BLOOMINGTON THUNDER

Friday, Sept. 9, 2016

201617 SCHEDULE/RESULTS
Record: 1-1-0-0
Date Opponent Time/Result
Sept. 3
Sept. 4
Sept. 9
Sept. 10
Sept. 15
Sept. 16
Sept. 17

MUSKEGON
at Chicago
at Green Bay
at Madison
vs. Muskegon*
vs. Madison*
vs. Dubuque*

2-1 W
2-3, L
7 p.m.
2 p.m.
1 p.m.
9 a.m.
9 a.m.

REGULAR SEASON
Sept 24
Sept. 30
Oct. 1
Oct. 8
Oct. 14
Oct. 15
Oct. 21
Oct. 22
Oct. 28
Oct. 29
Oct. 30
Nov. 4
Nov. 5
Nov. 11
Nov. 12
Nov. 18
Nov. 19
Nov. 23
Nov. 25
Nov. 26
Dec. 2
Dec. 3
Dec. 10
Dec. 16
Dec. 30
Dec. 31
Jan. 5
Jan. 6
Jan. 7
Jan. 13
Jan. 14
Jan. 16
Jan. 21
Jan. 22
Jan. 27
Jan. 28
Jan. 29
Feb. 3
Feb. 4
Feb. 10
Feb. 11
Feb. 18
Feb. 24
Feb. 25
Feb. 26
March 2
March 3
March 4
March 9
March 10
March 12
March 17
March 18
March 24
March 25
March 31
April 1
April 2
April 7
April 8

MUSKEGON
CHICAGO
CEDAR RAPIDS
at Chicago
CHICAGO
at Green Bay
MUSKEGON
CEDAR RAPIDS
OMAHA
OMAHA
at Madison
at Madison
at Cedar Rapids
at Youngstown
at Youngstown
TEAM USA (U17)
TEAM USA (U17)
at Dubuque
GREEN BAY
GREEN BAY
SIOUX CITY
SIOUX CITY
at Team USA (U18)
at Chicago
WATERLOO
CHICAGO
at Green Bay
DUBUQUE
SIOUX FALLS
TRI-CITY
TRI-CITY
at Youngstown
at Team USA (U17)
YOUNGSTOWN
at Green Bay
at Chicago
TEAM USA (U18)
at Fargo
at Fargo
YOUNGSTOWN
YOUNGSTOWN
at Sioux Falls
at Waterloo
at Des Moines
at Des Moines
at Dubuque
at Dubuque
MADISON
at Muskegon
at Muskegon
TEAM USA (U17)
at Lincoln
at Lincoln
at Team USA (U17)
at Team USA (U18)
at Muskegon
MADISON
CEDAR RAPIDS
GREEN BAY
MUSKEGON

*Denotes Fall Classic in Pittsburgh

7 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
7:05 p.m.
7 p.m.
7:05 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
4:05 p.m.
7:05 p.m.
7:05 p.m.
6:05 p.m.
6:05 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
6 p.m.
7:05 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
7:05 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
12 p.m.
6 p.m.
4 p.m.
7:05 p.m.
7:05 p.m.
4 p.m.
7:05 p.m.
7:05 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
7:05 p.m.
7:05 p.m.
7:05 p.m.
5:05 p.m.
7:05 p.m.
7:35 p.m.
7 p.m.
6:15 p.m.
6:15 p.m.
4 p.m.
7:35 p.m.
7:05 p.m.
6 p.m.
6 p.m.
6:15 p.m.
7 p.m.
4 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.

BLOOMINGTON THUNDER (1-1-0-0) AT GREEN BAY GAMBLERS (0-0-0-0)

FRIDAY, SEPT. 8 7 P.M.(CT) GREEN BAY, WIS. RESCH CENTER

Location.................... Green Bay, Wis.

BLOOMINGTON THUNDER

Site................................. Resch Center

Record (Eastern)..................1-1-0-0 (1-1-0-0)

Head Coach...........................Dennis Williams
Record at BLM (Years) ............65-42-7-6 (3)

Capacity........................................ 8,500
Ice Surface........................... 200 x 85
All-Time Series.......BLM leads 8-4-0-0
Series in Green Bay....................4-2-0-0

GREEN BAY GAMBLERS

Record (Eastern)..................0-0-0-0 (0-0-0-0)
Head Coach.................................. Pat Mikesch
Record at CHI (Years) .............55-50-7-8 (3)

