Furious Thunder rally falls shy of a penalty shot, goal post

Published on March 6, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


STOCKTON, Calif. - Gary Gladue scored a goal and added an assist, giving the Victoria Salmon Kings enough of an early cushion to thwart a furious comeback by the Stockton Thunder (26-23-8, 60 points) in a 5-3 Thunder loss before 5,794 fans at Stockton Arena on Friday.

The Thunder, who nearly erased a 4-1 deficit after two periods with two quick goals in the third and were stymied on a penalty shot and a scoring chance off the goal post, suffered only its second loss in regulation at home since Dec. 4 (a streak of 10-2-4 in 16 games).

Garet Hunt, Oren Eizenman and Kelly Czuy each scored for Stockton, while the Salmon Kings were assisted by five different goal-scorers and Glenn Fisher's 34 saves.

Bryan Leitch helped Victoria draw first blood just 4:22 into the game, banking in a wrist shot from behind the right goal line off Aaron Sorochan's left pad for a 1-0 lead.

Gladue's feathered one-timer at the left circle lifted the Salmon Kings lead to 2-0 just 4:16 later, but the Thunder responded with Hunt's shorthanded goal with four minutes left in the period, slicing the deficit to 2-1 when he beat Fisher with a wrist shot from the off the rush at the right wing.

Victoria regained a two-goal edge through just 1:58 later when Wes Goldie's 39th goal came as a benefit of a deflection at the goal mouth on Dirk Southern's missed wraparound.

Chad Painchaud increased the bulge to 4-1 with 9:50 left in the second period when he ripped his 24th goal of the season on a slapshot from the right circle, beating Sorochan to the blocker side.

The Thunder had two near misses on a shorthanded break, beginning on a James Bates snap shot from the right wing that Fisher deflected away with his left shoulder. Bates followed the rebound behind the net and found Bryan Young alone at the goal mouth, but his one-timer was snared by Fisher's five-hole.

The comeback was sparked by Eizenman's 16th goal of the year, off a rebound that he batted in from mid-air with 1:15 elapsed in the third period, cutting the deficit to 4-2 after Fisher left a rebound at the left circle from a stop on Colin Hemingway's wrist shot.

Czuy brought Stockton Arena to a near state of delirium when he outmuscled his ex-Las Vegas teammate Mike Hamilton for a loose puck behind the net, walked out to the left circle and rifled a wrist shot past Fisher's blocker to cut the Victoria lead to 4-3 with 13:37 left.

The Thunder then continued to control play with the forecheck and nearly tied the game on two separate occasions. J.F. Caudron was stopped on a penalty shot with 8:52 left in the game when his snap shot was denied by Fisher at the right circle.

Then with nearly two minutes left, a Chris D'Alvise snap shot from the right circle banged off the far goal post and then off the crossbar, but was knocked out of the crease by Fisher to maintain the 4-3 score.

Matt Siddall wrapped up the game on an empty net goal with 51.4 seconds to go.

Sorochan took the loss with 29 saves in net.

NOTES: The Thunder scratched Brett Hemingway (injured reserve), Mark Pavli (healthy), Matt O'Dette (injured reserve), and Craig Valette (injured reserve)... the Thunder could only manage two power-play chances (0-for-2) against Victoria, who was the league's least penalized team heading into the game... the Thunder outshot the Salmon Kings, 37-34... Stockton remained seven points behind the Pacific Division's first place Bakersfield Condors, who lost 5-0 to Idaho earlier in the evening.

The Thunder wraps up the three-game series and homestand at Stockton Arena tomorrow against Victoria, beginning at 7:30 p.m. The game can be heard and viewed online, exclusively at www.stocktonthunder.com, courtesy of B2 Networks (audio is free of charge).

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