Game Preview: Stockton Thunder Vs. Ontario Reign

Published on February 15, 2012 under ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


GAME PREVIEW: STOCKTON THUNDER vs. ONTARIO REIGN

DATE: Wednesday, February 15, 2012

TIME: 7:00 p.m.

SITE: Stockton Arena

RADIO: 1280 AM KWSX/StocktonThunder.com (AmericaOne)/92.5 FM (in house feed)

NHL AFFILIATES

Stockton Thunder: Edmonton Oilers, San Jose Sharks

Ontario Reign: Los Angeles Kings

HOME GAME PROMOTIONAL NOTES

Tonight's Promotion: FAMILY DAY (presented by Sutter Gould Medical Foundation and 99.3 KJOY)

National Anthem Singer: Sierra Middle School

Public Address Announcer: Mike McKnight

In-Arena Emcee: Jungle Jim

NEXT HOME GAME

Friday, Feb. 17 vs. Idaho Steelheads, 7:30 p.m.

KEVIN BAKER BOBBLEHEAD GIVEAWAY (presented by MetroPCS and KAT Country 103)

TONIGHT'S MATCHUP

The Stockton Thunder battles the Ontario Reign tonight to open up a four game homestand at Stockton Arena. The Thunder is 5-3-2 this season against the Reign and in the last meeting the Thunder defeated Ontario, 4-3 in a shootout at Stockton Arena on Dec. 31. Through 40 regular season games in the all-time series, the Thunder is 23-12-5 against Ontario. Tonight's game will be the final time the teams meet this season at Stockton Arena.

SEASON SERIES (Thunder: 5-3-2)

Sat. Oct. 15 Stockton 2 at Ontario 3 (SO)

Fri. Oct. 28 Stockton 2 at Ontario 4

Wed. Nov. 16 Stockton 2 at Ontario 4

Fri. Nov. 18 Stockton 3 at Ontario 2

Sat. Nov. 19 Stockton 3 at Ontario 1

Wed. Nov. 30 Stockton 4 at Ontario 3 (SO)

Fri. Dec. 2 Ontario 4 at Stockton 0

Sun. Dec. 4 Stockton 2 at Ontario 0

Fri. Dec. 30 Ontario 4 at Stockton 3 (SO)

Sat. Dec. 31 Ontario 3 at Stockton 4 (SO)

Wed. Feb. 15 Ontario 7:00 p.m.

Wed. Mar. 21 at Ontario 7:00 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT:

STK 4 - ONT 3 (SO) (12/31/11): Goaltender Olivier Roy made 26 saves and stopped all five shootout attempts to help lift the Stockton Thunder (13-13-4, 30 points) to a 4-3 shootout victory over the Ontario Reign before a crowd of 6,044 on Saturday night at Stockton Arena. The Thunder, who hosted a special New Year's Eve event to close out the calendar year, was aided offensively with two goals by Kevin Baker and Milan Kytnar's third period goal. Roy, who earned his first career win at Stockton Arena, stopped Kevin Estrada with a blocker save in the fifth round. The Thunder snapped a six game winless skid (0-5-1) and finished the 2011 year with a combined record of 38-26-10.

LAST THREE GAMES:

COL 4 - STK 1 (2/11/12): Kyle Jones made 36 saves for his 21st win of the season, enough to help the Colorado Eagles escape and defeat the Stockton Thunder (23-20-5, 51 points) 4-1 before 5,289 fans at Budweiser Events Center on Saturday night. The Thunder, who outshot the Eagles 42-36, nearly raged back from a 2-0 deficit in the third period. After a Max Campbell goal to slice the deficit to 2-1 Stockton had a game-tying marker by Matt Foy waved off with 3:03 remaining in the game on a rebound chance that was shoved at the goal line. Ben Chiarot registered Colorado's game winning goal on a third period penalty shot.

COL 5 - STK 2 (2/10/12): Steve Haddon and Joey Sides each scored a pair of goals to help the Colorado Eagles manufacture a wire to wire effort and defeat the Stockton Thunder (23-19-5, 51 points), 5-2, before an announced sold out crowd of 5,289 at the Budweiser Events Center on Friday night. The Thunder, who saw a 5-0-1 streak come to an end, were outshot 41-29 and received their offensive contributions behind a second period goal by Max Campbell and a third period goal by Chris Doyle, who continued to stay hot with his 10th goal in the last 12 games.