THUNDER BATTLE GAMBLERS TO OPEN TRIP TO WISCONSIN

BLOOOMINGTON, Ill. -- Bloomington heads on the road in earnest for the first time this season, as it
travels to Wisconsin for a preseason matchup with the Green Bay Gamblers on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Resch
Center.
Bloomington enters its third season as a member of the USHL and comes into this season after the first
playoff berth in team history in 2015-16. Last season, the Thunder compiled a 36-18-5-1 record with 78
points, finishing with the fourth-highest point total in the league, which was just three points behind secondplace Green Bay. The top four teams were all from the Eastern Conference.
The Thunder and Gamblers will meet for the only time in the preseason on Friday, one of seven total
matchups this season that includes six regular season contests. Last season, the Thunder compiled a 3-3-0-0
record against the Gamblers that included a 3-2 overtime win in Bloomington on February on February 13.
The Thunder return 14 players from last seasons Eastern Conference Final squad, including leading scorer
and team captain Tarek Baker (University of Wisconsin). Baker compiled 49 points last season and finished
third on the team with his 20 goals. Other key offensive returns include Jake Durflinger (13 G, 16 A) and
Vlad Dzioshivili (8 G, 13 A).
Bloomington also returns one of its two goaltenders from a season ago in Logan Halladay (Merrimack
College). Halladay played in 28 games, recording a 10-9-4-0 record between the pipes with a 2.58 goalsagainst-average and a .903 save percentage.
Bloomington head coach Dennis Williams returns to the helm for his third season in Bloomington and could
potentially earn his 100th career win behind the bench of the Thunder with another strong season. The
Thunder have the firepower to accomplish that with 24 players on its current 30-man roster having already
committed to Division I programs.
The Gamblers finished second in the Eastern Conference during the 2015-16 season with 81 points and a
record of 37-16-4-3. Sam Saliba led the Gamblers with 52 points and 29 goals a season ago, while Marc
Michaelis tallied 51 points with a team-high 41 assists. Michaelis assist total was second in the league.
Fridays game at Green Bay and Saturdays game at Madison will both be broadcasted live on WJBC.com.
All 60 regular season games will also be aired on WJBC.com with each broadcast starting 15 minutes prior to
puck drop for pregame coverage. For more coverage during Fridays game, follow the Thunder on Twitter @
BLMThunder with the hashtag #BLMvsGB.
Bloomington finishes the road trip with a 2 p.m. matuchup in Madison against the Capitols.
NEXT HOME GAME: The Thunder kick off the 2016-17 regular season against the Muskegon Lumberjacks
on Sept. 24 for Opening Night. For tickets call the Thunder office at (309) 434-2980.

Thunder Social
@BLMThunder
/Bloomington.Thunder
@BLMThunder

Broadcast info Stat of the Game

Listen to ALL Thunder games on

The Thunder have 24 college
portal.stretchinternet.com/wjbc commits on the roster, more than any
other team in the USHL. The next
closest team is the USA U18 team,
which has 22 current college commits,
according to College Hockey Inc.

GAME NOTES
Key Notes to Consider
Home, sweet home: The Thunders preseason schedule includes just one home game of the seven
total games, but Bloomington will more than make up for that with its home stretch to start the regular season. Eight of the first 10 regular season contests will take place at U.S. Cellular Arena in Bloomington, while
the Thunder will play nearly half of its regular season home games before Decemeber.
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Top tier talent: Bloomingtons current 30-man roster includes 24 players who have committed to
play Division I hockey, which is more than any other team in the USHL. Team USA is the next closest with 22
Division I commits, while no other team has more than 14.
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Captain obvious: Tarek Baker (University of Wisconsin) will serve as the captain of the
Thunder for the 2016-17 season, succeeding Jake Slaker (University of Michigan) who was the team captain
last season. In addition to playing in all 60 regular season games last yeaer, Baker also led Bloomington in
scoring during the 2015-16 campaign with 49 points (20 G, 29 A).
u

Series with Green Bay: The Thunder finished with a .500 record against the second-best team
in the USHL in 2015-16, but lost two of the three games against the Gamblers that took place at the Resch
Center. The lone win in Green Bay came in the first meeting between the teams last season, as Bloomington
topped the Gamblers 4-3 on Sept. 26 in the Thunders first road game of 2015-16. Bloomington trailed 2-1
at the 1:40 mark of the second period, but scored the next three goals to overcome the deficit despite being
outshot 30-24.
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Scouting the Gamblers: Green Bay finished with the second-best record in the USHL last season,
but fell in four games to the Dubuque Fighting Saints in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
The Gamblers return just seven players from last years roster and only eight of the current 30-man roster
have USHL experience. The top-five scorers from last seasons Gamblers team have all since departed, and
the leading returning scorer is Christopher Grando who had 21 points in 55 games on 13 goals and eight
assists.

Head coach Pat Mikesch spent three years as an assistant with Green Bay from 2011-14.
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Williams leads the way: Head coach Dennis Williams has been a head coach for the past seven
seasons, with stints in Division I hockey, the NAHL and the
THUNDER COLLEGE
USHL. Williams first head coaching gig came at Bowling Green
COMMITMENTS
State University where he was the head man for the 2009-10
season after spending the 2008-09 season as the assistant
Air Force Academy
Zach Mireages
coach for the Falcons.
Ethan Somoza

Williams was then the head coach for the Amarillo Bulls Bemidji State
Brown University
Myles Cunningham
of the NAHL where he compiled a 198-58-26 record over the

Alex Mehr
course of three seasons. In his first two seasons with the Thun- Colgate University
Griffin Lunn
August von Ungern-Sternberg
der, Williams has led the team to back-to-back winning seasons
Cornell University
Vlad Dzhioshvili
and a playoff berth a season ago.
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Getting to know the staff: The Thunder coaching

staff is rounded out by assistants Dan Jewell and Mike Watt.
Jewell returns for his third season with the Thunder in 2016-17
and was recently promoted from Assistant Coach/Director of
Scouting to Assistant Coach/Assistant GM.

Watt will be in his second season with the Thunder this
season. He spent the 2014-15 season with the Amarillo Bulls,
the same team that head coach Dennis Williams worked with
prior to joining the Thunder. Watt was previously the head
coach at Arrowhead High School for five seasons, which is just
outside of the Milwaukee area in Wisconsin.
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University of Maine
Simon Butala

Cam Spicer
UMass Amherst
Mitchell Chaffee
Mercyhurst University
Quinn Wichers
Merrimack College
Logan Halladay
University of Minnesota
William Fallstrom
University of Michigan
Calen Kiefiuk
University of North Dakota
Mitchell Mattson
University of Notre Dame
Cameron Burke
Providence College
Ben Mireages

Ryan Brushett

Gabriel Mollot-Hill
Rochester Institute of Technology
Danny Willett
University of Wisconsin
Joey Abate

Tarek Baker
Western Michigan University
Wyatt Kalynuk