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Game Preview: Stockton Thunder at Idaho Steelheads

March 28, 2012 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


GAME PREVIEW: STOCKTON THUNDER at IDAHO STEELHEADS

DATE: Wednesday, March 28, 2012

TIME: 6:10 p.m.

SITE: Century Link Arena

RADIO: 1280 AM KWSX/StocktonThunder.com (AmericaOne)

NHL AFFILIATES

Stockton Thunder: Edmonton Oilers, San Jose Sharks

Idaho Steelheads: Dallas Stars

NEXT HOME GAME

TO BE ANNOUNCED - KELLY CUP PLAYOFFS, 1st ROUND (WESTERN CONFERENCE QUARTERFINAL)

TONIGHT'S MATCHUP

The Stockton Thunder visits the Idaho Steelheads to conclude the regular season with a three game road trip at Century Link Arena starting tonight. The Thunder owns a record of 4-4-1 against Idaho this season and last met them on Mar. 14 in a 3-2 loss to Idaho at Stockton Arena. In the all time series, the Thunder record is 28-30-7 against Idaho. Stockton enters the week five points behind Colorado for fourth place in the Western Conference and is four points ahead of Idaho (7th place).

SEASON SERIES (Thunder: 4-4-1)

Sat. Oct. 29 Idaho 3 at Stockton 4

Fri. Dec. 16 Idaho 6 at Stockton 2

Sat. Dec. 17 Idaho 5 at Stockton 4

Tue. Jan. 24 Stockton 4 at Idaho 1

Wed. Jan. 25 Stockton 0 at Idaho 1

Fri. Feb. 3 Idaho 2 at Stockton 7

Sat. Feb. 4 Idaho 2 at Stockton 1 (SO)

Fri. Feb. 17 Idaho 2 at Stockton 3

Wed. Mar. 14 Idaho 3 at Stockton 2

Wed. Mar. 28 at Idaho 6:10 p.m.

Fri. Mar. 30 at Idaho 6:10 p.m.

Sat. Mar. 31 at Idaho 6:10 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT:

IDH 3 - STK 2 (3/14/12): Jerry Kuhn made 33 saves to backstop a three goal rally by the Idaho Steelheads, who sent the Stockton Thunder (30-28-5, 65 points) to a 3-2 defeat at Stockton Arena. The Thunder, who outshot Idaho 35-21, learned after the game that they clinched a Kelly Cup Playoff berth for the sixth consecutive season after Bakersfield lost to Utah, 3-2 at Rabobank Arena. The Thunder originally built a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Chris D'Alvise and Gabriel Levesque.

LAST THREE GAMES:

STK 3 - BAK 2 (3/24/12): Goaltender Oliver Roy made 33 saves while a goal and an assist each from Jesse Fratkin and Jordan Fulton helped lead the Stockton Thunder (32-31-5, 69 points) to a 3-2 victory over the Bakersfield Condors before a crowd of 9,323 on "Fan Appreciation" night at Stockton Arena on Saturday. The Thunder are preparing for the Kelly Cup Playoffs by closing out the regular season home schedule with a record of 19-14-3 and drawing over 200,000 fans for the seventh straight season at Stockton Arena. With the win, they moved to within five points of fourth place Colorado in the Western Conference. They were also aided on a game winning goal by Chris D'Alvise in the second period.

BAK 6 - STK 5 (3/23/12): Jesse Gimblett earned a key third period goal and added an assist, enough to help the Bakersfield Condors escape and send the Stockton Thunder (32-31-5, 69 points) to a 6-5 defeat before 5,888 fans at Stockton Arena on Friday. The Thunder, who trailed 6-3 with less than two minutes remaining, scored twice late in the game on Mike Little and Matt Reber goals to reach a one goal deficit and nearly stuffed two chances for a goal in the waning seconds of the game with an extra attacker. Max Campbell buried two goals, Garet Hunt added a second period tally and Reber led the Thunder offense with a goal and two assists.

ONT 4 - STK 1 (3/21/12): Goaltender J.F. Berube made 37 saves and defenseman Pat Bowen registered two assists to spearhead a wire to wire effort by the Ontario Reign, who sent the Stockton Thunder (32-30-5, 69 points) to a 4-1 defeat at Citizens Business Bank Arena on Saturday. The Thunder dropped the head to head finale, finishing 5-5-2 against the Reign this season in spite of holding a 38-32 shots advantage.

UPCOMING MILESTONES

- Kevin Baker is 11 goals away from 200 in his professional career

- Matt Foy is 13 goals away from 100 in his professional career

GOAL ORIENTED

Thunder right winger Kevin Baker was signed as a free agent on Aug. 24, 2011 and brings a wealth of offensive accomplishments to the Thunder roster. He was named ECHL Most Valuable Player in 2008-09 and his 57 goals that season were most in the league since 2000-01. He ranks second in ECHL all-time goal scoring (since 2006-07) with 177 goals. On Dec. 10 vs. Bakersfield, he collected his first hat trick of the season.

