Game Preview: Stockton Thunder Vs. Alaska Aces

February 4, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


February 4, 2009 - Stockton Arena

FACEOFF: 7:00 p.m.

RADIO: 1420 KSTN

INTERNET: www.StocktonThunder.com (B2 Networks)

2008-09 HEAD-TO-HEAD MATCHUP

11/28/08 Alaska 3 at Stockton 4

12/31/08 Stockton 2 at Alaska 3 (OT)

1/2/09 Stockton 4 at Alaska 1

1/3/09 Stockton 2 at Alaska 1 (OT)

1/24/09 Alaska 4 at Stockton 5 (SO)

2/4/09 Alaska 7:00 p.m.

2/8/09 Alaska 4:00 p.m.

TONIGHT'S MATCHUP

The Stockton Thunder finishes the head-to-head season season series with the Alaska Aces this Wednesday and Sunday at Stockton Arena, marking the sixth and seventh overall meetings between both clubs this year, respectively. The Thunder is 11-13-5 in the lifetime matchup vs. Alaska with five wins coming in sudden-death overtime in the last two seasons. The teams last met on Jan. 24 with the Thunder defeating the Aces 5-4 in a shootout at Stockton Arena. The Thunder is 4-0-1 against Alaska this season and is guaranteed a series victory in 2008-09.

LAST THREE THUNDER GAMES

1/31/09 - PHX 1 at STK 3: Goaltender Andrew Perugini made 32 saves for his fifth consecutive victory in net and veteran Cory Urquhart scored the eventual game-winning goal at 2:20 of the third period to guide the Stockton Thunder (20-20-5, 45 points) to a 3-1 win over the Phoenix RoadRunners before 6,610 fans at Stockton Arena on Saturday. The Thunder closed out January with a monthly record of 10-3-0 to reach the .500 mark and climbed to within five points of the Ontario Reign for first place in the Pacific Division, who lost 2-0 to the Alaska Aces tonight. The Thunder received additional goal-scoring support from defenseman Daryl Marcoux and Damian Surma. Forward Mark O'Leary tallied the only Phoenix goal in the third period, snapping Perugini's shutout streak of 110:25.

1/28/09 - STK 2 at VIC 0: Goaltender Andrew Perugini made 38 saves for the first shutout of his professional career and Geoff Paukovich and Mike Lalonde each scored a goal to lift the Stockton Thunder (19-20-2, 43 points) to a 2-0 victory over the Victoria Salmon Kings before 5,102 at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre on Wednesday. The win capped a grueling schedule for the Thunder, who had just four available defensemen in the lineup, played five games in six days and went 2-3-0 in the stretch. In the process, the Thunder snapped Victoria's club-record tying 12-game winning streak at home, leaving the Salmon Kings winless on their own home ice for the first time since Nov. 22 (4-3 OT loss vs. Alaska).

1/27/09 - STK 3 at VIC 7: Wes Goldie and Scott Howes netted a pair of goals and the Victoria Salmon Kings parlayed a wire-to-wire lead, sending the Stockton Thunder (18-20-5, 41 points) to a 7-3 loss in front of 5,073 at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre on Tuesday. The Thunder suffered their second straight defeat and received a goal each from Damian Surma, Sebastien Bisaillon and Mike Lalonde. Victoria goaltender Todd Ford improved to 10-0-1 in his last 11 games with the victory in net, making 27 saves.

THUNDER'S WISH IS 'GINI'S COMMAND

Andrew Perugini is on a season-best five game winning streak in net, lifting his record to 9-6-2 as of Feb. 2. The rookie goaltender, who was assigned to the Thunder from the Springfield Falcons, garnered the first shutout of his pro career on Jan. 28 at Victoria, stopping 38 shots. In his last five games, Perugini has a 1.97 goals-against-average. Perugini's efforts helped him finish runner-up for Reebok ECHL Goaltender of the Week (Jan. 26-Feb.1).

CROWDING OUT THE ECHL

The Thunder leads the ECHL in attendance with an average of 6,638 through 17 home 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.

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 65 goals and ascended to the top perch as the Thunder all-time leading scorer with 137 points, scoring the milestone point on a goal on Dec. 21 at Ontario. 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 65

2. Nathan Martz 29

Steve Slonina 29

3. Tim Verbeek 28

Ryan MacMurchy 28

POINTS

1. Mike Lalonde 137

2. Nathan Martz 122

3. Joel Irwin 68

4. Stephane Goulet 63

5. Ryan MacMurchy 55

STREAK UPDATE: Lalonde returned to the Thunder lineup on Jan. 16 and has scored 11 points (5g-6a) in his last nine games. His four point effort (2g-2a) on Jan. 16 vs. Las Vegas tied a career-high for scoring and earned In Glas Co ECHL Player of the Week honors on Jan. 23.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

"Rohlfs and (Adam Huxley) really stepped up, and everyone played hard," Perugini said. "It was nice to get it. But you never want to get too high or get too low. Hockey is one of those games where you can be on top of the world one day and the bottom the other."

- Thunder goaltender Andrew Perugini after the Thunder beat Victoria 2-0, The Record, 1/31/09

"It wasn't a shutout, but I think the wins are on par, and in some ways this was a better performance," Thomas said. "Mostly because of the late pressure. Genie just played great, and he had a lot of excellent stops."

- Head Coach Matt Thomas on goaltender Andrew Perugini, The Record, 2/1/09

PARTY LIKE IT'S 2009

Ever since New Year's Eve, the Thunder have enjoyed scoring in bunches from All-Star Ryan Huddy and rookie forward James Bates. Below is a look at how the Thunder duo ranks among the league's top scorers, since Dec. 31:

ECHL SCORING LEADERS (Since Dec. 31, 2008)

PLAYER

TEAM

GP

PTS

G

A

+/-

1)

* Bryan Ewing

Wheeling Nailers

16

30

17

13

8

2)

Ryan Kinasewich

Utah Grizzlies

13

29

11

18

9

3)

* Jimmy Kilpatrick

Cincinnati Cyclones

14

23

10

13

5

4)

Mark Lee

Florida Everblades

14

21

8

13

6

5)

Kevin Baker

Florida Everblades

15

21

16

5

6

6)

Travis Morin

South Carolina Stingrays

16

20

4

16

8

7)

* Mark Van Guilder

Cincinnati Cyclones

14

20

6

14

3

8)

* James Bates

Stockton Thunder

14

20

7

13

6

9)

Barret Ehgoetz

Cincinnati Cyclones

15

19

9

10

6

10)

Brock Hooton

Reading Royals

10

18

4

14

8

11)

Mike McLean

Dayton Bombers

15

18

5

13

3

12)

* Ryan Huddy

Stockton Thunder

15

18

9

9

3

13)

* Jordan Morrison

Wheeling Nailers

11

17

5

12

-1

14)

Ryan Lang

Florida Everblades

14

17

6

11

9

15)

* Rob Hennigar

Utah Grizzlies

11

17

4

13

6

* Denotes rookie



ECHL Stories from February 4, 2009


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