Dillon's Hat Trick Lifts Thunder to Rout of Voyageurs

EDMONTON, AB - The Concordia University of Edmonton Thunder (3-8-1-1) welcomed the Portage College Voyageurs (2-10-1) to the Clareview Arena on Saturday night, with the Thunder cruising to a 7-1 win behind a 4 point night from 5th year Education student-athlete Phil Dillon (3G, 1 A).

The Thunder wasted no time getting the scoring going, with Jakob Lavoie finding the back of the net only a 1:11 into the 1st period. The Thunder were relentless on the offensive end, outshooting the Voyageurs 15-5, though goaltender Taryn Kotchorek kept Portage close by turning away 14 of those shots to make it a 1-0 game after the 1st period.

The 2nd period started off much like the first with the Thunder scoring early, as Phil Dillion increased the lead to 2-0 at the 1:40 mark. The Thunder would continue to roll by putting up three more goals (Ben Sowa, Chad Hurtubise, Adam Moghrabi) and expanding their lead to 5-0, before the Voyageurs #13 Lane Vandewetering broke up the shut out bid heading into the locker room at the 2nd intermission. The Thunder continued their offensive assault by outshooting the Voyageurs 16-4 in the period.

In the 3rd period, Dillion completed the hat-trick with two goals en route to a 7-1 victory, with the Thunder outshooting the Voyageurs 45-15 for the night. After the game, Dillion prised his teammates, stating "I was the recipient of some great work by my line mates tonight. They created some room for me and I was happy I was able to finish. Wheels [Adam Wheeldon] and Benko [Tyler Benko] were beasts tonight on the forecheck.".

Thunder Head Coach Dan Glegloff had this to say about the team's performance: "We were really happy with our 200 foot game in the last 40 minutes. We generated offense from being defensively responsible and on the right side of the puck. The boys have been working hard and it was nice to see them get rewarded.".

The Kahunaverse Sport Group Players of the Game for the visiting Portage College Voyageurs was #13 Lane Vandewetering and for the Concordia University of Edmonton Thunder #37 Phil Dillon.

The Thunder wrap up the first half of the season holding onto a playoff spot in 6th place. They will resume their season in January 2019.