Thunderbirds Wear Down Wolves for Win

         The Watertown Wolves split their weekend series with Carolina Thunderbirds at the Watertown Municipal Arena after their 6-2 loss Saturday night. 

          Carolina's offense exploded early in the first period scoring three goals in a minute and fourteen seconds. Peter Cicmanec scored the first two goals exactly twenty seconds apart. Their third goal came Michael Bunn when he slid it through the five-hole. Tim Santopaolo got the Wolves on the board two minutes after Bunn's goal when he got on a fast break via a pass from Aleh Shypitsyn. Each team received a penalty in the period, overlapping for a minute and six seconds. Neither team could add an additional goal while the players served their penalties.        

  The Wolves continued with their momentum from the first period early in the second when Anton Kalinin scored from Kyle Powell and Yianni Liarakos thirty-three seconds into the period. The Wolves' special teams stepped up and kill George Holt's tripping penalty, which was the only penalty in the period. Carolina found their own momentum late in the period when Juri Pestuka went top shelf on Jared Rutledge to end the period with a 4-2 score.           

The Thunderbirds extended their lead in the third period with two additional goals from Viktor Grebennikov and Michael Bunn to make the final score 6-2.       

    Jan Salak and Josh Pietrantonio received first and second stars respectively with each having four assists on the night. Michael Bunn received the third star for his two goals.