Wichita Thunder Advance to Berry Conference Finals
Thunder Advance After Five-Game Series with Rio Grande Valley
GLENDALE, AZ (April 7, 2012) – The Wichita Thunder have advanced to the Berry Conference Finals after their Game 5 win over the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees on Saturday night. The Thunder win the series with the Killer Bees four games to one. It will mark the fourth trip to the Finals for the Thunder and their first since the 1997-98 season.
Wichita has won two CHL Championships in their three previous trips winning the title in back-to-back seasons (1994, 1995) and losing to Columbus in the 1998 Finals.
The Thunder won the Bud Poile Governors’ Cup at the conclusion of the regular season with a 44-19-3 record and 91 points. .
Wichita will await the winner of the Texas Brahmas/Allen Americans series which has the Brahmas leading the Americans three games to two with Game 6 set for Tuesday night at the NYTEX Sports Centre and Game 7, if necessary, set for Wednesday night at the Allen Event Center.
During the five games against the Bees, Alex Bourret led the Thunder offense with four goals and four assists and R.G. Flath had a huge series with six goals and an assist. Goaltender Adam Russo won all four games for the Thunder finishing the series with a 2.31 goals against average.
Wichita is coached by Kevin McClelland, the 2012 CHL Coach of the Year (also won the award in 2007 with Memphis). In two seasons with the Thunder, McClelland is 78-45-9 and his 265 CHL wins rank eighth on the league’s all-time wins list. McClelland has coached in one previous CHL Finals, back in 2009 with the Colorado Eagles who lost to the Texas Brahmas.
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