Thunderbirds defeat rival IceCats 3-2

FLORENCE, SC. – The Twin City Thunderbirds defeated the Pee Dee IceCats by a final score of 3-2 Sunday evening at the Florence Center. Gus Ford, Jan Salak, and Jacob Schnapp each netted a goal for the Thunderbirds in the victory. Goaltender Chad Purdy backstopped the team to victory in net, earning his first professional win as a goaltender.


Sunday’s opening period ended in a scoreless tie. The IceCats outshot the Thunderbirds 17-5 during the 1st period. Gus Ford netted a powerplay goal just over ten minutes into Sunday’s 2nd period to give Twin City a one-goal lead in the matchup. The specialty teams scoring play was the thirtieth of the season for the Thunderbirds. Jan Salak and Jon Buttitta each recorded an assist on the Ford’s team-leading twenty third goal of the year. Jan Salak netted the team’s first shorthanded goal of the season with less than three minutes to play in Sunday’s middle period. Jiri Pestuka notched an assist on the scoring play. Twin City was outshot by a 12-10 margin during the 2nd period, and carried a 2-0 lead into the 3rd period.


Matthew Gilbert scored an even-strength goal at 8:18 of the final period to cut Twin City’s lead to one goal. Gilbert’s goal was assisted by Trevor Lord and Timur Rasulov. Jacob Schnapp netted a goal at 13:53 of the 3rd period to give the Thunderbirds a 3-1 lead in the matchup. Schnapp’s goal was assisted by Roman Kraemer and Gus Ford, and was the game-winning goal of Sunday’s game. The final goal of the contest was scored with an extra attacker by Patriks Marcinkevics. The goal was scored with less than thirty seconds to play, and was assisted by Houston Wilson and Nick Magill-Diaz. Twin City was outshot by a 9-7 margin in the 3rd period, and 38-22 overall during the contest.


Chad Purdy recorded the win in net for Twin City in a 36-save-on-38-shot performance. Parker Rutherford dropped the game in net for Pee Dee after making 19 saves on 22 shots.


Twin City improved to 16-19-1 on the 2025-2026 season in the win.


The Thunderbirds’ next home games will be played back-to-back against the Watertown Wolves on Friday, February 27th and Saturday, February 28th. Puck drop for Friday’s game is set for 7:05pm ET, and Saturday’s matchup will begin at 6:05pm ET.


Tickets to home games at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Arena may be purchased online by visiting WSFairgrounds.com, Ticketmaster.com, or by calling the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Arena Box Office at (336) 727-2236. The Thunderbirds are proud members of the Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL). #FlockTogether