CHL Northern Conference Finals
The Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs clash with the Wichita Thunder in a best-of-seven series.

04.02.04 (GAME 1)– Ken Carroll made 31 saves and was given an early multi-goal lead from his teammates as the Mudbugs defeated the Wichita Thunder in Game 1 of the Northern Conference Finals, 5-3 in front of 4,005 fans.

Chris Brassard continued his impressive postseason with a breakaway goal at 2:34 of the first period as he beat Thunder goaltender Nathan Grobins for his fourth goal of the playoffs. Joe Blaznek scored on a delayed penalty call to put Wichita on the board at 9:31, but Forbes MacPherson would answer just a minute later by scoring off of a Dan Wildfong rebound.

Six minutes later, it was Trevor Buchanan taking a nice Craig Minard pass and scoring a power play goal from the slot to give the Mudbugs a 3-1 lead. Grobins' night would come to an end just three minutes into the second period as Dan Wildfong tucked in his fifth of the postseason, but the Thunder reclaimed the momentum when Jason Duda fed Travis Clayton on a two-on-one to make it a 4-2 contest.

However, the Mudbugs erased Wichita's comeback attempt early in the third when Chad Spurr slid a shot past Mark Cairns for his team-leading ninth point of the playoffs. Mark Kolesar scored a breakaway goal midway through the third period for Wichita, but the Thunder were unable to beat Carroll again in the 5-3 outcome. Carroll improved to 15-4 in his playoff career and surpassed Hugo Hamelin as the Mudbugs' all-time leader in playoff wins.

04.03.04 (GAME 2) – Jim Sprott scored on an end-to-end rush 3:43 into the third overtime period as the Mudbugs defeated the Thunder in Game 2. The win gave the Mudbugs a 2-0 series lead and improved their home playoff record to 5-0 this season.

Jeff Blair made his second appearance of the postseason and held the Wichita Thunder scoreless until amateur signee Nate Metcalf fired a shot from the blue line that went through traffic and sailed past the Mudbugs netminder for his first professional goal at 14:15 of the second period.

Meanwhile, Thunder goaltender Nathan Grobins was spectacular and enjoyed a perfect night until Travis Bell's shot from the right circle knuckled into the back of the net with 1:25 remaining in regulation time.

In overtime, Blair made his biggest saves of the night on two wrap-around tries by Jason Duda and the Thunder had a 16-8 shots advantage after two overtime periods.

In the third overtime, Sprott eluded three Wichita defenders up the ice and stepped in alone against Grobins with a wrist shot for the dramatic game-winning goal.

04.07.04 (GAME 3) – Travis Clayton and Joe Blaznek each scored two goals for the Wichita Thunder as they defeated the Mudbugs 5-2, in Game 3 on Wednesday April 7, at the Kansas Coliseum.

Clayton started both the first and second periods with early goals including a redirection past Jeff Blair just 1:22 into the second. The Thunder then rattled off two more goals in the first five minutes of the middle frame as Tye Korbl and Blaznek hit the back of the net.

In the third, the Mudbugs outshot Wichita 11-6, but Blaznek added his second with a nice move on Blair at the side of the crease to increase the lead to 5-1.

Chris Brassard closed out the scoring with a four-on-four goal after taking a Chad Spurr pass, but Thunder goaltender Nathan Grobins sealed the win with 10 third period saves to improve to 4-3 in the playoffs.

04.09.04 (GAME 4) – Ken Carroll returned in a big way with a postseason career-high 43 saves and just one goal against as the Mudbugs defeated the Wichita Thunder 4-1, to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

After a scoreless first period, Ryan Manitowich broke into the Thunder zone and pushed the puck under the pads of Wichita goaltender Nathan Grobins for his second goal of the postseason. Over four minutes later, Dan Wildfong took advantage of a Thunder turnover and fired a wrist shot past Grobins from the left circle for his team-leading sixth goal of the playoffs.

David Oliver and Trevor Buchanan rounded out the scoring for the Bugs, who killed a five-minute major penalty in the third period to seal a 4-1 win in front of 4,275 fans at the Kansas Coliseum.

04.10.04 (GAME 5) -- For the fourth time in their franchise history, the Mudbugs are going to the President's Cup Finals. The Mudbugs defeated the Wichita Thunder 4-0 to clinch the 2004 Northern Conference title and will await the outcome of the Southern Conference Finals between Amarillo and Laredo.

Ken Carroll finished the night with 33 saves to improve to 6-2 in this year's postseason and 17-4 in his playoff career. The shutout was the fourth of his postseason career and first of this year's President's Cup playoffs. Jim Sprott, Dan Wildfong, Craig Soke, and Forbes MacPherson all tallied in the 4-0 victory.