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AHL Stockton Heat

Dollar Hot Dogs Tonight as Stockton Kicks off Home Series with Ontario

December 30, 2016 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Stockton Heat News Release


Arena: Stockton Arena Date: December 30, 2016 Time: 7:30 p.m. PST (6:30 p.m. PST doors) Broadcast: AHL Live, Spreaker & iHeartRadio beginning at 7:15 p.m. PST Giveaway: Team Photo card to the first 500 fans LEADING SCORER: STOCKTON: F Linden Vey (22GP, 8-14-22) ONTARIO: F T.J. Hensick (26GP, 9-14-23)

For the live, in-game tweets, follow @AHLHeat. Stay tuned at the end of the game for the Chase Chevrolet Big Moment of the Game with your chance to win an autographed Brett Kulak puck.

TONIGHT On a season long, three game winless skid, Stockton looks to get back in the win column welcoming in the Ontario Reign for the first half of a back-to-back series that acts as the team's final home game of 2016. The series shifts to Citizens Business Bank Arena for a 6:00 meeting tomorrow night to end 2016.

Since losing to Stockton back on December 14 in Ontario, the Reign have been hot, winning four straight games but needing to win their last three games in overtime and in their last 10 games are 8-1-1-0 with that lone loss coming at the hands of the Heat. Ontario leads the league having gone to overtime 11 times this season.

Fans can also purchase $1 hot dogs at the concession stands tonight but are limited to five per customer while supplies last! Not only that but the team will be wearing their black alternate jerseys for the first time this season!

LAST TIME VS. ONTARIO Coming off a loss to Bakersfield during the team's 7-game road trip, Stockton got off to a great start getting goals from Mark Jankowski and Morgan Klimchuk in the first and adding another just 12 seconds into the second thanks to Kenney Morrison.

Ontario got on the board at the midway point but Stockton countered with goals from Matt Frattin and Oliver Kylington, taking a 5-1 lead into the dressing room after 40 minutes of play.

However, Ontario, with Jack Flinn newly put between the pipes, came out firing in the third and scored three unanswered to pull within one. Despite a mad flurry at the end, David Rittich and Company held the Reign and ended with the Heat escaping Citizens Business Bank Arena with the 5-4 win.

WHO TO WATCH Ontario is a tough team to matchup against. They, like the Heat, are big bodied, fast, full of skill and are experienced. The fact that this game tonight opens up a difficult home-and-home series with Ontario leads us to believe that the big bodies are going to be one of the most important thing for both teams.

Guys like Hunter Smith and Jamie Devane for the Heat and Kurtis MacDermid and Justin Auger for the Reign will be vital to this series because there will certainly be some tired legs late in the game tonight, and of course tomorrow after a difficult travel schedule for both teams.

However, we think there's one player in particular for the Heat that we want to key in on, and that's forward Brandon Bollig, who has 5 points (2-3-5) in his last 7 games for Stockton. We know he's a guy that finishes his checks, but he's also a guy who can put the puck in the net, establishing new AHL highs in goals (7), assists (6), and points (13) and just one point away from tying his best season from a production standpoint of 14 points accomplished with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013-14.

THE THREE CROWNS Oliver Kylington isn't just patrolling the blueline for the Flames organization this year as he was loaned to Team Sweden, joining the team in their quest for gold in the IIHF World Junior Championship which began on December 26.

Oliver Kylington and his Swedish team won their third straight game and are undefeated at this year's World Junior Championships, beating Denmark 6-1, Switzerland 4-2 and besting Finland yesterday 3-1. Kylington has one assist but ranks among the time on ice leaders for Sweden.

The final game of the preliminary round is tomorrow vs. the Czech Republic at 10 a.m. PST. Sweden is looking for their first medal since taking silver in 2014 and their first gold since 2012.

DOETZEL EARNS FIRST PRO POINT While he's judged mainly for his contributions in the defensive zone, it's still nice to pick up the points, something that rookie defenseman Kayle Doetzel just accomplished on Wednesday. A blast from the point was stopped by the Tucson netminder but put right past him on the shot from Ryan Lomberg, earning Doetzel his first point as a professional.

There is only one player (not counting goalies) who's played games for Stockton this year and looking for their first point and that is defenseman Ryan Culkin, who's only played 8 games due to injury.

STOCKTON'S PK TAKES A HIT Stockton's penalty kill has hovered near the top in the AHL all season long but took a hit on Wednesday vs. Tucson, surrendering 3 power-play goals to Tucson for the second straight time to the new Pacific Division rival.

Tucson accounts for nearly 58% of the 19 power-play goals against this season (11). Stockton's penalty kill, kills 83.3% of penalties against Ontario but surrendered 2 power-play goals against in the last meeting between the teams on December 14 in Ontario, the only 2 goals scored against the Heat on the Reign power-play this season in 12 opportunities.

INTERESTING FACT Stockton is coming off a game that saw them post the most penalty minutes in the league this season as the team totaled 90 minutes of penalties, shattering the record of 59 minutes during a March 19, 2016 meeting last season with the Bakersfield Condors. Stockton and Tucson combined for 162 PIMS, the most by two teams in a single game this season in the AHL.

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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.

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