Media Articles

At Long Last, the CHL’s Top Teams Meet to Decide a Champion

By Jeffrey Lutz, Wichita Eagle - Whenever an athlete says he has no preference regarding which opponent his team faces in an important playoff series, he’s almost always being less than honest. The truth comes out when top teams meet in the postseason, and a player says it was the series he wanted all along. That would have seemed to be the… Read More

Jeffrey Lutz’s CHL report (March 12th)

By Jeffrey Lutz, Wichtia Eagle - A coach’s 300th win, especially when it appears there are many more wins to come, is probably not the best time for reflection. At least not for Thunder coach Kevin McClelland, who reached that milestone in the Central Hockey League in Wichita’s shootout victory over Missouri on Sunday. All of… Read More

CHL Report (Feb. 5)

By Jeffrey Lutz, Wichita Eagle - Deciding on a goalie for a likely trip to the playoffs is a 50-50 proposition for Thunder coach Kevin McClelland. “I haven’t flipped that coin yet,” McClelland said. There is little to separate Kevin Regan, who has been the starter most of the season, and Torrie Jung, who has earned more time… Read More

Thunder Gets Back on the Right Track

By Jeffrey Lutz, Wichita Eagle - The Thunder will spend much of the next two weeks on a bus. Not the best news considering recent events. The transportation for the Central Hockey League’s second-place team suffered an unspecified malfunction after a game Wednesday night against Quad City. The bus and the Thunder spent a little extra time… Read More

Jung Needs to Stay Sharp for Thunder

By Jeffrey Lutz, Wichita Eagle - A switch to a better team has meant a change to a new role for Thunder first-year goalie Torrie Jung. A starter in the past with teams that were marginal at best, Jung came to Wichita this season, where he was expected to be an important piece to a CHL championship team. Just not the most important piece. For… Read More

Jeffrey Lutz’s CHL report (Dec. 18)

By Jeffrey Lutz, Wichita Eagle - The Thunder won’t be afforded much down time during the holidays. Instead, they’ll have to look forward to a relatively slow January, when games are more spread out. Between Wednesday and the end of the year, Wichita plays seven games, including two against Allen, its nearest pursuer for first place in… Read More

Jeffrey Lutz’s CHL Report (Dec. 11)

By Jeffrey Lutz, Wichita Eagle - Lowe plays to power Ian Lowe calls himself limited in skill and it doesn’t take his self-description to figure out that his size — 5-foot-9, 175 pounds — isn’t his strongest asset, either. To offset his deficiencies, the Thunder forward learned early the importance of developing a… Read More

California Transplant finds Home with Thunder

By Jeffrey Lutz, Wichita Eagle - Dave Inman happened to be born in Southern California the year before Wayne Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL. Inman’s hometown, San Diego, was hardly a hockey hotbed, but when his grandfather, a member of the Navy, became stationed in San Diego long before Inman was born, Inman’s… Read More