The Twin City Thunder battled Saturday, but it wasn’t enough.
The New Hampshire Junior Monarchs defeated the Thunder 4-3 at Tri-Town Arena in Hooksett, New Hampshire in a USPHL National Collegiate Development Conference game.
“Like I told our players, our effort was a lot better today,” Thunder coach Dan Hodge said. “Our compete, our passion, was better today. That was a part of our message, get pucks to the net, and (Mitchell) Day is a good goalie. He’s one of the best goalies in the league for a reason; he’s hard to beat.”
On Friday night, The Thunder (18-15-4, 40 points) gave up the lead late in the third period and lost in overtime against the Islanders Hockey Club.
In Saturday’s game, Tanner Hartman led the Monarchs (21-13-5, 47 points) with two goals and former Maine Nordiques forward Zach Whitehead had three assists.
Steven Armstong gave the Thunder a 1-0 lead early in the first period with his sixth goal of the season.
Hartman tied the game 1-1 just 30 seconds into the second period.
Midway through the second period, Ian Driscoll scored to give New Hampshire a 2-1 lead.
Thunder newcomer Nick Liotino scored a goal for the second straight game to tie the game at 2-2. The power-play goal came with under seven minutes to play in the second period.
Hartman scored his second goal of the period with about two minutes remaining in the middle frame for a 3-2 lead.
“That’s their top line and they make nice plays,” Hodge said of the Hartman, Whitehead and Aidan Curran line. “You can’t give up a goal under five minutes in a period. We just didn’t finish the period like we should have.”
The Thunder took two penalties late in the second period: Dom Chasse with a two-minute minor for charging and Nathan Chickering with a five-minute major for interference.
Both penalties carried over into the third period and Scarborough resident Zander Lizotte scored on the power play 30 seconds into the frame to give the Monarchs a 4-2 lead.
“You come into the third killing a 5-on-3 down a goal, you try to game plan (for) it, but Lizotte made a nice play,” Hodge said. “I will give him credit; it was a nice shot.”
Twin City killed off the remainder of the Chickering major.
Matt Cole got the Thunder within striking distance with his third goal of the season, beating Day (39 saves).
It was Cole’s first goal since Dec. 11, after he joined the team Dec. 3 from the Metro Jets of the USPHL Premier League.
“We talked about it before the game, it was ‘Hey, you haven’t scored a goal since the (second) weekend you were here (with the team).’ He scored one today to make it 4-3 and we had pressure and good looks at the end, but we couldn’t find the back of the net (to tie it).”
Brody Haynes made 41 saves in the loss.
The Thunder host the South Shore Kings on Monday for a Valentine’s Day matinee at Norway Savings Bank Arena at 12 p.m.
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