Game Preview: Stockton Thunder At Bakersfield Condors

Published on November 1, 2008 under ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


FACEOFF: 7:00 p.m. PT
SITE: Rabobank Arena
RADIO: 1420-AM KSTN
INTERNET: www.stocktonthunder.com (B2 Networks)

2008-09 HEAD TO HEAD SERIES

10/22/08 Stockton 4 at Bakersfield 7
11/1/08 @ Bakersfield 7:00 p.m.
11/16/08 Bakersfield 4:00 p.m.
12/26/08 @ Bakersfield 7:00 p.m.
2/14/09 Bakersfield 7:30 p.m.
3/6/09 Bakersfield 7:30 p.m.
3/13/09 @ Bakersfield 7:00 p.m.
3/14/09 @ Bakersfield 7:00 p.m.
3/21/09 Bakersfield 7:30 p.m.

MILESTONE TRACKER

o Mike Lalonde is 14 points away from surpassing Nathan Martz as the Thunder career scoring leader
o Ryan MacMurchy is 12 games away from 100 in his professional career
o Cory Urquhart is 19 goals away from 100 in his ECHL career
o Craig Valette is 20 points away from 100 in his professional career

TONIGHT'S MATCHUP

The Thunder finishes six-game road trip, the second longest of the 2008-09 season, on Saturday against the Bakersfield Condors from Rabobank Arena. It is the second of nine games against the Condors for the 2008-09 season and the Thunder dropped a 7-4 defeat at Bakersfield on Oct. 22. Stockton carries at lifetime record of 10-9-7 against Bakersfield and went 4-4-1 in the season series last year. Mike Lalonde has scored 14 points (7g-7a) in 14 games (all-time) against Bakersfield.

LAST THREE THUNDER GAMES

10/31/08 - STK 1 at LV 5: Goaltender John DeCaro made 20 saves and five different goal scorers for the Las Vegas Wranglers helped send the Thunder (2-4-0, 4 points) to a 5-1 defeat before a crowd of 3,381 at Orleans Arena on Friday night. The game was the first rematch between both teams since the National Conference Quarterfinal round of the 2008 Kelly Cup Playoffs. Veteran Chris Ferraro led Las Vegas in scoring with a three point effort (1g-2a) and a +4 rating. Thunder rookie forward James Bates scored his second goal in as many games in the second period.

10/26/08 - STK 3 at VIC 1: Rookie James Bates scored two points (1g-1a) which included his first career pro goal and rookie goaltender Bryan Pitton made 25 saves to help guide the Thunder (2-3-0, 4 points) to a 3-1 victory over the Victoria Salmon Kings, before a crowd of 3,733 at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre on Sunday. Bryan Lerg scored the eventual game-winning goal, a shorthanded marker in the second period while Justin Chwedoruk added an insurance goal in the third period.

10/25/08 - STK 2 at VIC 5: Wes Goldie scored two goals while linemate Dan Gendur tallied two points (1g-2a), helping the Victoria Salmon Kings send the Thunder (1-3-0, 2 points) to a 5-2 defeat before a crowd of 4,192 at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre on Saturday. The Thunder were outshot 42-20 in the game. Victoria goaltender Jonathan Boutin made 18 saves to garner his first win of the season. Cory Urquhart and Neil Petruic were the Thunder goal-scorers, while Urquhart registered his third straight multi-point game.

THUNDER VS. CONDORS: SEASON SERIES RECAP

Bakersfield took the first game of the season series in a 7-4 win over the Thunder on October 22 at Rabobank Arena ... Condors forward Matt Pope notched the first hat trick of his career and Thunder forward Cory Urquhart scored three points (2g-1a).

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

"It's very exciting, because it's been like a month and a half of training camp and now we get to play," Pitton said. "A lot of us know each other from the other (Edmonton) camps, and this is a very good group."

- Goaltender Bryan Pitton on the Thunder roster, The Record, 10/18/08

"Dynamic - that's the word for (Urquhart)," Cichocki said. "He's a guy that makes something out of nothing."

- Head Coach Chris Cichocki on forward Cory Urquhart (Thunder scoring leader with 9 points in 5 games), The Record, 10/31/08

HARDCORE CORY

Forward Cory Urquhart is the Thunder scoring leader with nine points (3g-6a) in six games and enters the day ranked tied for 7th in ECHL scoring (shared with six players). Urquhart was runner-up for In Glas Co ECHL Player of the Week honors (week of Oct. 20) with eight points (3g-5a) in four games. Urquhart, who was originally selected in the second round (40th overall) of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by the Montreal Canadiens, has three multi-point games this season.

CROWDING OUT THE ECHL

The Thunder finished last year as the ECHL's attendance champions for the third consecutive season and drew four capacity crowds of 9,737 this year at Stockton Arena. It was the second straight year the Thunder has surpassed the mark of 230,000 fans for one season. The Thunder's yearly attendance total finished at 239,337, an average of 6,648 fans per game. The Thunder became the first team since 2004-05 to lead the ECHL in attendance for three straight seasons (Florida led the ECHL in attendance for five straight seasons). Stockton opened the 08-09 regular season with a crowd of 8,723 at Stockton Arena on Oct. 18 vs. Fresno, the largest ECHL crowd for the opening weekend.

STEP UP TO THE MIKE

Returning to the lineup this season is left wing Mike Lalonde, who is the Thunder all-time leading goal scorer with 53 goals. Selected as the first player in Thunder history to the ECHL All-Star Game (2006), Lalonde led the ECHL with 308 shots and paced the Thunder with 29 goals as a rookie in 2005-06. Lalonde spent last season with Tilburg of the Netherlands League, guiding his team to the Dutch Cup and scoring 92 points (43g-49a) in just 34 games.

Below is a look at Lalonde's placing on the Thunder career scoring charts:

GOALS:
1. Mike Lalonde 53
2. Nathan Martz 29
Steve Slonina 29
3. Tim Verbeek 28
4. Joel Irwin 25

POINTS
1. Nathan Martz 122
2. Mike Lalonde 109
3. Joel Irwin 68
4. Stephane Goulet 54
5. Brandon Schwartz 52

OILING UP THE SHIP

For the third straight season, the Thunder is serving as the proud ECHL affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League and is an affiliate of the AHL's Springfield Falcons. As an affiliate, the Thunder have made back-to-back appearances in the Kelly Cup Playoffs and two players with experience in a Thunder uniform (D Bryan Young, LW Liam Reddox) have played in the National Hockey League. Edmonton has won five Stanley Cups and advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals six times in franchise history, additionally passing six players onto the Hockey Hall of Fame (Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Mark Messier, Grant Fuhr, Paul Coffey and Glenn Anderson).

This season, the farm system has been strengthened with scoring depth and toughness. A total of 17 players with an NHL or AHL contract are on the Thunder roster.

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