Game Preview: Stockton Thunder At Ontario Reign

December 5, 2008 - 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 Stockton 2 at Ontario 3 (SO)
11/15/08 Stockton 3 at Ontario 2 (OT)
11/26/08 Ontario 4 at Stockton 2
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 6 points away from surpassing Nathan Martz as the Thunder career scoring leader
o Ryan MacMurchy is 2 games away from 100 in his professional career
o Cory Urquhart is 15 goals away from 100 in his ECHL career

TONIGHT'S MATCHUP

The Thunder faces the Ontario Reign in the fourth and fifth matchups of the year between both the clubs in a "home-and-home" series at Citizens Business Bank Arena on Friday and at Stockton Arena on Saturday. The teams face each other eight times in the regular season and the Thunder is 1-1-1 vs. Ontario this year. The teams last met on Oct. 26 in Stockton when the Reign defeated the Thunder 4-2.

LAST THREE THUNDER GAMES

11/29/08 - FRE 4 at STK 2: Jarrett Konkle and Kyle Hagel scored two goals each to help rally the Fresno Falcons out of a two-goal hole and send the Thunder to a 3-2 loss before a crowd of 6,224 at the Stockton Arena on Saturday. Ryan Huddy scored his fourth point in two games with a goal and Adam Huxley tallied his third goal of the season. Fresno's Michael Ouzas earned the win in net with a 16-save effort, countered by rookie Andrew Perugini's output with 23 saves in the loss.

11/28/08 - AK 3 at STK 4: Rookie Ryan Huddy scored two goals, added an assist and goaltender Bryan Pitton stopped 27 shots as the Thunder snapped a three-game home losing streak, defeating the West Division-leading Alaska Aces 4-3 in front of a crowd of 5,103 at Stockton Arena on Friday. Mike Lalonde and Toby LaFrance also scored for the Thunder, while Bryan Pitton earned the win in net with 26 saves. Aces counterpart Jean-Phillipe Lamoureux, who was unbeaten in regulation in his last nine appearances, suffered his first regulation loss since Oct. 31 with a 26-save output.

11/26/08 - ONT 4 at STK 2: Cory Urquhart notched his team leading sixth and seventh goals of the season and while rookie goaltender Andrew Perugini suffered his first loss as a pro as the Thunder started their three game homestand with a 4-2 loss to the Ontario Reign in front a crowd of 4,017 on a pre-Thanksgiving night at the Stockton Arena on Wednesday. Ontario received two power-play goals from Dusty Collins and P.J. Atherton. Tim Kraus' shorthanded goal was the eventual game-winner while goaltender John Murray made 42 saves for the win

SEASON SERIES RECAP (THUNDER ARE 1-1-1 VS. ONTARIO)

Ontario capped a third period comeback with a 3-2 shootout win over the Thunder in the first lifetime matchup of both teams - Justin Chwedoruk and Ryan Huddy (penalty shot) scored for the Thunder ... three nights later, the Thunder reciprocated the score in a 3-2 overtime win on Cleve Kinley's blast with less than two minutes remaining - Ryan Constant scored both goals in regulation ... Cory Urquhart notched his team leading sixth and seventh goals of the season and while rookie goaltender Andrew Perugini suffered his first loss as a pro with a 4-2 loss in the third matchup of the season.

CROWDING OUT THE ECHL

The Thunder leads the ECHL in attendance with an average of 6,887 through seven 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 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 knew if we didn't bring it, it wasn't going to end up pretty," said Pitton, who made 27 saves. "The guys fought hard for a full 60 (minutes), and we knew we had to do that to win."

- Goaltender Bryan Pitton on the Thunder's 4-3 win vs. Alaska, The Record, 11/29/08

GAME DAY TRANSACTIONS

The Thunder acivated right wing David Rohlfs off the three-day injured reserve list, giving the Thunder 18 active skaters. Rohlfs has scored five points (3g-2a) in 14 games this season. Defenseman Cleve Kinley was re-assigned to the Thunder on Tuesday after appearing in one game for the Springfield Falcons.

HARDCORE CORY

Forward Cory Urquhart leads the Thunder in scoring with 19 points (7g-18a) in 17 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 six multi-point games this season.

HUDDY HEATING UP

Rookie forward Ryan Huddy enjoyed his first multi-goal game of the season in Friday's 4-2 win vs. Alaska, when he also earned a season-high three points (2g-1a). Huddy, who was recalled to Springfield of the AHL on Tuesday, has points in 9 of his last 10 games and for his efforts in the week of Nov. 23, garnered runner-up honors for ECHL Player of the Week and ECHL Rookie of the Month.

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 58 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.



ECHL Stories from December 5, 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.

OurSports Central