BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – A third period goal from Matthew Freytag was all the Tri-City Storm (17-10-5) needed on Saturday night, defeating the Bloomington Thunder (12-15-5) 1-0 in the teams’ first ever meeting at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum.

Storm netminder Alec Dillon stopped all 25 shots that came his way, recording his third shutout of the season.

Neither team was able to score in the first 20 minutes, but Tri-City killed all three penalties they took in the opening frame.

It was more of the same in the second, and the teams headed to the final period without a goal. Through two, Bloomington led in shots on goal, 19-16.

Freytag finally broke the scoreless tie with his seventh goal of the season on the power play with just 11 minutes to go in the game.

Mason Appleton rushed the puck into the Bloomington zone on the right wall and hit Freytag in the slot for a redirection. The puck went up in the air over Lavigne and hit the crossbar before going down into the net. Defenseman Tory Dello picked up the second assist on the play.

Tri-City will finish their weekend series with the Thunder on Sunday afternoon. Start time is 3 p.m.

The Storm are now in fourth place in the Western Conference, and have a chance to gain ground in the standings as the only team in action on Sunday.

Notes: The Storm scratched forwards Nolan Aibel and Kyle Eastman along with defenseman Cameron Spicer…

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Period

(no scoring)

2nd Period

(no scoring)

3rd Period
Tri-City – Matthew Freytag (power play) (Mason Appleton, Tory Dello) 8:59

PENALTIES

1st Period
Tri-City – Alec Dillon – (Delay of Game), 2 min, 4:39
Tri-City – Mason Appleton – (High Sticking), 2 min, 10:21
Bloomington – Shane Bednard – (Slashing), 2 min, 11:37
Tri-City – Jason Krych – (Tripping), 2 min, 14:34

2nd Period

Bloomington – Jason Kalinowski – (Roughing), 2 min, 14:28
Tri-City – Matthew Freytag – (Roughing), 2 min, 14:28

3rd Period
Bloomington – Jacob Slaker – (Checking From Behind), 2 min, 7:20
Tri-City – Conner Valesano – (Roughing), 2 min, 7:20
Bloomington – Jacob Slaker – (Roughing), 2 min, 7:20
Tri-City – Dan Labosky – (Roughing), 2 min, 16:08

Power Play

Tri-City – 1/2

Bloomington – 0/4

Shots

Tri-City: 9, 7, 7 = Total: 23
Bloomington: 11, 8, 6 = Total: 25

Saves
Tri-City – Alec Dillon – 25/25
Bloomington – Hayden Lavigne – 23/24