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Date: May 2, 2017
MUSKEGON, Mich. — Christiano Versich netted his second career multi-goal game, but it was not enough as the Bloomington Thunder fell, 5-2, to the Muskegon Lumberjacks on Friday night at LC Walker Arena.
In the first game of a three-game weekend, the Thunder (23-26-4-3, 53 pts) fell in a 2-0 hole after one period and never got any closer, as Keith Petruzzelli held the Bloomington offense at bay with 28 saves on 30 shots.
With the Thunder down 3-0 in the final minute of the second period, Versich (Colorado College) got Bloomington on the board with a power-play goal. Defenseman Dan Willett (RIT) helped set up the first goal with a breakout feed from the neutral zone that got Versich behind a pair of Muskegon defenseman. Versich then zipped a wrist shot past the blocker side of Petruzzelli to make it 3-1 with 39 seconds left in the frame.
Muskegon scored with 7:07 remaining in regulation to push the lead back to three, but Versich struck just 2:16 later to pull the Thunder back within two. Alec Mehr (Brown University) created the play off a zone rush, delaying in the left circle before feeding Vlad Dzhioshvili (University of Vermont) in the low slot. Dzhioshvili then tapped it to the right side of the net where Versich was ready and waiting to slam it home.
The Lumberjacks added an empty-net goal with less than a minute left for the final margin of victory.
Versich has scored all three of his goals in a Bloomington uniform against the Lumberjacks in Muskegon, as the St. Paul native netted his first career multi-goal game since Feb. 12, 2016.
Alec Mehr potted a pair of assists for his fourth multi-point game of his season and eighth of his career. His four multi-point efforts this year are a career high.
The Thunder return home for the final two games of the three-game weekend, starting with a Saturday night matchup against the Madison Capitols. Saturday night is Miller Park Zoo Night, featuring a Zoo animal squeeze toy giveaway for the first 500 kids 12-and-younger and a $1 hot dog special. There will be live animals from the Zoo at the game and ticket stubs from Saturday’s game will get fans into the Zoo for free on Sunday.
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