Mavericks Fall to Thunder in Home Opener, 6-4

The Missouri Mavericks (2-3-1) were defeated by the Wichita Thunder (3-3-1), 6-4, Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd of 5,800 at Independence Events Center. Neil Trimm and Ian Lowe both had a pair of goals to lead the Thunder who have won their last five games at Missouri dating back to last season.  Sebastien Thinel, Matt McCready and Brandon Smith all led Missouri with two points apiece.  Wichita leads the Independence Cup regular-season series 2-0 with the two teams closing out a stretch of three games in three nights against each other tomorrow afternoon in Wichita at 5:05 p.m.

The two teams didn't waste any time finding the score sheet with three-combined goals in 52 seconds. Wichita took a 1-0 lead 1:06 into the contest as Trimm caught a pass off his skate, switched it to his backhand and found the net. Missouri answered 32 seconds later with a goal from Kellan Tochkin after he walked out of the left corner to tie it at one. At 1:58, Flath scored his fourth of the season when he came down on a two-on-one and zipped a wrist shot past Mathieu Corbeil to make it 2-1, Wichita. The Mavericks closed the period with two unanswered tallies 27 seconds apart from Thinel and Colt King to take a 3-2 lead.

In the second period, Wichita tied the game at 4:51 when Lowe put home a rebound that redirected off the post from Trimm and made it 3-3. Missouri answered to regain the lead less than three minutes later as Jamie Vanderveeken found a loose puck in the slot and made it 4-3. Trimm added his second of the night on a power play as he walked off the left wall and snapped one over the shoulder of Corbeil to tie the game at four.

Greger Hanson scored his third of the season just 1:34 into the third period on the power play to give the Thunder a 5-4 advantage. He snuck to the right face-off dot and beat Corbeil with his third goal of the season and the eventual game-winner. Wichita closed the door with a late power play goal from Lowe to make it 6-4, spoiling the Mavericks home opener.

Torrie Jung earned his second win of the season, making 35 saves on 39 shots. Wichita went 3-for-6 on the power play while the Mavericks were 0-for-5 that included a five-on-three power play early in the game. Wichita is 3-3-1 on the season while the Mavericks fall to 2-3-1.

The Mavericks will finally open up the home portion of their schedule Saturday night at Independence Events Center at 7:05 p.m.   Saturday’s game is the first of 33 regular season games and parking is always free.  Tickets to all 33 games are sale now via Ticketmaster.  For more information on the Missouri Mavericks visit www.MissouriMavericks.com.