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Game Preview: Stockton Thunder at Las Vegas Wranglers

December 27, 2011 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


DATE: Tuesday, December 27, 2011

TIME: 11:59 p.m.

SITE: Orleans Arena

RADIO: StocktonThunder.com (AmericaOne)

NHL AFFILIATES

Stockton Thunder: Edmonton Oilers, San Jose Sharks

Las Vegas Wranglers: Independent

NEXT HOME GAME

Friday, Dec. 30 vs. Ontario Reign, 7:30 p.m.

DALLAS BRADEN 209 NIGHT WITH THE STOCKTON THUNDER

THUNDER KNIT CAP GIVEAWAY (presented by 104.1 The Hawk)

TONIGHT'S MATCHUP

The Stockton Thunder visits the Las Vegas Wranglers to end a brief two game road trip with a special "Midnight Game" at Orleans Arena. The game will be the sixth matchup out of ten this season and reunites Thunder head coach Matt Thomas with former assistant coach Ryan Mougenel (Las Vegas head coach). The two were behind the bench in coaching roles previously with Stockton and Fresno. The Thunder is 14-27-3 lifetime vs. Las Vegas and last faced the Wranglers on Dec. 6, defeated 4-2 at Orleans Arena. The Thunder is 2-2-1 this season against Las Vegas. Stockton is 3-1-1 in the last five games at Orleans Arena.

SEASON SERIES (Thunder: 2-2-1)

Sat. Nov. 12 Stockton 3 at Las Vegas 4 (OT)

Sun. Nov. 13 Stockton 3 at Las Vegas 2 (SO)

Fri. Nov. 25 Las Vegas 3 at Stockton 2

Sat. Nov. 26 Las Vegas 2 at Stockton 3

Tue. Dec. 6 Stockton 2 at Las Vegas 4

Tue. Dec. 27 at Las Vegas 11:59 p.m.

Fri. Jan. 20 Las Vegas 7:30 p.m.

Sat. Jan. 21 Las Vegas 7:30 p.m.

Sun. Jan. 22 Las Vegas 4:00 p.m.

Fri. Mar. 16 Las Vegas 7:30 p.m.

UPCOMING MILESTONES

- Matt Thomas is 17 wins away from 300 in his professional coaching career

- Matt Foy is 1 assist away from 100 in his professional career

- Kevin Baker is 25 goals away from 200 in his professional career

LAST TIME OUT:

LV 4 - STK 2 (12/6/11): Ash Goldie scored a goal, added an assist and goaltender Joe Fallon made 26 saves to help the Las Vegas Wranglers send the Stockton Thunder (10-8-3, 23 points) to a 4-2 defeat before 2,525 fans at Orleans Arena on Tuesday night. The Thunder were unable to recover from two separate two goal deficits in the second and third periods and fell to 1-1-0 on a three game road trip.

LAST THREE GAMES:

BAK 3 - STK 2 (12/26/11): Peter Boyd scored with 2:49 left in regulation to snap a 2-2 tie and lift the Bakersfield Condors to a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the Stockton Thunder (12-12-3, 27 points) before 4,195 fans at Rabobank Arena on Monday. The Thunder dropped their fourth straight loss and squandered a 2-1 lead that was built on back to back goals from Nathan Deck and Ian O'Connor. Matt Keetley picked up the win in net for Bakersfield with 28 stops.

IDH 5 - STK 4 (12/17/11): Chad Klassen recorded four points and his first career hat trick, enough to help the Idaho Steelheads defeat the Stockton Thunder (12-11-3, 27 points), 5-4, before 5,152 fans at Stockton Arena on Saturday night. The loss put the Thunder in third place in the Pacific Division, in spite of a furious comeback attempt in the third period, a two goal effort from rookie Ryan Martindale and a four point eruption from defenseman Dan Ringwald, who made his return to the Thunder lineup just two hours after stepping off a flight from Oklahoma City. Jerry Kuhn's 32 saves were enough for the win in net. Idaho broke a 3-3 tie with two goals in a span of 1:12 off deflections at the front of the net in the third period.

IDH 6 - STK 2 (12/16/11): Marc Rancourt led an Idaho Steelheads team that was outshot, 40-28, with his first career hat trick en route to sending the Stockton Thunder (12-10-13, 27 points) to a 6-2 defeat at Stockton Arena on Friday night. Rancourt scored twice in the third period to help put the game away and helped Jerry Kuhn pick up the win with 38 saves. The Thunder, who came within two shots of tying their season best and put 17 shots on net in the first period, were paced offensively with a goal and assist each from Ryan Martindale and Kevin Baker.

THE ROAD TO VICTORY

The Thunder is tied for third in the ECHL with eight victories on the road this season and carries a record of 8-5-2 away from Stockton Arena. The Thunder and have played in seven one-goal games on the road, remaining unbeaten in regulation (4-1-2) in six of them.

POWER TRIP

The Thunder tied a season high with three power play goals on Dec. 17 vs. Idaho (3-for-5) and have posted a power play goal in five of the last six games. During that stretch, they have boasted a success rate of 9-of-32. Kevin Baker leads the Thunder with five power play goals and ten power play points (5g-5a).

LET THE RECORD SPEAK

The Thunder broke numerous offensive records in a 9-6 win vs. Bakersfield on Dec. 10. Their nine goals set a new franchise mark and they combined with the Condors to score15 goals, breaking the previous mark of 13, tied on three separate occasions. The Thunder also posted five goals in the second period, coming one goal shy of the franchise mark of six (11/1/08 at Bakersfield).

