BLOOMINGTON, IL- The Prairie Thunder has found themselves in a bit of a slump as of late.  Unfortunately for the fans of Bloomington it is something they have come accustomed to over the last few years.  The Thunder has won just 1 out of their last 7 games after starting the season 8-3-0-1 in their first 12 games.  The boys in Bloomington have currently fallen to 5^th place in the International Hockey League, one spot behind that fourth and final playoff spot, sound familiar? 

It is okay though Thunder fans, please do not panic just yet, we are not even a third of the way through the season and there is absolutely no question this team is better that any team we have had in Bloomington so far.  Every teams has slumps, every team struggles at some pint in the season; let’s hope that Coach Skalde can recognize what is going on and adjust quickly, before we fall too deep into the standings.  Let’s take a quick look at some key points of the season so far.

Scoring:  The Thunder have 2 players in the leagues top 10 for points so this year.  Craig MacDonald is 4^th with 25 points and Captain Jon Booras is 5^th with 19 points.  MacDonald really is a key part of this team, he has one of the greatest shots on the roster, and an incredible move towards the net, and he is not afraid to get tough either.  Look for MacDonald to stay near the top of the league the remainder of the season.

Toughness:  There is no question the Prairie thunder our one of the top physical teams in the IHL this year.  The team has 3 guys in the top 10 in PIM’s.  Russ Smith is 4^th in the league with 82, Justin Sawyer is 3^rd with 86, and Robin Gomez is 2^nd with 109 PIM’s.  Beyond having these three guys, the Thunder’s entire team is willing to stick up for each other, which is something the Thunder lacked the last few seasons.

Goaltending:  Both of our net minders have gotten ice time, some part because of Paulo Coloaiacovo’s injury that kept him out for a few weeks.  Currently Colaiacovo has a 3.28 GAA, and a .894 Sv% while Andrew Martin has a 2.86 GAA and a .905 Sv%.  Those numbers would but them near the bottom of the league.  Although if you remember Bloomington’s first game of the season against Muskegon where the Lumberjacks destroyed Bloomington 9-3;  If you took that game completely out of both goalies stats Coloaiacovo’s GAA goes to near a 2.70 and his Sv% raises to .920.  Martin’s would be 2.15 GAA and a .915 Sv%.  Using those statistics would put both goalie right in the middle of the league.

Special Teams:  Coach Skalde has been tweaking his power play line all season, but it must be working.  The Thunder is currently ranked number one with a man advantage 22.73%.  On the Penalty Kill the Thunder rank 4^th at 79.80%.

With the recent slump, I would think Skalde will be making a few tweaks to the roster of the next few weeks.  The Thunder plays two games this week both at home against two teams we need to be able to beat.  We play host to Flint Friday and Quad City on Saturday, the only two teams’ currently below Bloomington inthe standings.

Contact justin.boyd@prohockeynews.com