WICHITA, Kan. – Welcome to the Thunder Audio Vault! Over the next few weeks, we will take a look back at some of the best moments from the last three years of Wichita Thunder hockey.
The Wichita Thunder were off to a great start during the 2017-18 season but were missing one key piece to a possible championship puzzle…an elite goal scorer. That all changed on November 12, 2017, when head coach Malcolm Cameron traded forward Louick Marcotte to the Fort Wayne Komets in exchange for Ralph Cuddemi. The trade would go down as one of the most lopsided transactions in the league that year. Marcotte played in 37 games, scoring just 26 points, while Cuddemi finished 13th in league scoring with 64 points, 58 of those coming in a Thunder uniform.
It would take Cuddemi some time to get acquainted with his teammates and the systems Cameron employed, but on December 2nd, he busted out of that shell, uncorking teddy bears onto the ice of INTRUST Bank Arena, in one of the greatest individual performances that season.
Cuddemi’s hat trick on teddy bear toss night would go down as the only hat trick recorded by a Thunder player during the 2017-18 season.