Nolan Leonard paced the Twin City Thunder to their second straight victory against the Northern Cyclones.
The second-year forward scored twice in a 6-3 victory in a USPHL NCDC contest Saturday afternoon at Cyclones Arena in Hudson, New Hampshire.
Nikita Ushakov opened the scoring for the Cyclones midway through the first period when his shot beat Thunder goalie Jeffrey Kreidler (49 saves).
The Thunder took a 2-1 advantage when Cole Roenick tied the game with about five minutes remaining in the opening frame and Jace Koenigsmark gave the Thunder the lead in the final minute. For Roenick, it was his second goal in two days.
“Cole is playing well and Jace is a really fast hockey player,” Thunder coach Dan Hodge said. “He skates hard, he skates fast and was able to get a semi-breakaway to find the back of the net.”
Michael Markowski tied the contest in the second period with a shorthanded effort with just under 13 minutes remaining.
Midway through the middle frame, Leonard gave Twin City a 3-2 lead on the man advantage when the puck got past Northern Cyclones goalie Jeffrey Fillion (24 saves).
Backup goalie Logan Abric stopped 20 shots for the Cyclones.
The Cyclones came right back when Markowski recorded his second point of the period with an assist on Jackson Dickson’s shorthanded tally with under seven minutes remaining.
Twin City scored on the power play again when Roman Wainwright found the back of the net late in the second period, putting the Thunder back on top 4-3.
The Thunder were 2 for 6 on the power play and the Cyclones were 0 for 6.
“Two power-play goals and two shorties, it’s not a recipe we want to repeat in most games,” Hodge said.
Leonard scored his second goal of the contest early in the third period.
James Tatro had an empty-net tally in the final two minutes for the Thunder. Tatro also had two assists in the game, along with Patrick Last.
“Tats is playing great; he’s been playing great all year,” Hodge said. “He’s been one of our leaders, and he’s been a good leader. He scored an empty-net goal. Him and Leonard were able to connect on a couple (of goals). Tats is playing really well.”
The Thunder are home next weekend for a three-game set with the Utica Jr. Comets, with games on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and a 1 p.m. game on Sunday.
“We are going to have to be ready. They are a good hockey team,” Hodge said. “They are used to playing three games in three days. We will have to figure that out ourselves. We haven’t done that in a couple of weeks now.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
