Game Preview: Stockton Thunder at Utah Grizzlies

Published on March 13, 2011 under ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


The Thunder faces the Utah Grizzlies for the final time this season, finishing a four-game series on the road at Maverik Center. The Thunder is 19-19-3, lifetime against Utah and 7-3-0 in the head-to-head series, winning five of six games in West Valley City. The last meeting between both teams was last night, when Stockton defeated Utah, 6-1. Stockton clinched a Kelly Cup Playoff berth Friday night and is four points behind first place Las Vegas in the Pacific Division. Ryan Constant leads the Thunder with 11 points (5g-6a) in 8 games against Utah this season.

LAST THREE GAMES:

STK 6 ‚¬" UTA 1 (3/12/11): Garet Hunt buried a pair of goals, Fraser Clair collected three points (1g-2a) and goaltender Zane Kalemba made 29 saves to help lead the Stockton Thunder (31-22-9, 71 points) to a 6-1 rout of the Utah Grizzlies before 5,016 fans at Maverik Center on Saturday. The Thunder avenged a two goal defeat 24 hours earlier and won for the fifth time in six games this year in Utah, closed the gap to four points behind the Las Vegas Wranglers for first place in the Pacific Division. Assured of a winning record on the road, the Thunder also received offensive contributions in goals from Jason Pitton, P.A. Bureau and an empty-netter from Jordan Fulton.

UTA 4 ‚¬" STK 2 (3/11/11): Back-to-back goals by Kevin Deeth and Tom May in the second were enough to help the Utah Grizzlies rally and defeat the playoff-bound Stockton Thunder (30-22-9, 69 points), 4-2, before 8,409 fans at Maverik Center on Friday night. Despite taking the loss, the Thunder clinched its fifth consecutive Kelly Cup Playoff berth just minutes after their game ‚¬â„¢s completion, receiving help from the Las Vegas Wranglers who defeated the Ontario Reign 7-4. Ryan Constant chipped in offensively with a power-play goal and Jordan Fulton gave the Thunder a brief lead in the second period with his 12th goal of the season, answered by Matt Clarke and Paul McIlveen ‚¬â„¢s goal and assist.

STK 5 ‚¬" UTA 1 (3/9/11): Captain Craig Valette scored a pair of goals, Ryan Constant collected three points (1g-2a) and goaltender Bryan Pitton ‚¬â„¢s 32 stops boosted the Stockton Thunder (30-21-9, 69 points) to a 5-1 victory over the Utah Grizzlies before a crowd of 2,776 at Maverik Center on Wednesday night. For the first time in team history, the Thunder won four straight games at Utah in one season and used three unanswered goals in span of 5:38 to break open a 2-1 lead. The Thunder received some help as well with Idaho defeating Ontario, 6-3, reducing its magic number to 2 to outright clinch a Kelly Cup Playoff berth.

SEASON SERIES (Thunder is 7-3-0)

Fri. Nov. 26 Utah 3 at Stockton 2

Sat. Dec. 11 Utah 2 at Stockton 3

Fri. Jan. 14 Stockton 4 at Utah 2

Sat. Jan. 15 Stockton 4 at Utah 1

Mon. Jan. 17 Stockton 6 at Utah 3

Fri. Feb. 4 Utah 2 at Stockton 1

Sat. Feb. 5 Utah 2 at Stockton 3

Wed. Mar. 9 Stockton 5 at Utah 1

Fri. Mar. 11 Stockton 2 at Utah 4

Sat. Mar. 12 Stockton 6 at Utah 1

Sun. Mar. 13 at Utah 3:05 p.m.

UPCOMING MILESTONES:

· Ryan Constant is 1 game away from 300 in his professional career

· Kelly Czuy is 1 point away from 100 in his ECHL career

A CONSTANT FORCE

Tonight is Ryan Constant ‚¬â„¢s 300th game as a professional. Currently skating on an AHL contract with the Worcester Sharks, he is in his third season as a member of the Thunder and leads the team ‚¬â„¢s defensemen with 31 points (10g-21a) in 45 games, ranking 10th in ECHL scoring among defensemen. His 10 goals also rank tied for fourth among ECHL blueliners.

EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM

The Thunder clinched their fifth consecutive Kelly Cup Playoff berth on Friday, Mar. 9 vs. Utah. It marked the earliest time in franchise history they clinched a berth and coincidentally, marked the second time they did it in Utah. In 2007-08, the Thunder earned a point in a 4-3 overtime loss at Maverik Center, clinching the final playoff spot in the Conference on the final day of the regular season.

CROWDING OUT THE ECHL

The Thunder is second in ECHL in attendance with 6,256 fans per game through 29 games. A whopping crowd of 9,482 piled into Stockton Arena on Jan. 22 for the ‚¬Å“Teddy Bear Toss ‚¬Â game, the largest crowd at Stockton Arena this season and the fourth crowd over 9,000 in the event ‚¬â„¢s history. Stockton has 15 sellouts in the team's franchise history and in 2008-09, 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). There have been nine crowds of 7,000 or more at Stockton Arena this season.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

The Thunder capped the month of January with a record of 10-5-1, ending the first month of the new year in second place in the Pacific Division. In total, the Thunder had two weekend, three-game series sweeps (Utah and Ontario) and won eight consecutive games, their longest win streak of the season (Jan. 8-23).Stockton scored 51 goals, averaging 3.2 per game. Goaltender Bryan Pitton ran a record of 7-2-1 during the month, returning from Oklahoma City of the AHL.

