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Game Preview: Stockton Thunder At Las Vegas Wranglers

October 31, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


FACEOFF: 7:30 p.m. PT
SITE: Orleans Arena
RADIO: 1420-AM KSTN
INTERNET: www.stocktonthunder.com (B2 Networks)

2008-09 HEAD TO HEAD SERIES
10/31/08 @ Las Vegas 7:30 p.m.
1/16/09 Las Vegas 7:30 p.m.
1/17/09 Las Vegas 7:30 p.m.
2/25/09 Las Vegas 7:00 p.m.
3/29/09 Las Vegas 4:00 p.m.
4/3/09 @ Las Vegas 7:30 p.m.
4/4/09 @ Las Vegas 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 13 games away from 100 in his professional career
o Cory Urquhart is one game away from 200 and 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 continues a six-game road trip against the Las Vegas Wranglers, a rematch of last year's National Conference Quarterfinal round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs. Las Vegas won the best-of-seven series in six games, 4-2, and advanced to the Kelly Cup Finals for the first time in club history. It is the first of seven meetings between both teams and the Thunder has a lifetime record of 4-15-1 against Las Vegas.

Four skaters are scheduled to make their Thunder debut in the game, including Ryan MacMurchy (season), Adam Huxley (season), Craig Valette (lifetime) and Jeff Kyrzakos (lifetime).

LAST THREE THUNDER GAMES

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.

10/24/08 - STK 5 at VIC 2: Rookie Garet Hunt scored the first two goals of his pro career and Justin Chwedoruk tallied a three-point night (1g-2a) to help guide the Stockton Thunder (1-2-0, 2 points) to its first victory of the regular season in a 5-2 win over the host Victoria Salmon Kings, before a crowd of 6,602 at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre on Friday night. Rookie goaltender Bryan Pitton made 30 saves for the first victory of his professional career, spoiling Victoria's home opener where the club raised its 2008 West Division championship banner in a pre-game ceremony.

2008 KELLY CUP PLAYOFF SERIES RECAP: THUNDER VS. WRANGLERS

Las Vegas defeated the Thunder 4-2, in a best-of-seven series (National Conference Quarterfinal) ... Stockton defeated Las Vegas 4-2 in game one at Orleans Arena on a four-goal run in the third period ... the win was the Thunder's first in Las Vegas since March 2006 ... Las Vegas tied the series 1-1 with a 5-4 OT win in game 2 at Orleans Arena (Adam Cracknell goal, 28 seconds elapsed) - Stockton tied the game on an extra-attacker goal by Brandon Schwartz in the final minute of regulation ... Las Vegas defeated the Thunder 3-2 in game 3 at Stockton Arena on Aki Seitsonen's goal with 12.8 seconds left ... the Wranglers took game 4 in a come-from-behind, 4-3 OT win on Adam Cracknell's goal, 20 seconds left in overtime ... Stockton closed the series deficit to 3-2 with a 6-3 victory over Las Vegas in game 5 at Stockton Arena; Stephane Goulet scored the first hat trick in Thunder playoff history and Jacob Micflikier tallied a Thunder playoff record six points (1g-5a) ... the Wranglers eliminated the Thunder with a 4-1 win in game 6 at Orleans Arena ... Curtis Fraser scored twice for Las Vegas.

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 five games and enters the day ranked tied for 5th in ECHL scoring (shared with Thomas Beauregard, Josh Soares, Aaron Slattengren and Colin Hemingway). 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.

CROWING 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.

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