FOY STORY

Thunder forward Matt Foy is second in Thunder scoring with 21 points (8g-13a) and paces the team with 13 assists. The 6-foot-3 and 225 pound right winger has scored ten points (3g-7a) in his last eight games and recently posted his seventh multi point game of the season on Dec. 17 vs. Idaho with a goal and an assist. Foy has 56 games of playing experience in the NHL with the Minnesota Wild and skated in 28 games with the Wild in 2007-08, scoring eight points (4g-4a) and totaling 28 penalty minutes.

GOAL ORIENTED

Thunder right winger Kevin Baker was signed as a free agent on Aug. 24 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 third in ECHL all-time goal scoring (since 2006-07) with 163 goals. On Dec. 10 vs. Bakersfield, he collected his first hat trick of the season and has scored six goals in the last seven games.

MOST GOALS, ECHL (SINCE 2006-07)

Rank Player Team GP PTS G A +/-

1 Wes Goldie AK 432 424 256 168 4

2 Mark Derlago IDH 281 340 174 166 41

3 Kevin Baker STK 293 329 163 166 15

4 Ryan Kinasewich UTA 205 292 131 161 -4

5 Marty Flichel IDH 382 358 131 227 -8

** Statistics include regular season and playoffs

THUNDER CROWDS ROLL IN

An exclusive club, the Thunder averaged over 6,000 fans per game and drew over 200,000 fans for the sixth straight year in 2010-11, ranking second in ECHL in attendance with 6,382 fans per game. A whopping crowd of 9,482 piled into Stockton Arena on Jan. 22 for the "Teddy Bear Toss" game, the largest crowd at Stockton Arena for the season and the fourth crowd over 9,000 in the event's history. 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.

The Thunder leads the ECHL attendance this season with an average of 5,716 fans per game.

HATS OFF TO YOU

Kevin Baker's hat trick vs. Bakersfield on Dec. 10 was the 15th in Thunder history and the first in the 2011-12 season. Below is a complete list of hat tricks scored in Thunder history:

THUNDER ALL-TIME HAT TRICKS

YEAR PLAYER DATE/OPPONENT

2005-06 1. Lance Monych 3/11/06 at Bakersfield

2006-07 1. Tim Verbeek 1/13/07 vs. Bakersfield

2007-08 1. Ryan MacMurchy 1/6/08 vs. Bakersfield

2008-09 1. Cory Urquhart 1/8/09 at Phoenix

2009-10 1. Chris D'Alvise 11/1/10 at Victoria

2. James Bates 1/16/10 vs. Utah

3. Igor Gongalsky 1/29/10 vs. Victoria

4. Chris D'Alvise ** 2/5/10 at Ontario

5. Matt Robinson 3/28/10 vs. Las Vegas

2010-11 1. Chris D'Alvise 11/6/10 vs. Bakersfield

2. Chris D'Alvise 11/13/10 at Idaho

3. Jarrett Konkle ** 1/12/11 vs. Bakersfield

4. Chris Lawrence 2/19/11 vs. Victoria

5. Jordan Foreman 3/27/11 vs. Victoria

2011-12 1. Kevin Baker 12/10/11 vs. Bakersfield

** Denotes natural hat trick

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 200

2. Mark Adamek 186

3. Adam Huxley 183

4. Mike Lalonde 182

5. Daryl Marcoux 166

DID YOU KNOW?

There have been 18 penalty shots taken by the Thunder in their franchise history, dating back to 2005-06. The last to convert was Chris D'Alvise at Ontario on Feb. 13, 2010 against goaltender Curtis Darling.

PENALTY SHOTS BY THUNDER - REGULAR SEASON

(3 MADE, 15 MISSED)

1. MISSED - Nathan Martz vs. Yutaka Fukufuji vs. Reading 12/27/05

2. MISSED - Joel Irwin vs. Yutaka Fukufuji vs. Reading 12/28/05

3. MISSED - Nathan Martz vs. Chris Beckford-Tseu @ Alaska 1/20/06

4. MISSED - Joel Irwin vs. Ryan Munce vs. Bakersfield 4/7/06

5. MADE - Tim Sestito vs. Ryan MacDonald vs. Fresno 12/27/06

6. MISSED - Tim Sestito vs. Derek Gustafson @ Alaska 1/24/07

7. MISSED - Mike Lalonde vs. Jamie Hodson vs. Bakersfield 2/2/07

8. MISSED - Tom Zanoski vs. Michael Mole vs. Utah 2/6/08

9. MADE - Ryan Huddy vs. Jeff Zatkoff @ Ontario 11/12/08

10. MISSED - Stephane Goulet vs. Joe Fallon @ Fresno 11/14/08

11. MADE - Chris D'Alvise vs. Curtis Darling @ Ontario 2/13/10

12. MISSED - J.F. Caudron vs. Glenn Fisher vs. Victoria 3/5/10

13. MISSED - Kelly Czuy vs. Jimmy Spratt vs. Las Vegas 3/27/10

14. MISSED - Chris D'Alvise vs. Martin Jones vs. Ontario 10/16/10

15. MISSED - Mark Arcobello vs. Kellen Briggs vs. Ontario 10/23/10

16. MISSED - Chris D'Alvise vs. Peter Hirsch @ Bakersfield 10/29/10

17. MISSED - Garet Hunt vs. Joe Fallon vs. Las Vegas 12/29/10

18. MISSED - Garet Hunt vs. Andrew Engelage vs. Utah 11/4/11

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