Twin City drops road game to Pee Dee

FLORENCE, SC. – The Twin City Thunderbirds dropped a road game to the Pee Dee IceCats Saturday night at the Florence Center by a final score of 6-3. Jan Salak, Corey Cunningham, and Gus Ford each netted a goal for the Thunderbirds in the loss. Twin City will play another road game against Pee Dee tomorrow afternoon for the final game of the three-game weekend. Puck drop for tomorrow’s battle is scheduled for 3:15pm ET. 


Vadim Frolov netted an even-strength goal at 8:32 of Saturday’s 1st period to give the IceCats a one-goal lead in the showdown. Alexander Legkov and Nick Magill-Diaz notched an assist on the scoring play. Jan Salak scored a game-tying goal for the Thunderbirds with less than five minutes to play in the period. Salak’s goal was assisted by Jiri Pestuka and James Farmer. Houston Wilson scored a goal for Pee Dee with less than thirty seconds to play in Saturday’s opening period to give the IceCats another one-goal advantage in the matchup. Wilson’s goal was netted at 19:31 of the period, and was assisted by Dominiks Marcinkevics and Patriks Marcinkevics. Twin City was outshot by a 13-9 margin in the 1st period, and trailed by a 2-1 score entering the middle period of Saturday’s contest.


Patriks Marcinkevics netted a goal at 4:39 of the 2nd period to give Pee Dee a 3-1 lead in the game. Marcinkevics’ goal was assisted by Dominiks Marcinkevics and Houston Wilson. Patriks Marcinkevics scored again at 10:44 of the period to put the IceCats ahead by three goals. The Thunderbirds elected to challenge the goal for goalie interference, but the challenge was unsuccessful. Twin City was penalized for delay of game due to the unsuccessful challenge. Nick Magill-Diaz scored a goal on the ensuing powerplay, and the Thunderbirds fell behind by four goals. Alexander Levkov and Dzianis Zaichyk each collected an assist on the scoring play. Chad Purdy entered the game in net for Twin City following the goal. Purdy replaced Boris Babik, who exited the game after Pee Dee’s fifth scoring play of the contest. Corey Cunningham scored a powerplay goal at 13:06 of the 2nd period to bring Twin City within three goals of Pee Dee’s lead. Josh Labelle and Gus Ford each recorded an assist on the goal. The final goal of Saturday’s high-scoring 2nd period was netted by Alexander Legkov. The scoring play was assisted by Domenic Dell Civita and goaltender Parker Rutherford. The Thunderbirds were outshot by a 20-9 margin during the 2nd period, and trailed by a score of 6-2 entering the final period of Saturday night’s rivalry matchup.


Gus Ford scored his team-leading twenty-second goal of the season just over one minute into Saturday’s 3rd period. The goal was assisted by Jon Buttitta. Twin City was outshot 18-9 in the 3rd period, and 51-27 overall during the matchup.


Boris Babik recorded the loss in net for Twin City, and Parker Rutherford collected the win in goal for Pee Dee. Twin City dropped to 15-19-1 on the 2025-2026 season in the loss.



The Thunderbirds will return to action tomorrow afternoon for the final game of a three-game weekend against the IceCats. Tomorrow afternoon’s contest is scheduled to begin at 3:15pm ET. Twin City’s 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