Carolina Dominates Columbus, 4-1

Winston-Salem, NC – Following an overtime loss on Friday night to the Columbus River Dragons, Gus Ford recorded his second hat trick of the year while Mario Cavaliere stopped 45 shots in a 4-1 victory for the Carolina Thunderbirds on Saturday evening at the Fairgrounds Arena in front of 3,070 fans.

Carolina (33-8-4) struck first for the second straight night in the 1^st. Roman Kraemer delivered a cross-ice pass to Zach White who found Gus Ford crashing the near post tapping home his first of the evening 16:36 into the game.

In the middle 20 minutes, Columbus (26-12-4) tied the game just 43 seconds in, but Ford found his second goal of the evening putting the Thunderbirds ahead less than a minute later, 2-1. Clay Keeley punched home his seventh goal of the season coming off a power play 4:36 into the frame before Ford notched his second hat trick of the season with 8:38 left in the 2^nd, putting Carolina ahead, 4-1.

Other than the power play goal for the River Dragons, Thunderbirds netminder Mario Cavaliere was dominant. He stopped 12 shots in the 1^st, 14 shots in the 2^nd, and all 19 he saw in the final 20 minutes to finish off the 4-1 victory for Carolina.

With the win, the Thunderbirds have clinched a playoff berth into the 2025 Commissioners Cup Playoffs.

Carolina now hits the road again back to New York for a split weekend with the Watertown Wolves and Binghamton Black Bears. Carolina meets Watertown first on Friday evening in Watertown, New York. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. from the Watertown Arena.