Arizona Sundogs

Wichita (25-11-2) exploded for its highest scoring output of the season, winning 8-4 over the Arizona Sundogs (12-21-7) Wednesday night at INTRUST Bank Arena. Kevin Seibel recorded his first professional hat trick and Matt Summers added four assists to pace the Thunder. Wichita jumps ahead of Allen by one point for first place as the two teams will meet this Friday in Allen. The Thunder got off to a quick start, scoring three times in the first period. Kevin Seibel (2) scored first for Wichita at 6:43 on the power play.

(WICHITA, Kan.) While the nation watched the U.S. men's hockey team go for gold against Canada Sunday afternoon, some members of the Wichita Thunder were watching old teammates. Players like Thunder captain Chris McAllister, who spent six seasons in the NHL, competed against several players on Team USA and Team Canada's rosters. Forwards Brad Thompson and Paul Kelly both had college teammates make the American team. "It's great to see guys that you know succeeding like that and playing for the best thing in the world," says Kelly.

The Wichita State Shockers look for their 8th straight win when they host Evansville on Wednesday night.  Wichita State (17-3, 8-1) beat Evansville (10-9. 5-4) at the Ford Center 67-66 earlier this season.  Garrett Stutz scored 29 points in that first game against the Purple Aces which is bad news for the Shockers considering the big man is a game-time decision for Wichita State.  Stutz is still battling a strained rhomboid muscle. Game-time is set for 7 pm at Charles Koch Arena.

Dustin Donaghy scored twice and Chris Chappell added his third of the season, but Wichita (22-9-2) was unable to overcome Rapid City (19-12-2) as the Rush won 5-3 on Saturday night at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center. Wichita is 3-1-0 against the Rush this season and remains in first place by one point in the Berry Conference. Dustin Donaghy (1) got things going for Wichita at the 5:46 of the first period when he tipped home a Daniel Tetrault feed. Rapid City tied the game at one when they broke in on an odd-man rush and Scott Wray tied it at 10:11.

Near the top of the league in several categories, the Wichita Thunder climbed back to #1 of the most recent CHL Coaches Poll announced Wednesday. Playing its best hockey of the season, Wichita has gone 10-2-2 over the past 14 games and leads the Berry Conference. The Thunder is tied with Fort Wayne in wins (22) and points (46) while leading the league in winning percentage (.697).  Fort Wayne was #1 in the previous Coaches Poll, which was released January 4th. The CHL Coaches Poll is released on or near the beginning and middle of each month throughout regular season.  Each first place vote receives 10 points, second place votes earn 9 points, etc. The Thunder earned nine first place votes with the rest of the top votes showing great balance as the Komets earned two first place votes and the Evansville IceMen (21-9-3)

Press Release from Wichita Thunder - A tight, defensive struggle entered the third period scoreless on Saturday night. Wichita tallied three in the final 20 minutes and pulled away from the Arizona Sundogs, winning 3-0 at INTRUST Bank Arena. Ian Lowe, Matt Summers and Les Reaney each scored for the Thunder while Torrie Jung earned his first post-season shutout of his career. Wichita takes a 2-0 lead in the series as the two teams will now travel back to Arizona for Games 3 and 4.  The first two periods were a close checking affair with both teams not allowing much through the neutral zone.

Central Hockey League (CHL) Commissioner Duane Lewis announced today that the league will recognize two infamous figures for both the CHL and the International Hockey League (IHL) as the title names for the league’s two respective conferences for the 2010-11 season.  The CHL announced on June 1 that they have affiliated with the IHL with five teams joining the CHL for the upcoming season (Bloomington, Dayton, Evansville, Fort Wayne and Quad City). The new conference alignment announced in July will bear the names of Joseph Turner, the Turner Conference, and N. Thomas Berry, Jr., the Berry Conference.

The Wichita Thunder of the Central Hockey League brought back two key pieces from last year's team today, announcing the signings of forward Matt Summers and defenseman Jarred Mohr as well as adding rookie forward Todd Hosmer to the roster for the 2012-13 season.   Summers, 26, enters his sixth season as a pro and second in Wichita. The Savage, Minnesota native led the Thunder in scoring last year with 61 points and was tied for ninth in assists with 42. He was named the Sher-Wood CHL Player of the Month last October and was third in the league in shooting percentage (.202)