Despite entering the NAHL as an expansion team just this year, the Thunder have already had their share of drama. They are basically on their 3rd coach already, their #1 tendered kid walked away from the team after the first practice, and they have yet to win a game. Short of going into all the gory details, let's just say the Thunder organization and fans are experiencing some of the "fun" that the Southern Minnesota Express went through last year.
I can't do an that in-depth preview of the Thunder, as there just isn't much information out there on this team. They are a very young team with 14 - 1990 birth years on the roster. They built their team with primarily kids from AAA/Midget Major programs, and the roster has a decidely Chicago flavor to it. They do have a couple of kids Express fans might recognize. Tom Glomski was drafted by the Express earlier this summer, but did not make the team out of tryout camp. Niko Kapetanovic attended the Express tryout camp in July, and played in the camp all-star game, but did not make the final roster. The Thunder went 0-4 at the Showcase, scoring only 5 total goals in the 4 games. On the bright side (for them), they lost 3 of those games by only 1 goal, and gave up only 13 total goals.
Tonight's game versus the Express is the home opener for the Thunder, and the first of 12 games between the two teams this season. The Thunder will be looking for the franchise's first ever victory, and the Express will be looking to rebound from last night's horrible performance against North Iowa.
Big Kahuna's Prediction: Express 5 - Thunder 1
The Express have a little bit more experience than the Thunder, and that will be the deciding factor in tonight's game.
Big Kahuna's Secondary Prediction: Fans in attendance tonight will hear "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC at least 12 times during the game
Predictions for the other NAHL games tonight:
Traverse City over Marquette
St Louis over Motor City
Alexandria over Bismarck
Topeka over Springfield
See you at the rink.
--BK
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7 comments:
I got a bad feeling again about our game tonight.
The Thunder are still willed and despite their difficulties they may be a force we must reckon with.
I wasn't able to get to the game last night. I have a feeling the Express is going to come out fired up tonight. I talked to one of the players after last nights game and needless to say he was very unhappy with the performance. I predict a 2-0 Express win.
Who is the announcer? I'm sorry, but he needs to go. KRFO needs to get Kalan or Schwictenberg (sp?) to take over when Roy is gone. This guy has no idea who the players are and offers no intelligent play by play. I had to turn the game off and follow in silence by watching the NAHL updates.
Well it wasn't 2-0 but it was a win. I don't want to take anything away from Owatonna's win but Albert Lea is bad. Which in the big picture is good for our play-off chances but I don't think winning tonight is some big victory. Beat the Blizzard next Friday and then we can honestly say we beat a quality team. I would expect the Blizzard to come hungry for a win after losing 2 to Bismarck.
Postponed? What does that mean?
"Postponed? What does that mean?"
- They figured it out, it's fixed.
--BK
Watched the game on B2 whch was hard to do. Camera was behind the net and it was hard to see the ation at the other end. Worse part, though, was that the audio was feeds from both AL and us for 2 periods. By the third period they figured it out.
Didn't matter as much though as the boys played a great game. AL was very chippy with at least 4 hit from behinds. By not retaliating we went on the power play 10 times. Need to improve our scoring rate though. Have to be happy for Arnason. He looked good and didn't have a chance on the 2 goals he gave up.
Pappy
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