Community celebrates the champions at Thunderbolts rally

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - The Thunderbolts will be celebrating their 2025 SPHL championship for a long time, and that celebration continued tonight, at the Ford Center.

A big crowd turned out, to party with the Bolts, who won the SPHL title, last Thursday night, with a thrilling, 2-1 overtime victory, over the Ice Bears, sweeping the best of 3 championship series.

Jeff Bes’s squad certainly peaked at the right time. After dropping the first game, of their first playoff series, at Huntsville, the Bolts reeled off six, straight wins, to raise the President’s Cup!

“Winning a championship, and I said this to the guys, we came here as a team, now we’re leaving as a family, and we’ll always walk together forever, no matter what, cuz we’re bound together by this championship,” said Thunderbolts head coach, Jeff Bes.

“It’s been a long couple days celebrating with this city so that’s definitely helped it sink in, but I think coming here tonight and sharing it with all our fans, has really kinda cemented it,” said Thunderbolts goalie, Cole Ceci.

“I’ve been playing hockey for 20+ years, and this is the first one, and you never know,” said Thunderbolts winger, Scott Kirton. “We went on this run, and it’s pretty special. Who knows if we’ll ever do it again, but we did it in Evansville, at the Ford Center, and no one can ever take that away from us.”

Congrats again to the Thunderbolts, on a fantastic season!

[SUGGESTED: Thunderbolts celebrate first SPHL Title, after nine years in the League]

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