Missouri Mavericks win home opener 2-1 over Wichita

Thousands of fans clad in orange and blue lined up outside the Silverstein Eye Centers Arena an hour early on Saturday night for a first peek at the 2015-16 Missouri Mavericks.

The home team made a strong impression with a rousing 2-1 victory against the rival Wichita Thunder and plenty of promotions to reward the 5,367 fans in attendance.

The Mavericks improved to 4-1 with back-to-back victories against the Thunder, which they will meet 13 more times during the ECHL regular season.

“I think we are playing up to our potential,” Missouri goalie Josh Robinson said. “We still have more to give, and it is exciting to see guys clicking early.”

The Mavericks presented a relentless attack, outshooting the Thunder 27-18 in three periods. The second period was their best, as they posted an 11-3 advantage.

However, Wichita struck first with a goal from Dalton Reum at the 15:08 mark of the first period. He was assisted by Todd Hosmer and Michael Neal.

The Mavericks took hold in the second period with goals from Andrew Courtney and Trevor Ludwig. They assisted on each other’s goals with help from Rocco Carzo. Both goals came during power plays, and both came on each players’ first and only shot of the game.

“We were buzzing the whole game and nothing was going our way in the first period, but we came up in the second and kept on taking it to them,” Courtney said.

The Mavericks will have the weekend to recover before playing host to the Quad City Mallards at 7:05 p.m. on Tuesday.

This story was originally published October 24, 2015 at 10:59 PM with the headline "Missouri Mavericks win home opener 2-1 over Wichita."