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Thunder Win Fourth Straight, Move Within Three Points Of First Place

February 7, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


ONTARIO, Calif. - Behind just 13 skaters to begin the game and five different goal-scorers, the Stockton Thunder (22-20-5, 49 points) moved to within three points of the Pacific Division-leading Ontario Reign in a 5-1 victory over the host Reign before a crowd of 6,569 at Citizens Business Bank Arena on Friday.

The Thunder, who won their fourth game in a row, received goal-scoring support from Mike Lalonde, Matt O'Dette, Craig Valette, Cory Urquhart and Ryan Huddy. Goaltender Andrew Perugini made 32 saves for his seventh straight win in net. Ontario's Geoff Walker scored the team's only goal while Kellen Briggs, an ECHL All-Star in 2008, allowed five goals on 35 shots for the loss.

Briggs, however, began the game with a string of highlight-reel saves in the first period which capped a dominant Thunder effort, who outshot the Reign 13-0 after the opening puck was dropped. Ontario threatened late in the period but was stymied on a four-minute power-play.

Lalonde buried his 14th goal of the season at 2:15 of the second period to open the scoring by lifting a rebound over the blocker side of Briggs after he weaved the puck from behind the net to the goal mouth while shaking off a defender.

Just 1:52 later, the veteran O'Dette scored his third goal of the year on the power-play to push the lead to 2-0. O'Dette, who was used as a screen on the man-advantage situation, got a piece of Ryan Constant's blast from the left point and re-directed the shot through Briggs' five-hole.

Valette cashed in his fourth goal of the season at 9:54 to hike the Thunder lead to 3-0 on a three-on-one rush. With the Reign caught deep in the attacking zone, Thunder defenseman Daryl Marcoux found Valette up ice with a long stretch pass, who converted a snap shot from the right circle.

Ontario cut into their deficit to make it a two-goal game with Geoff Walker's power-play goal and 14th of the season with 6.3 seconds left in the period. Walker set a screen in front of Perugini and tipped P.J. Atherton's blast from the right point to the back of the net.

After losing Constant for the remainder of the game on a check by Ontario's Jon Rheault, the Thunder was forced to revert to a conservative playing style in the third period and protect the two-goal lead with just three defensemen and nine forwards available. Ontario fired 11 shots in the period but its only quality scoring chance in the period came on Denny Johnston's attempted forehand stuff from close range with five minutes remaining.

Urquhart and Huddy combined for two goals in 40 seconds to finish the Reign late in the game. Urquhart blasted a snap shot from the right circle on a two-on-one rush with 2:46 left in the game to hike the Thunder cushion to 4-1 and Huddy followed with a wraparound attempt that beat Briggs to the glove side for his team-leading 25th goal of the year, pushing the lead to 5-1.

Three separate Thunder players (Lalonde, Urquhart and two assists from Marcoux) registered multi-point efforts in the victory, their third this year on the Reign's home ice.

NOTES: The Thunder scratched Marc-Andre Bernier (injured reserve), Jordan Bendfeld (injured reserve), Cleve Kinley (injured reserve), Sebastien Bisaillon (healthy) and Mark Adamek (injury, day-to-day) ... the Thunder outshot the Reign 35-33 ... Huddy's goal and assist gave him points in 13 of his last 15 games ... the Thunder improved to 3-3-1 this year against Ontario.

The Thunder returns to play on Sunday, hosting the Alaska Aces at 4:00 p.m. at Stockton Arena. The game is available exclusively online (audio is free-of-charge) for viewing for a $7 charge at http://www.stocktonthunder.com/ (courtesy of B2 Networks).

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 http://www.stocktonthunder.com/.



ECHL Stories from February 7, 2009


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