Mavericks Win Streak Ends At Seven Games

The Missouri Mavericks’ (13-9-2) franchise record seven-game win streak came to an end Sunday evening in a 7-3 loss to the Bloomington Blaze at US Cellular Coliseum.  Mavericks’ forward Sebastien Thinel extended his scoring streak to eight games with a goal and two assists, and he continues to lead the CHL in scoring with 38 points (10-28=38) this season.  Nicklas Lindberg and Tyler Gron each had three-point games in the win for the Blaze who beat the Mavericks for the first time in the last five games.  The Mavericks six-game win streak on the road also came to an end.  The road streak is tied for a franchise record.

“Great work over the past three weeks,” said Mavericks’ Head Coach Scott Hillman.  “We will hit the reset button and start again in our building on Tuesday night.  We will be ready.”

Bloomington jumped out to an early lead and never looked back.  The Blaze scored in the first minute of the game on Gron’s first of two goals, and then Dan Barczuk gave the home team a 2-0 lead.

The Blaze held a 5-0 lead just past the midway point of the second period after Jon Booras, Lindberg and Gron all tallied goals in the first half of the middle frame.  Mavericks’ goaltender Mike Clemente was pulled from the game after Lindberg’s goal made it 4-0 at the 5:36 mark of the second period.  Clemente received the loss marking the first loss in his last eight starts.  Goaltender Austin Lee replaced Clemente and stopped 19 of 22 shots in relief.

Colten Hayes, Kenton Miller and Thinel scored the goals for the Mavericks as they cut the Bloomington lead to 6-3 with just over eight minutes remaining in regulation.  Bloomington wouldn’t allow the Mavericks to come back and Sebastien Trudeau finalized the scoring at 7-3 at the 18:08 mark of the third period.

Missouri didn’t score a goal in seven chances on the power play and the Blaze notched two goals with the man advantage in six tries.  A total of 74 minutes in penalties were called in the highly penalized game.  The teams will not meet again until February.

Missouri returns to Independence Events Center on Tuesday, December 18 to face off against the Arizona Sundogs at 7:05 p.m.