MOST GOALS, ECHL (SINCE 2006-07)

Rank Player Team GP PTS G A +/-

1 Wes Goldie AK 471 454 275 179 12

2 Kevin Baker STK 334 363 177 186 15

3 Mark Derlago IDH 281 340 174 166 41

4 Olivier Labelle REA 308 252 134 118 -14

5 Marty Flichel IDH 394 365 132 233 -6

** Statistics include regular season and playoffs

CHRIS CONTROL

Chris D'Alvise, named runner up for ECHL Player of the Week on Tuesday, enters tonight's game ranking fourth on the Thunder's all time scoring chart with 104 points. He was named Thunder Rookie of the Year in 2009-10 and has collected four hat tricks in less than two full seasons in the ECHL. Below is where D'Alvise ranks on the Thunder all time scoring list:

ALL TIME THUNDER SCORING

Player PTS

1. Mike Lalonde 156

2. Nathan Martz 122

3. James Bates 121

4. Chris D'Alvise 104

5. Garet Hunt 76

LITTLE DETAILS

Since Jan. 1, Thunder defenseman Mike Little has soared to a +19 rating, which is second in the league. His +20 rating this season is tied for the ECHL rookie lead with Alaska's Kane Lafranchise and Florida's Scott Pitt. Currently competing in his first full season, Little has also registered 26 points (7g-20a) in 39 games since New Year's Day.

HUNTING DOWN A MILESTONE

Thunder left winger Garet Hunt has surpassed Mark Adamek as the club's career leader in games played. Hunt is in his fourth season as a member of the Thunder and last season, was named the team's "Unsung Hero" and "Fan Favorite." This season, he was named alternate captain on Oct. 13. He played in his 200th career game with the Thunder on Dec. 16 vs. Idaho.

ALL-TIME THUNDER GAMES PLAYED

Player GP

1. Garet Hunt 241

2. Mark Adamek 186

3. Adam Huxley 183

4. Mike Lalonde 182

5. Daryl Marcoux 166

THUNDER CROWDS ROLL IN

The Thunder has now totaled over 200,000 fans for seven consecutive seasons. Stockton has 17 sellouts in the team's franchise history. They welcomed 12 crowds of 7,000 or more at Stockton Arena last season and had its highest attendance since 2007-08, a six percent increase from 2009-10. This season, the Thunder welcomed 18 crowds of 6,000 or more to Stockton Arena and drew a season high 9,398 fans on Mar. 3 vs. Alaska. The Thunder is third in ECHL attendance with an average of 5,916 fans per game.

PLAYOFF NOTES

ECHL WESTERN CONFERENCE PLAYOFF STANDINGS

(Top-7 in the conference qualify for Kelly Cup playoffs)

Rank Western Conference GP W L OTL SOL PTS PCT GF GA STK P10 SO

1 y * - Alaska Aces 69 42 17 2 8 94 0.681 219 162 0-1-0-1 5-3-0-2 3-8

2 x * - Ontario Reign 69 41 20 5 3 90 0.652 233 188 0-1-0-0 4-4-1-1 7-3

3 x Las Vegas Wranglers 70 41 22 1 6 89 0.636 226 190 2-0-0-2 5-3-0-2 4-6

4 x Colorado Eagles 69 36 27 1 5 78 0.565 239 242 1-0-0-0 4-6-0-0 4-5

5 x Stockton Thunder 69 33 31 1 4 71 0.514 197 208 1-0-0-0 4-6-0-0 6-4

6 x Utah Grizzlies 70 32 32 0 6 70 0.500 178 219 2-0-0-1 7-2-0-1 7-6

7 x Idaho Steelheads 69 29 31 2 7 67 0.486 186 229 2-0-0-0 6-2-0-2 9-7

8 Bakersfield Condors 69 23 39 4 3 53 0.384 193 233 0-1-0-0 5-4-0-1 2-3

* Division leader

x Teams who have clinched a playoff spot.

y Teams who have clinched the division title

z Team who has clinched the conference title, 1st round bye

2011 Playoff March Notes -

- The Thunder has clinched a Kelly Cup Playoff berth for the sixth consecutive season.

- They clinched a Kelly Cup Playoff berth on Mar. 14, the second fastest pace in club history.

- Stockton has regular season games remaining against the following teams:

- Idaho (3)

- The top seven teams in the Western Conference will qualify for the 2011 Kelly Cup Playoffs and will be seeded by conference ranking in the first and second round of the playoffs. The #1 seed will receive a bye through the first round and the #2 seed will play #7, the #3 seed will play #6, and the #4 seed will play #5. Home ice advantage will be determined by points.

- If the Kelly Cup Playoffs began today, the Thunder would face the Colorado Eagles in the Western Conference Quarterfinal.

- The Thunder has surpassed the 30-win plateau for the fifth time in club history (2006-07, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11)

- TIE-BREAKER: The tiebreaker for the Western Conference if two teams tie will be: 1. Wins (regulation and OT only), regular season; 2. Points, head-to-head; 3. Wins, head-to-head; 4. Goal differential, head-to-head; 5. Winning percentage, division (if tied teams are from same division; if not, skip to 6); 6. Winning percentage, conference; 7. Goals for, regular season; 8. Goals against, regular season; 9. Coin toss

The tiebreaker for the Western Conference if three teams are tied will be: 1. Wins (regulation and OT only); 2. Winning percentage, games between the teams; 3. Goal differential, games between the teams; 4. Winning percentage, division; 5. Winning percentage, conference; 6. Goals for, regular season; 7. Goals against, regular season; 8. Coin toss. When two teams remain after the third or other teams are eliminated during any step above, the tiebreaker reverts to Step 1 of the two-team format.

- Last season, the Thunder clinched its fifth straight Kelly Cup Playoff berth with the 3rd seed in the Western Conference and a tied a club record in points for one season with a 37-23-12 record (86 points)

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