The Kenosha Unified hockey team made the first WIAA playoff game in the history of the city a memorable one.

The sixth-seeded Thunder scored five times in the first period in whipping 11th-seeded Oconomowoc Co-op 11-3 at the Kenosha Ice Arena in a WIAA regional semifinal game Tuesday night.

“This was an important game for Kenosha hockey,” Thunder coach Steve Carlson said.

Kenosha will play at third-seeded Janesville (15-5) in a regional final 7 p.m. Thursday.

Kenosha has not played Janesville this season.

Against Oconomowoc, the Thunder got two goals each from Sam Spair, Kyle Easter, TC Trainor and Matt Hill and six assists from Cole Thompson in improving to 12-9.

“It was an all-around good game,” Carlson said. “It was our best offensive game of the season. This was good considering we had to come from behind in the regular season to beat this team.”

Visiting Kenosha defeated Oconomowoc 4-3 on Dec. 13.

The Thunder took the suspense out of this one early in getting goals from all four of its lines.

Kenosha scored four goals in the first 5 minutes and 31 seconds of the game to quickly turn it into a rout.

Spair had two goals while Cody Moreland, Ian Dart and Hill each had one in the barrage.

“We came out flying,” Carlson said. “The boys were ready to play.”

Kenosha victimized Oconomowoc (3-18) with four power play goals.

“Our power play was clicking,” Carlson said. “We made a few changes.

“We’ve been working on our power play. As we all know, special teams win playoff games and we’ve been working hard on that.”

Kenosha outshot Oconomowoc, which did all of its scoring in the second period, 25-19.

Nick Hollendonner was in goal for Kenosha. Carl Mazzolini was among the Thunder players who had two assists.