The Twin City Thunder did not play their A-game Thursday afternoon and for the second time in the young season they suffered a loss to the the Boston Advantage, falling 3-1 at Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn
“I think we had 30 shots, but we couldn’t get going,” Thunder coach Dan Hodge said. “We couldn’t get the legs going, we came out slow. (The Advantage) played a real good game, I have to give them credit, they played really well. That’s the bottom line they played well and we didn’t. You can’t do that in this league.”
The Thunder fall to 2-2 in the USPHL National Collegiate Development Conference season, with both losses coming to the Advantage.
The two teams were supposed on meet on Oct. 10 in Auburn, but the Thunder postponed the game after a letter sent by the state to the Maine Amateur Hockey Association that warned of potential consequences if MEAHA follow the state’s community sports guidelines. That game was moved to Massachusetts on Oct. 11 and was won by the Advantage, 2-0.
Thursday’s game was supposed to be played in New Hampshire, but was moved to Auburn after New Hampshire shut down hockey for two weeks on Oct. 15. due to an increase in COVID-19 cases related to hockey.
After a scoreless first period Thursday, the Advantage (4-1-0, 9 points) jumped out to a 1-0 lead early in the first period when Jonny Hammel found the back of the net.
After not scoring on two power plays in the first period, the Thunder took advantage of the man advantage in the second frame as Noah Furman scored his second goal of the season. Ryan Antonakis and Alex Rivet notched the assists.
“I thought it was the spark that was going to get us going,” Hodge said. “We carried (the momentum) after that for a little bit. We couldn’t sustain the energy level. Again, you play a team like that, that’s well-coached and played a real good game, you have to play 60 minutes, and we didn’t.”
Tony Achile scored a power play goal, set up by Nick Ring, for Boston, which took a 2-1 lead into the second intermission.
The Advantage were 1-for-4 on the power play in the game, while the Thunder went 1-for-5.
Boston carried momentum into the third period, and Ethan Bastien, who earlier assisted on Hammel’s goal, scored to extend the lead to 3-1.
Connor Bradford made 29 saves for the Advantage, while Twin City goalie Connor Leslie stopped 32 shots in the loss.
The Thunder will try to bounce back Friday when they host the Islanders Hockey Club at 7 p.m.
“We will see what our group is made of, we will see what our team is made of as a group, and see if can respond,” Hodge said. “Hopefully we will have a much better showing tomorrow night.”
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