Thundercats 6, Squirrels 5

The Squirrels dug themselves into an early hole and made a valiant effort down the stretch Monday, but couldn’t get the tying goal against the Thundercats in a 6-5 loss, as a couple of bad bounces and turnovers ultimately cost them.

Despite getting plenty of opportunities, the Squirrels found themselves down 3-0 in the first period, while also going 0-2 on the power play and giving up a short-handed goal.

A little more than halfway through the game, Mike Bartock got the Squirrels on the board, but they gave up two more goals to be down 5-1 with a little more than 18 minutes left. Tony Richelsen broke through a pair of defenders and made it 5-2 just before the end of the second period.

Bartock scored again shortly after the third period began, but the Thundercats got it back ten seconds later.

Both Mario Constantinou and Don Marks each scored in the third period, and the Squirrels had plenty of time to get the equalizer. They stacked the lines in the last minute, and pulled their goalie. New Squirrels defender Rylan Gottron had to take a penalty to save the Squirrels from getting an empty net goal against, still giving them a chance. But time ran out.

The Squirrels outshot the Thundercats, 26-15.