IDH 2 - STK 1 (SO) (2/4/12): Jerry Kuhn made 41 saves and stopped four of five in the shootout to help the Idaho Steelheads send the Stockton Thunder (23-18-5, 51 points) to a 2-1 shootout defeat before a crowd of 7,032 at Stockton Arena on Saturday. Derek LeBlanc netted Idaho's only goal in regulation, before a goal scored from red hot Thunder center Chris Doyle in the second period. LeBlanc ended the game with a forehand deke to Thunder goaltender Olivier Roy's blocker side in the bottom of the shootout's fifth round. Stockton extended an unbeaten streak in regulation to six games (5-0-1) overall and seven games (6-0-1) at home.

UPCOMING MILESTONES

- Matt Thomas is 6 wins away from 300 in his professional coaching career

- Kevin Baker is 17 goals away from 200 in his professional career

- Matt Foy is 5 points away from 200 in his professional career

ROY WORRY?

Thunder goaltender and Edmonton Oilers prospect Olivier Roy was named runner up for ECHL Goaltender of the Week last Tuesday. From Jan. 25 through Feb. 13, he has stood atop the ECHL with a 1.38 goals against average and has compiled a 2-2-1 record in five games, adding a .963 save percentage.

OH, DOYLE RULES

Thunder center Chris Doyle was named Sher-Wood Hockey ECHL Player of the Week last Tuesday after a performance during the previous week that featured four goals and three assists in three games. He guided the Thunder to a 2-0-1 record during the week and has scored ten goals in 13 games since joining the team in January. He was the first Thunder player to receive the weekly award this season.

THUNDER BOOMING AGAIN

In the last 10 home games, the Thunder have blasted 42 goals to average 4.2 goals per game. They most recently scored seven in a 7-2 victory over Idaho on Feb. 3 where they poured 40 shots on goal and had six goals through two periods. In the game, the Thunder came within two goals of tying a Thunder record of nine goals set in one game (Dec. 10 vs. Bakersfield), also set at Stockton Arena.

GOAL ORIENTED

Thunder right winger Kevin Baker was signed as a free agent on Aug. 24 and brings a wealth of offensive accomplishments to the Thunder roster. He was named ECHL Most Valuable Player in 2008-09 and his 57 goals that season were most in the league since 2000-01. He ranks third in ECHL all-time goal scoring (since 2006-07) with 171 goals. On Dec. 10 vs. Bakersfield, he collected his first hat trick of the season.

MOST GOALS, ECHL (SINCE 2006-07)

Rank Player Team GP PTS G A +/-

1 Wes Goldie AK 454 442 266 176 2

2 Mark Derlago IDH 281 340 174 166 41

3 Kevin Baker STK 314 349 171 178 15

4 Chad Painchaud CHI 338 315 131 184 -19

5 Ryan Kinasewich UTA 205 292 131 161 -4

** Statistics include regular season and playoffs

HUNTING DOWN A MILESTONE

Thunder left winger Garet Hunt has surpassed Mark Adamek as the club's career leader in games played. Hunt is in his fourth season as a member of the Thunder and last season, was named the team's "Unsung Hero" and "Fan Favorite." This season, he was named alternate captain on Oct. 13. He played in his 200th career game with the Thunder on Dec. 16 vs. Idaho.

ALL-TIME THUNDER GAMES PLAYED

Player GP

1. Garet Hunt 219

2. Mark Adamek 186

3. Adam Huxley 183

4. Mike Lalonde 182

5. Daryl Marcoux 166

THUNDER CROWDS ROLL IN

An exclusive club, the Thunder averaged over 6,000 fans per game and drew over 200,000 fans for the sixth straight year in 2010-11, ranking second in ECHL in attendance with 6,382 fans per game. Stockton has 17 sellouts in the team's franchise history. They welcomed 12 crowds of 7,000 or more at Stockton Arena last season and had its highest attendance since 2007-08, a six percent increase from 2009-10. This season, the Thunder has welcome 11 crowds of 6,000 or more to Stockton Arena and drew a season high 9,012 fans on Nov. 5 vs. Utah.

The Thunder is third in ECHL attendance with an average of 5,826 fans per game.

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