Twin City Thunder cruise to win over Philadelphia Hockey Club

The Twin City Thunder took care of business Friday afternoon.

The Thunder defeated Philadelphia Hockey Club 7-0 in a USPHL National Collegiate Development Conference game. It was Twin City’s second win at the Presidents Day Showcase at the Foxboro Sports Center in Foxboro, Massachusetts.

Tristan Rand scored twice and now has 16 goals for the season, and Dane Couture earned the shutout for his ninth win of the year.

“We tried to eliminate (Philadelphia’s) opportunities and they are a team that has a lot of offensive ability,” Thunder coach Dan Hodge said. “They try to generate offense on the rush, and we tried to eliminate that. We got some goals from Tristan Rand and Couture was fantastic in net.”

With the win, the Thunder (20-15-5, 45 points) maintain their two-point advantage over the Northern Cyclones for the fourth and final playoff spot in the North Division.

Rand scored his first goal with just under five minutes remaining in the first period on a short-handed goal, beating Philadelphia (18-16-7, 43 points) goalie Jacob Torgner. Linemate Trace Norwell had the assist.

Norwell picked up his second assist of the game four minutes into the second period by setting up Lucas Doran’s goal to make it 2-0.

Carter Schram scored his fourth goal of the season a little over three minutes later, with defenseman Nick Liotino and forward Steven Armstrong picking up the assists.

“(Defensemen) are getting shots through to the net,” Hodge said. “The first thing as a defenseman is you want to get your shot through; you don’t want it to get blocked. Our forwards are battling and finding the rebounds.”

Rand potted his second goal of the game with five minutes remaining in the second period to put the Thunder up 4-0.

Twin City piled on in the third period with three goals in 54 seconds. Nathan Chickering scored an empty-net goal 9:30 into the third period, with Norwell picking up another assist. It was Chickering’s 16th goal of the year.

“(Chickering) got the loose puck, he worked along the boards, he chipped the puck out of the (defensive) zone,” Hodge said. “I am glad he got that (goal); he deserved it because he worked his tail off up to that point.”

Just 34 seconds later, Matt Cole potted his sixth goal of the year — fourth in the past week — for a 6-0 lead. Ethan Lim scored at the 10:24 mark for a 7-0 lead.

Sam Stitz had an assist on Cole’s and Lim’s goals.

The Thunder face the Rockets Hockey Club on Saturday at 10 a.m. for its final game of the showcase.

Rockets HC (22-14-5, 49 points) is second in the South Division.

“They are a great team, well-coached and they are a tough team,” Hodge said. “We lost to them earlier this year at the (Boston Junior Bruins Shootout), the first showcase of the year. We got to finish strong (tomorrow).”

NORDIQUES GAME POSTPONED

The Maine Nordiques’ NAHL game Friday afternoon against the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks was postponed due to poor ice conditions at Danbury Ice Arena in Danbury, Connecticut.

The arena hosted a game before the Nordiques-Jr. Hat Tricks game. Danbury’s NA3HL team had a matchup with the Norwich Sea Captains and only completed one period before officials deemed the ice unplayable.

According to Maine Nordiques coach Matt Pinchevsky, the Nordiques game couldn’t be played on the second rink at the arena because it was also having ice issues.

A make-up date hasn’t been determined yet.

Maine defeated Danbury on Thursday night, 3-2.