COLUMBUS DEFEATED BY THUNDERBIRDS IN SECOND HALF OF ROAD BACK-TO-BACK

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — November 8, 2025 — The Columbus River Dragons fell to the Twin City Thunderbirds by a final score of 6-3 on Saturday night at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Arena in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

At 5:01 of the first period, while on the power play, Brodie Thornton opened the scoring for Columbus, beating Boris Babik five-hole with a wrist shot to make it 1-0.

At 12:15, River Dragons defenseman Mike Winn was sent to the box for slashing, giving the Thunderbirds a power play.

Just five seconds into the man advantage, Jacob Schnapp threw multiple punches at Nathan Balkwill, drawing goaltender Trevor Babin into the fray. Babin and Schnapp dropped the gloves, and both were ejected from the game.

With Babin’s night over, Tyler Roy, who started the previous game for Columbus, entered in relief.

Following the lengthy delay, Gus Ford capitalized on the power play to tie the game 1-1.

A few minutes later, still on the power play, Twin City struck again as Michael Mania found the back of the net to give the Thunderbirds a 2-1 lead.

At 3:30 of the second period, while on the power play, Ryan Hunter buried a shot from the slot, assisted by Tyler Barrow, to even the score at 2-2.

Just 25 seconds later, Mania responded with his second goal of the night on a breakaway to restore the Thunderbirds’ lead.

At 17:19, Jiri Pestuka extended Twin City’s advantage, finishing off a high-quality scoring chance to make it 4-2.

Despite a strong start to the final frame for Columbus, Jon Buttita made it 5-2 Thunderbirds just 7:09 into the third period.

At 12:40, while on the power play, Kevin Szabad ripped a one-timer through Babik’s legs to cut the deficit to 5-3.

With one second remaining in regulation, Buttita sealed the game with an empty-net goal, securing the 6-3 final.

"The nail in the coffin tonight was their third goal," Head Coach Jerome Bechard said. "The play was clearly offside, but unfortunately, their replay camera wasn’t operational. That said, we didn’t generate any sustained pressure all night and overhandled the puck far too often. Credit to our power play, it was outstanding again, but at even strength, we just couldn’t get anything going."

In the loss for Columbus, Tyler Roy made 27 saves on 32 shots, while Trevor Babin stopped all 11 shots he faced before his ejection. In the win for Twin City, Boris Babik turned aside 40 of 43.