On a soggy field, Chill snag second win at home

A convincing second-half performance allowed the Thunder Bay Chill to walk away with a 4-1 win over the Springfield Demize Friday night.

While the home team took the second game of a two-game series against the visiting Demize, it was nowhere near the convincing victory the Chill had Thursday night. The Springfield squad looked like a different team on the soaking wet pitch at Chapples Park.

The Chill owned the ball for almost the entire game Thursday, but were forced to fight for possession and many times struggled to keep it Friday. Thunder Bay cracked the scoreboard first in the 15th minute when Brandon Swartzendruber tapped the ball into the back of Springfield’s net, but Springfield came right back and headed in a goal of their own to tie the in the 19th minute.

Teams traded chances and Springfield’s offence at times had the Chill on their heels. The half ended with the draw still in tact.

But a stronger and more confident Chill team entered the second half.

"As a coach that is what you want to see," said Chill head coach Tony Colistro. "You want to go in, make some corrections and then see the players produce in the second half. It was nice to see that the players came out and adjusted to take the game away."

The Chill’s offence started to take the game away from the Demize early in the second half. Miguel Abascal ripped a shot into the top corner of Sprinfield’s net to start the scoring in the 49th minute.

William Zardetto brought the score to its final 4-1 in the 81st minute, giving the defenceman his first goal as a Chill.

"It felt kind of lucky that I was there," Zardetto said about getting to a loose ball in front of the Demize keeper. "It’s a great feeling. Every time you score for your team it’s an indescribable feeling; it is very good."

The competition gets stiffer next week as the Chill take on the Des Moines Menace.

The first game of the two-game series takes place on Friday, June 18 at Chapples Park, with a second game scheduled for Saturday, June 19 at the same venue. Both games are expected to start at 7:30 p.m.