage in shots and allowed only two of seven power play attempts.
