Carolina Takes Down Delaware in The Season Opener

       After a long year and a half off the Delaware Thunder opened up the 2021-2022 season in Winston Salem, North Carolina. Despite Carolina playing during the covid year, their home fans have not seen their team since March of 2019 at home. The rowdy atmosphere was what the Thunderbirds looked to feed off of and they did just that. The Thunder went short-handed just 1:36 into period one and Cameron Dimmit made them pay. The early goal set the tone for most of the night, the Thunderbirds continued to put the pedal to the medal. Five minutes later, Viktor Grebennikov potted his first of the season on a broken play. Joe Cangelosi added to the lead with a short-handed goal, making it a 3-0 lead midway through the first. With just a few minutes left in period one, Cangelosi added his second of the night on a pinball play that ended up behind Anthony Pupplo. 

     The Thunder came out faster in period 2 looking to cut into the four-goal deficit. The first line of Marker, Morgan, and Beard had a few chances but couldn't find the net. WIth a few grade-A chances stopped by Chris Paulin, Carolina came back the other way with two quick goals from Jiri Pestuka and Brendon Logan. Late in period two the Thunder would score their first of the season. Ricky Eberhart found a loose puck at the top of the blue paint and scored a power-play goal for the first of the season. 

   Delaware entered the third period trailing 6-1, but stayed in the game and scored a few goals in period three. Adam Morgan scored his first pro goal, and his second in the third period. The Thunderbirds also added two more goals in the third and came away with an 8-3 win. These teams have a rematch tonight at 6:05!