CHIP ON THEIR SHOULDER

The Thunder enters the game with 102 major penalties, leading the ECHL. Individually, the Thunder is led by Garet Hunt, who has 190 penalty minutes to lead the ECHL and also leads the ECHL with 22 majors this season. Four players on the Thunder have registered 80 penalty minutes or more this season.

LIKE A BROKEN RECORD

The Thunder broke a club record on Saturday, Nov. 20 in a 2-1 shootout loss to Idaho for a 12-game unbeaten streak in regulation (8-0-4). The previous standard was set with an 11-0-0 run in 2006-07. The Thunder began the streak with a 5-4 overtime loss to Ontario on Oct. 16 at Stockton Arena and tied the mark on Nov. 18, in a 3-2 shootout win over Idaho.

THUNDER ANSWERS ROAD RULES CHALLENGE

The Thunder owned a 6-0-2 streak on the road to begin the season, finishing as the last remaining team in the ECHL yet to lose a game in regulation on the road. Additionally, the streak to start the season broke the mark of five straight games without a loss in regulation (5-0-0), set back in 2006-07 (Mar. 17-31). They are guaranteed a winning record on the road this season and their 17 wins ties a club record, set in 2006-07.

HAIL TO THE CHIEF

Thunder head coach Matt Thomas ranks third in wins in the last decade in the ECHL (among active coaches), entering the year with a lifetime .606 win percentage (234-143-54 record) in six seasons as a head coach for Stockton, Fresno and Atlantic City. Thomas also has never missed the playoffs, won a Kelly Cup championship in 2002-03 as an assistant coach with Atlantic City, has been named coach for the ECHL All-Star Game twice (2005, 2009) and has been behind the bench in a coaching role for teams that advanced to the Conference Finals three times.

ALL-TIME WINS, REGULAR SEASON (2000-2010)

COACH WINS

1. Jeff Pyle (Gwinnett, Mobile) * 370

2. Malcolm Cameron (four teams) 317

3. Davis Payne (Alaska, Pee-Dee) 289

4. Matt Thomas (Stockton, Fre, A.C.) * 264

5. Glen Gulutzan (Las Vegas) 254

* Currently ECHL active

PLAYOFF NOTES

ECHL WESTERN CONFERENCE PLAYOFF STANDINGS

(Top-7 in the conference qualify for Kelly Cup playoffs)

Rank Western Conference GP W L OTL SOL PTS PCT GF GA STK P10 SO PIM

1 x *Alaska Aces 61 38 20 2 1 79 0.648 200 158 5-0-0-0 8-1-0-1 2-1 808

2 x *Las Vegas Wranglers 60 35 20 3 2 75 0.625 194 168 0-1-0-0 5-3-1-1 4-2 833

3 x Bakersfield Condors 62 34 25 2 1 71 0.573 192 187 5-0-0-0 8-2-0-0 4-1 1318

4 x Stockton Thunder 62 31 22 4 5 71 0.573 193 182 1-0-0-0 4-6-0-0 5-5 1370

5 x Idaho Steelheads 63 29 22 4 8 70 0.556 200 187 0-2-0-0 5-4-1-0 5-8 1005

6 Utah Grizzlies 61 30 25 4 2 66 0.541 172 182 0-1-0-0 2-7-0-1 2-2 1463

7 Victoria Salmon Kings 62 27 32 1 2 57 0.460 179 199 0-5-0-0 3-7-0-0 2-2 1302

8 Ontario Reign 63 22 35 2 4 50 0.397 165 239 1-0-0-0 4-5-0-1 2-4 1192

* Division leader

x = Teams who have clinched a playoff spot. y = Teams who have clinched the division title

z = Team who has clinched the conference title, 1st round bye

2011 Playoff March Notes -

- The Thunder has 10 regular season games remaining.

- Stockton has regular season games remaining against the following teams:

· Utah (1)

· Las Vegas (3)

· Idaho (3)

· Victoria (3)

- The top seven teams in the Western Conference will qualify for the 2011 Kelly Cup Playoffs and will be seeded by conference ranking in the first and second round of the playoffs. The #1 seed will receive a bye through the first round and the #2 seed will play #7, the #3 seed will play #6, and the #4 seed will play #5. Home ice advantage will be determined by points.

- If the Kelly Cup Playoffs began today, the Thunder would face the Idaho Steelheads in the Western Conference Quarterfinal.

- The Thunder clinched its fifth consecutive Kelly Cup Playoff berth Mar. 11 at Utah and has surpassed the 30-win plateau for the fourth time in club history (2006-07, 2008-11)

- TIE-BREAKER: The tiebreaker for the Western Conference if two teams tie will be: 1. Wins (regulation and OT only), regular season; 2. Points, head-to-head; 3. Wins, head-to-head; 4. Goal differential, head-to-head; 5. Winning percentage, division (if tied teams are from same division; if not, skip to 6); 6. Winning percentage, conference; 7. Goals for, regular season; 8. Goals against, regular season; 9. Coin toss

The tiebreaker for the Western Conference if three teams are tied will be: 1. Wins (regulation and OT only); 2. Winning percentage, games between the teams; 3. Goal differential, games between the teams; 4. Winning percentage, division; 5. Winning percentage, conference; 6. Goals for, regular season; 7. Goals against, regular season; 8. Coin toss. When two teams remain after the third or other teams are eliminated during any step above, the tiebreaker reverts to Step 1 of the two-team format.

- Last season, the Thunder clinched its fourth straight Kelly Cup Playoff berth with the 6th seed in the National Conference and a 33-29-10 record (76 points)

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