Thunderbirds/Polar Twins Win 17th Straight in Front of Sellout Crowd on Throwback Night

Winston-Salem, NC - The Carolina Thunderbirds adopted the Winston-Salem Polar Twins look on Saturday night as a part of Throwback Night at the Fairgrounds Annex, a sold-out crowd of 3,175 packed the Annex to see their team win 4-2 over Watertown on Saturday night.

Jiri Pargac opened the scoring just over three minutes in to the game with a shorthanded tally that saw the Thunderbirds/Polar Twins  complete a great passing play despite being down a man and Pargac was all alone in front against Watertown goalie Kent Nusbaum and deked his way to the game's first goal.

Watertown would respond later in the period. Two goals 1:30 apart from Lane King on a deflection and Tyler Gjurich on a breakaway pass set up Gavin Yates and beofre you knew it the Wolves were on top 2-1 midway through the first.

Chase Fallis and Lane King would get into a fight right after the Gjurich goal on the drop of the puck that put the electricity back into the building even though Watertown had just taken the lead back. The fight was so intense that Chase Fallis' jersey had ripped down the chest and required stitches to be back usable again by the second period.

After being down in the locker room for the first time in a long time (the start of the 2nd period was the first time in the last 56 periods of hockey the Thunderbirds were down at the opening faceoff), Carolina had a fire lit under them by head coach Andre Niec and they came out to take the lead back with two second period goals.

Petr Panacek scored the first one on the power play that had one second left in it with a blast from the right wing set up by a Chase Fallis pass. Then in the later stages of the second a Dominik Fejt shot would leak through Nusbaum and Everett Thompson poked it over the line to give the Thunderbirds/Polar Twins a 3-2 lead at the second break.

The second period wouldn't end without a bit of fireworks though. The bad blood between Jiri Pargac and Bryan Parsons finally came to a head as the two dropped the gloves with 45 seconds left in the period. The second good scrap of the night for the sold-out crowd to enjoy

The third period would see chances galore for both teams but both Nusbaum and Thunderbirds/Polar Twins goalie Christian Pavlas stopping everything until a 2-on-1 rush set up by an aggressive Watertown defense unit led to Jiri Pargac finishing the scoring with just over a minute to go in the game.

With their 4-2 win tonight Carolina moves their winning streak to 17 ahead of a three-game weekend with the Mentor Ice Breakers on the horizon.

Three Stars of the Game
Petr Panacek
Chase Fallis
Jiri Pargac

⚡-THUNDERBIRDS-⚡

The Carolina Thunderbirds are proud members of the Federal Hockey League, now in its ninth season. The Thunderbirds are in their second season of play looking to build on the success of their inaugural season where the team posted an 87-point season with a record of 25-5-2-24 (W-OTW-OTL-L). The Thunderbirds also set an FHL record with over 66,000 fans through the doors in their first season. Season and group tickets are on sale now by calling 336-774-GOAL (4625).