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Game Preview: Stockton Thunder At Ontario Reign

February 5, 2010 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


The Thunder returns to the road for the first time since Jan. 8 to face the Ontario Reign for two consecutive games on Friday and Saturday, the seventh and eighth meeting between both teams this season. Fresh off a team record 11-game homestand, the Thunder enters the week second place in the Pacific Division (fourth, National Conference), eight points behind the first place Bakersfield Condors after a 3-0-1 streak in four games last week. The Thunder is 42-0 this season against the Reign and in the last meeting, the Thunder defeated the Reign, 4-2 at Stockton Arena on Jan. 17. Through the first 16 regular season games in the all-time series, the Thunder is 8-7-1 against Ontario.

LAST 3 THUNDER GAMES

STK 3 - AK 1 (1/31/10): Goaltender Andrew Perugini stopped 26 shots and Matt Robinson added a goal and an assist to help lift the Stockton Thunder (20-17-7, 47 points) to a 3-1 victory over the Alaska Aces before a crowd of 5,297 at Stockton Arena on Sunday afternoon. The Thunder, who won their tenth game at home despite missing the services of leading scorer Colin Hemingway, reached the 20-win plateau by closing out January by picking up points in ten of 12 games (6-2-4), finished its team record 11-game homestand with a 6-1-4 record. The win also helped the Thunder close the gap to eight points behind the first place Bakersfield Condors in the Pacific Division. Bryan Young and Ryan Constant also scored goals for Stockton.

VIC 1 - STK 0 (SO) (1/30/10): Goaltender Bryan Pitton earned his first career shutout on 34 saves through overtime, but was outdueled by counterpart Glenn Fisher as the Victoria Salmon Kings escaped with a shootout win, 1-0 over the Thunder before a crowd of 9,158 at Stockton Arena on Saturday night. The Thunder, who collected thousands of teddy bears and other stuffed animals that were thrown onto the ice surface immediately following the game's conclusion as part of its annual "Teddy Bear Toss" game, staged a dramatic goaltending duel that went into 16 rounds of a shootout, a Thunder record that finished five rounds off the ECHL record (21, Birmingham at Hampton Roads, 1992-93).

STK 7 - VIC 1 (1/29/10): Veteran J.F. Caudron broke a team record with five assists and tied another with five points, while Igor Gongalsky enjoyed a career-high four-point effort (3g-1a) and the second hat trick of his career to help the Thunder crush the Victoria Salmon Kings in a 7-1 victory before 5,758 fans at Stockton Arena on Friday. The Thunder, who tied their season high seven-goal output for the second straight game, stayed in a fourth place tie with the Alaska Aces in the National Conference and improved to 5-1-1 in the last seven games. The line of Caudron, Gongalsky and Colin Hemingway combined for 12 points (5g-7a) while goaltender Bryan Pitton stopped 39 shots for the victory. Hemingway also scored a pair of goals and James Bates and Matt Robinson chipped in with a goal each.

THUNDER CROWDS ROLLING IN

The Thunder ranks third in the ECHL in attendance with an average of 5,859 fans per game and is vying to tie a league record by leading the league in attendance for five straight seasons. Last Saturday, the Thunder drew 9,158 fans to Stockton Arena against Victoria, the second largest home crowd this year. The Thunder led the ECHL in attendance last year with an average of 6,218 fans through 36 home games. Stockton has 14 sellouts in the team's franchise history and drew a standing room only crowd of 9,392 on Nov. 8 vs. Alaska. Last year, the Thunder became the first team since 2004-05 to lead the ECHL in attendance for four straight seasons (Florida led the ECHL in attendance for five straight seasons - 2000-05).

ALL-STAR IS SHINING

Rookie center Chris D'Alvise, who had an assist representing the Thunder at the 2010 ECHL All-Star Game in Ontario on Jan. 20, recently had a career-high eight-game scoring streak with eight points (4g-4a) in that span. After being shut out Sunday, D'Alvise responded with two goals vs. Victoria on Wednesday and added an assist on Friday. D'Alvise leads the Thunder with 17 goals and leads Thunder rookies with 31 points in 41 games this season.

SERIES IN A NUTSHELL

The Thunder leads the head-to-head series vs. Ontario, 4-2-0 this season... the Thunder responded following a 7-1 defeat at home on Oct. 23 with a 3-0 shutout victory the following night - goaltender Andrew Perugini recorded his third career shutout... Stockton defeated Ontario, 3-2 at Citizens Business Bank Arena on Nov. 4 with Craig Valette's go-ahead goal with 52.3 seconds left in regulation... the night after Ontario's 8-2 win over the Thunder on Nov. 20, Stockton responded with a 4-3 victory in overtime at Citizens Business Bank Arena on Jason Pitton's goal with 3:25 left... the Thunder defeated Ontario, 4-2 at Stockton Arena on Jan. 20 on Justin DaCosta's go-ahead goal with 12:12 left in the third period, snapping a 2-2 tie.

MARK IT DOWN

Numerous career-highs and Thunder single-game marks fell in a 7-1 win over Victoria, last Friday:

J.F. Caudron (5 assists - career-high, Thunder record)

J.F. Caudron (5 points - tied career-high, tied Thunder record)*

Igor Gongalsky (4 points - career-high) Seven goals (Thunder tied season-high)

* Shared with James Bates (2009-10) and Brock Radunske (2006-07)

HATS OFF TO YOU

On Jan. 29, Igor Gongalsky became the seventh player in Thunder history to record a hat trick (second in his career) in a 7-1 victory over Victoria. That feat followed James Bates' four-goal effort on Jan. 16 vs. Utah when he set a new single-game club record with four goals against the Utah Grizzlies in a 6-4 win at Stockton Arena.

THUNDER ALL-TIME HAT TRICKS

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 3. Chris D'Alvise 11/1/09 at Victoria

James Bates 1/16/10 vs. Utah

Igor Gongalsky 1/29/10 vs. Victoria

BOLTING FOR TOP HONOR

Two Thunder players, this week, were recipients of ECHL Awards while three more followed in runner-up honors. Bryan Pitton (recalled to Springfield on Feb. 1 and recalled to the NHL by Edmonton yesterday) was named Reebok Hockey ECHL Goaltender of the Week (second time this season) for Jan. 25-31 after going 1-0-1 last week with 73 saves, one shutout, a 0.48 goals-against-average and.986 save percentage. Anthony Aiello became the second Thunder player to win the AMI Graphics ECHL Plus Performer of the Month award, finishing January by tying the ECHL lead in the month with a plus-minus rating of +12 (award shared with Elmira's Mat Robinson).

Fellow teammate and forward J.F. Caudron finished runner-up for ECHL Player of the Week for Jan. 25-31 with eight points (1g-7a) in four games, right wing James Bates was named runner-up for Reebok Hockey ECHL Player of the Month (January) with 22 points (8g-14a) in 13 games and goaltender Andrew Perugini was named runner-up for ECHL Goaltender of the Month (January) with a 5-1-1 record, 2.26 goals-against-average and.923 save percentage.

THUNDER ALL-TIME ECHL GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK SELECTIONS

Date Awarded

1. Jake Moreland January 31, 2006

2. Andrew Perugini March 3, 2009

3. Bryan Pitton December 29, 20094. Bryan Pitton February 2, 2010

THUNDER ALL-TIME ECHL PLUS PERFORMER OF THE MONTH SELECTIONS

Month/Rating

1. Ryan Constant December, 2009 (+9)

2. Anthony Aiello January, 2010 (+12)

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