Express crush Thunder to stay unbeaten in ‘09 on Owatonna

ALBERT LEA — The Owatonna Express did more than enough on the offensive end Friday night to make goalie Freddy Bergman’s debut a good one.

Ten players scored a goal and all but two of Owatonna’s 18 skaters tallied at least one point as the Express blasted Albert Lea 11-2 for their fifth straight win. Only Dmitry Lugin scored more than once with two goals, including a short-handed goal in the third period.

Bergman, who came to Owatonna via a trade with the Des Moines Buccaneers last week, was hardly tested and made 20 saves in goal to get the win, which improved Owatonna’s record against Albert Lea to 10-0-0 this season.

The Express (19-15-1, 29 points) got the scoring started early with two goals in the first four minutes. The Thunder (2-28-4, 8) then scored to pull within one, but Owatonna tallied two more goals to take a 4-1 lead at the first intermission.

Owatonna set a team record with six goals in the second period to take a 10-1 lead with a period still to play. During the second period, the Thunder yanked starting goalie Tom Lescovich in favor of Mat Rabin, but the plan didn’t work as Rabin gave up four goals against eight shots. Lescovich then re-entered the game later in the second period.

Amazingly, Express leading scorer Steve Carew did not find record a goal. However, Dylan Porter (5), John Kruse (2), Marian Fiala (3), Michael Palmiscno (4), Dan Cecka (2), Lugin (10), Chris Bournazos (10), Nick Carson (3), Brian McGinty (4) and Cory Thorson (17) all lit the lamp for Owatonna.

Of the players that didn’t score, Zach Vierling, Carew, David Kurbatsky, Troy Puente, Tony McDonald and Jacob Sloat dished at least one assist each. Only Tim Smith and Joe Beaudette did not record a point in the win.

With the win, the Express improved to 5-0-0 in 2009 and haven’t lost since Bismarck beat them 3-2 on New Year’s Eve. Owatonna is now just four points behind Central Division-leading North Iowa, which will play the Express at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Four Seasons Centre. A win tonight could pull the Express within two points of the division lead.

Owatonna was 3-for-4 on the power play Friday night with Kruse, Cecka and McGinty all scoring on the one-man advantage. The Express went into Friday’s game with a 15 percent success rate on the power play.

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