Game Preview: Stockton Thunder At Ontario Reign

Published on November 15, 2008 under ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


FACEOFF: 7:00 p.m. PT
SITE: Citizens Business Bank Arena
RADIO: None
INTERNET: www.stocktonthunder.com (B2 Networks)

2008-09 HEAD TO HEAD SERIES
11/12/08 Thunder 2 at Ontario 3 (SO)
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 8 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 Thunder faces the Ontario Reign in the second matcup of the year between both clubs, which continues a stretch of four games in five nights for Stockton. Both teams face each other eight times in the regular season. The Thunder is 3-3-2 on the road and is in the second of four occasions during the season. Both teams last met on Nov. 12 when Ontario defeated the Thunder 3-2 in a shootout.

LAST THREE THUNDER GAMES

11/14/08 - STK 4 at FRE 5 (SO): Fresno Falcons goaltender Joe Fallon made 26 saves and kept the Thunder blanked in five rounds of a shootout, helping Fresno edge the Thunder in a 5-4 shootout decision before 4,033 at Selland Arena on Friday. The Thunder were led by a three point game each by Cory Urquhart (1g-2a) and Bryan Lerg (three assists). Matt Stefanision guided Fresno with a three-point game (2g-1a). The Thunder received additional goals from Jeff Kyrzakos, Ryan Huddy and Neil Petruic.

11/12/08 - STK 2 at ONT 3 (SO): Ryan Huddy and Justin Chwedoruk each scored a goal for the Thunder, who suffered their first loss after regulation for the 2008-09 season in a 3-2 shootout defeat to the Ontario Reign before a crowd of 4,068 at Citizens Business Bank Arena on Wednesday. Ontario made team history with their first lifetime shootout win, stealing an extra point from the Thunder with a 6-on-4, extra-skater power-play goal by Dusty Collins in the final minute of regulation to force overtime. Reign goaltender Jeff Zatkoff, who was the ECHL Rookie of the Month made 36 saves for the victory while Thunder counterpart Andrew Perugini stopped 35 shots.

11/8/08 - VIC 3 at STK 1: 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.

CROWDING OUT THE ECHL

The Thunder leads the ECHL in attendance with an average of 8,829 through three games, has 13 sellouts 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 14 points (4g-11a) in nine 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 five 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.

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