Thunderbirds Conclude Home Weekend With Big Win Over North Shore

Winston-Salem, NC – The Thunderbirds continued the strong home opening weekend with a wild affair Saturday night at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds annex. A combined 14 goals between both squads would see the Thunderbirds skate to a 9-5 victory over the North Shore Knights.

The first period would start quickly for the Thunderbirds when just 5 minutes into the period, Justin Blaszak would score on the powerplay after an interference penalty on Tyler Becker of North Shore. The Knights would reply less than a minute later, when Radoslav Konecny would score even strength to tie the game. After a Kyle Schultz high sticking penalty, the Thunderbirds would head on the powerplay, where Jiri Pestuka would strike to give Carolina a 2-1 lead heading into the 2^nd.

The 2^nd period would prove to be wild, as the teams would combine for 7 goals. Started 2:50 in when Pestuka would score his 2^nd in a row, putting the home team up 3-1. Just over a minute later, Josh Pietrantonio would score, 4-1 Carolina. Vojtech Zemlicka would tally just after to put Carolina up by 5-1. North Shore would respond, 1:22 after Zemlicka’s goal, Tyler Garcia would score for the Knights to make it 5-2. Carolina would score when CJ Blaszka would put home a tic-tac-toe goal. And just a minute after that, Dominik Synek would score, but just 8 seconds later, Josh Newberg would tally, and at the buzzer of the 2^nd period it would be 7-3 Carolina.

The 3^rd period would see another 4 goals, both teams trading a pair. Tyler Becker and Frankie Hart for the Knights and Synek and Pestuka would tally for the Thunderbirds as the teams would skate to a 9-5 final.

Frankie McClendon would earn the win for the Thunderbirds, making 27 saves on 32 shots. Adam Zeman would start the game, but allow 3 goals on 4 shots and be pulled in favor of Christian Pavlas, who was credited with the loss.

The Thunderbirds next game will be on the road, Friday, November 10 against the Watertown Wolves.