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Thunder Front Office Wins ECHL "Award of Excellence"

June 26, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


LAS VEGAS - The Stockton Thunder, the proud ECHL affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League and Springfield Falcons of the American Hockey League, has been named the recipient of the ECHL's "Award of Excellence" at the recent league-wide meetings in Las Vegas.

"Having the honor to receive the ECHL Award of Excellence is a testimony how we have one of the hardest working staffs in the entire ECHL," said Thunder president Dan Chapman. "To win the award for the second time in three years illustrates how we have an extremely dedicated, talented group of people who strive to deliver an award-winning entertainment, customer service experience and on-ice product year-after-year."

The Award of Excellence is presented by the ECHL to organizations that are first-rate, cooperative with the league office, compliant with league programs, and who distinguish themselves on and off the ice in their community.

The award was presented to the Thunder for the second time in three seasons at the 14th Annual Communications & Marketing Meetings held June 22-24. For the fourth consecutive season, the Thunder led the ECHL in attendance with 223,854 fans (average of 6,218) in 2008-09. The Thunder, who has drawn 13 sellouts in four seasons, became the first team since 2004-05 to lead the ECHL in attendance for four straight seasons (Florida led the ECHL in attendance for five straight seasons).

In total, the Thunder helped raise a club record of over $550,000 last season in charitable giving through cash, tickets, memorabilia and other items, toppling its charitable mark of over $400,000 set in 2007-08 and increasing its overall charity total in the past three years to more than $1.1 million.

Headlined by November's third annual acclaimed "Thunder Goes Pink" which nearly drew 18,000 fans (including a sell-out crowd of 9,737 on Nov. 8) and raised over $40,000 for two games against the Victoria Salmon Kings, the Thunder followed by collecting over 3,500 stuffed animals for its annual "Teddy Bear Toss" event on Jan. 17 against the Idaho Steelheads.

The Thunder took a proactive approach in helping local high school students get on the fast track to a college education by helping launch the "Taking College By Storm" program on Dec. 6 against the Ontario Reign, where local students within the Stockton Unified School District (SUSD) were awarded with a free ticket voucher by participating in the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). Over 1,200 ticket vouchers were distributed, as over 60% of eligible seniors took the exam to lead all districts within the entire state of California.

By launching its inaugural "Easy Being Green" campaign during the season to raise awareness of eco-friendly measures with a hockey twist, the Thunder drew over 14,000 fans and raised over $13,000 for charity in a special "Green Weekend" game series on March 6-7 against the Utah Grizzlies and Ontario Reign.

After a head coaching change on Dec. 29 that ushered in Matt Thomas, the Thunder went 22-16-3 for the rest of the season and upset the Pacific Division champion Ontario Reign in a exhilarating seven-game first round series, marking the first playoff series victory in Thunder history. Stockton followed by reaching one win short of advancing to the National Conference Finals, falling to the Las Vegas Wranglers in a seven-game set.

The Thunder was additionally well-represented at the 2009 ECHL All-Star Game in Reading, PA, with the National Conference led by head coach Matt Thomas. He was joined by forwards Cory Urquhart and Ryan Huddy, while defenseman Kenny MacAulay was named to the roster but did not play due to AHL recall to the Portland Pirates.

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