Stockton, Fresno finish preseason series at 1-1 split

For the second straight year, both teams finished the two-game preseason series at a 1-1 split. The Thunder skated to a 5-1 victory on Oct. 9 at Stockton Arena and is now 4-4-0 lifetime against Fresno in preseason play.

Mike Radja's first of two goals opened the scoring at 13:46 of the first period with a power-play goal to put Fresno ahead 1-0, when he deflected Kenny MacAulay's blueline feed past the glove side of rookie goaltender Bryan Pitton while positioned at the right side of the crease.

Just 56 seconds later, Radja buried 50-foot blast from the right wing to put the Falcons up by two goals.

Thunder forward Cory Urquhart scored his third goal of the preseason with 13.1 seconds left in the first period, cutting Fresno's lead in half on a power-play goal when he corralled an end-zone faceoff by Toby Lafrance at the high slot and hammered a slapshot past Fresno goaltender Joe Fallon.

With Stockton caught on a line change, Jarrett Konkle capitalized on an odd-man rush and stretched Fresno's lead to 3-1 at the 8:07 of the second period when he took a cross-ice pass from Kenny Bernard and netted a one-timer from the left circle.

With 8:41 left in the second period, Justin Chwedoruk notched his first goal of the preseason, a shorthanded goal, to help the Thunder cut Fresno's lead to 3-2 when he capitalized on a 2-on-1 break and took Les Reaney's pass at the left circle for a one-timer that beat Fallon to the stick side.

Neil Petruic's 5-on-3 power-play goal, his second of the preseason, tied the score at 3-3 just 14 seconds into the third period when he took a feed from Urquhart and drilled a slapshot from the right point that zipped past the goaltender Fallon low on the glove side.

Stockton kept the score tied in the early minutes of the period, killing off a 5-on-3 disadvantage for over 90 seconds which included a key save by Pitton on Fresno's Peter MacArthur.

Rookie right wing James Bates nearly put the Thunder ahead just over seven minutes into the third period on a 3-on-1 opportunity when he cradled a left wing saucer pass by Lafrance, but his snap shot from between the circles banged off the crossbar to keep the score tied. Another Thunder bid for their first lead of the game fell short when the rookie LaFrance was denied on a breakaway with less than seven minutes left.

MacAurthur received credit for the eventual game-winner with 2:08 left to put Fresno ahead 4-3, with the play originating on a backhanded shot by Spencer Carbery after Pitton stopped a shot by MacAulay.

NOTES: The Thunder scratched Tim Boron (healthy), Ryan Constant (healthy), Marc-Andre Bernier (injury), Tom Zanoski (injury) and Ryan Huddy (injury) ... the Thunder scored three power-play goals in the preseason and went 3-for-11 in total (27.3 %) ... Urquhart finished as the Thunder's preseason scoring leader with five points (2g-2a) in two games.

The Thunder begins the 2008-09 regular season on Saturday, Oct. 18 against Fresno, starting at 7:30 p.m. from Stockton Arena for "Opening Night," presented by Coors Light, Food 4 Less, Chase Chevrolet of Stockton, Jackson Rancheria and KAT Country 103.

The proud ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers and American Hockey League's Springfield Falcons, the Thunder was voted "Best Local Sports Team" by readers of the San Joaquin Magazine, has led the ECHL in attendance for three consecutive seasons and drew 239,337 fans to Stockton Arena in 2007-08. Season, group, individual tickets and mini plan packages are on sale now. For more information about tickets, merchandise, or other inquiries contact the Stockton Thunder offices at (209) 373-1500 or visit www.StocktonThunder.com.

• Discuss this story on the ECHL message board...
• Digg this story
• Add to Del.icio.us

The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.