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Game Preview: Stockton Thunder At Ontario Reign

November 12, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


FACEOFF: 7:00 p.m. PT
SITE: Citizens Business Bank Arena
RADIO: 1420 KSTN
INTERNET: www.stocktonthunder.com (B2 Networks)

2008-09 HEAD TO HEAD SERIES
11/12/08 @ Ontario 7:00 p.m.
11/15/08 @ Ontario 7:00 p.m.
11/26/08 Ontario 7:00 p.m.
12/5/08 @ Ontario 7:00 p.m.
12/6/08 Ontario 7:30 p.m.
12/21/08 @ Ontario 5:00 p.m.
2/15/09 Ontario 4:00 p.m.
3/8/09 Ontario 4:00 p.m.

MILESTONE TRACKER
o Mike Lalonde is 12 points away from surpassing Nathan Martz as the Thunder career scoring leader
o Ryan MacMurchy is 9 games away from 100 in his professional career
o Cory Urquhart is 19 goals away from 100 in his ECHL career

TONIGHT'S MATCHUP
The first lifetime matchup between the Thunder and Ontario Reign is Wednesday, the start of four games in five nights for Stockton. Both teams face each other eight times in the regular season. The Thunder is 2-3-0 on the road and makes its first stop at Citizens Business Bank Arena in four occasions during the season. It is the first coaching matchup between Stockton's Chris Cichocki and counterpart Karl Taylor since Dec. 30, 2005, when Taylor coached the Reading Royals.

LAST THREE THUNDER GAMES
11/8/08 - VIC 3 at STK: Goaltender Todd Ford made 24 saves to help the Victoria Salmon Kings send the Thunder to a 3-1 loss before a sellout crowd of 9,737 at Stockton Arena on Saturday night. "Thunder Goes Pink III" ended with both teams splitting the two-game series and the Thunder lifetime record in the series moved to 5-1-0. The Thunder drew a combined 17,764 fans for the two games, which were played on a pink-tinted ice surface. For each night, $2 sold to each ticket benefited American Cancer Society - Stockton Field Office and the St. Joseph's Foundation - Breast Cancer Services. Ryan MacMurchy scored his second goal of the year for Stockton while Victoria countered with goal each from Olivier Filion, Curtis Billsten and Shawn Landolt.

11/7/08 - VIC 2 at STK 3 (SO): Rookie goaltender Andrew Perugini made 31 saves while Jeff Kyrzakos scored a game-winning goal in the fifth round of a shootout to cap a come-from-behind effort for the Thunder (4-4-0, 8 points), who edged the Victoria Salmon Kings in a 3-2 shootout win before a crowd of 8,027 at Stockton Arena on Friday. Playing the game in pink-accented jerseys on an identical-colored ice surface for "Thunder Goes Pink III," the Thunder improved to a lifetime record of 5-0-0 in the third year of the event and benefited from goals by Ryan Huddy and Adam Huxley in regulation. The Thunder posted their first win of the season at home.

11/1/08 - STK 8 at BAK 3: Jeff Kyrzakos scored four points (2g-2a), tying a career-high, to help the Thunder (3-4-0, 6 points) salvage a six-game road trip with a 3-3-0 run and score a club record eight goals in one game in an 8-3 rout of the Bakersfield Condors before a crowd of 5,204 at Rabobank Arena. Rookie goaltender Andrew Perugini, who won in his pro debut after waiting the first week of the regular season for his immigration status to clear, made 32 saves. The Thunder's five goals in the second period broke the club record for most goals in one period.

CROWDING OUT THE ECHL
The Thunder leads the ECHL in attendance with an average of 8,829 through three games, has 13 shutouts in the team's franchise history and finished last year as the ECHL's attendance leader for the third consecutive season. 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's crowd of 9,737 on Nov. 8 against Victoria was the team's first sellout of the year.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING
"We have good skilled players, and I think our puck movement has been really good on special teams," Cichocki said. "That's a key."
- Head Coach Chris Cichocki on the Thunder power play and penalty kill units, The Record, 11/4/08

"I worked very hard over the summer on my skills," said Huxley, in his third season with the team. "I can still do the other things - I can still fight - but I really want to improve in other areas."
- Left winger Adam Huxley, who scored a goal in Friday's 3-2 shootout win vs. Victoria, The Record, 11/7/08

HARDCORE CORY
Forward Cory Urquhart is the Thunder scoring leader with 11 points (3g-8a) in seven games. Urquhart was runner-up for In Glas Co ECHL Player of the Week honors for the 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 four multi-point games this season.

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 111
3. Joel Irwin 68
4. Stephane Goulet 54
5. Brandon Schwartz 52

INSIDE THE NUMBERS - PENALTY SHOTS
Entering the 2008-09 season, the Thunder has made 1 penalty shot and missed 7 penalty shots, while opponents had made 2 penalty shots and missed 7 penalty shots. Below is a look at Thunder and opposing penalty shots for this season:

PENALTY SHOTS BY THUNDER - REGULAR SEASON
0 MADE, 0 MISSED
NONE

PENALTY SHOTS VS. THUNDER - REGULAR SEASON
0 MADE, 1 MISSED
1. MISSED - Darryl Lloyd vs. Bryan Pitton at Victoria 10/26/08

ABOUT THE REIGN

The Ontario Reign are in their first season of play in the Pacific Division after completing a transfer of ownership from the Texas Wildcatters and are led by head coach Karl Taylor, who spent the previous three seasons as head coach for the Reading Royals of the ECHL. Ontario, who plays at the newly-opened Citizens Business Bank Arena, is the primary ECHL affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League, who purchased majority interest in the team in October 2008. Reign rookie goaltender Jeff Zatkoff was selected by the Kings in the third round (74th overall) of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft and was named CCM Vector ECHL Rookie of the Month for October.



ECHL Stories from November 12, 2008


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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