Who knew that fans still do the wave?

But there it was in full view with 9:37 left in the game and the 3,100-plus fans at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Annex after Tommy Mahoney’s tip-in goal for the Carolina Thunderbirds helped them to a 3-1 win over the Mentor Ice Breakers.

Those same fans were also celebrating soon after the game when Neil Dia-mond’s “Sweet Caroline” blared over the loudspeakers. The Thunderbirds had their 19th straight win, and all was good for the front runners in the Federal Hockey League.

The Thunderbirds have so dominated the league it’s a good bet they will break the FHL record for consecutive wins. The record is 21 and the Thunderbirds are methodically moving toward the record.

“I always tell the boys who cares about the streak,” Coach Andre Niec of the Thunderbirds said. “I just want to win games and I care about the guys getting better and improving. We are halfway through (the season) but we are focusing in on the playoffs already.”

The Thunderbirds (28-3) have a commanding lead in the FHL and one reason is how Saturday night unfolded. After two periods the game was tied at 1 and Niec said he was a little steamed in the locker room.

“We started being sloppy in the second period and guys weren’t doing their jobs,” Niec said. “And I got frustrated when we came in the locker room and I think I broke a couple of sticks and maybe a table but the guys stepped up and played better in the third period.”

After the outburst from Niec the Thunderbirds got back to playing their style and the tip-in goal from Mahoney off a Jan Salak shot gave them a 2-1 lead. Later in the third period Salak scored with assists going to Jiri Pargac and Mike Baker.