AHL Stockton Heat

Heat Host Manitoba on Teddy Bear Toss Night at 7:30 p.m.

Published on January 23, 2016 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Stockton Heat News Release


TONIGHT

The Stockton Heat and the Manitoba Moose meet for the second time in as many nights and complete the double-header at Stockton Arena.

Stockton has now won back-to-back games and enter tonight's game with a 6-2-1-0 in their last nine, and 11 of a possible 16 points in the month of January. Meanwhile, January has been unkind to the road team as Manitoba has won just two games and have picked up seven of a possible 22 points in the new calendar year.

TEDDY BEAR TOSS TONIGHT

Tonight, the Stockton Heat will feature one of our favorite promotions as Teddy Bear Toss returns for the 11th season in Stockton.

The Heat host the event for the first time, where you, the fans, are encouraged to bring stuffed animals to the game and once the Heat score (make sure it's a good goal too because San Diego had this problem this season), fans chuck their teddy bears and stuffed animals onto the ice which will then be collected, counted and distributed to local charities courtesy of the United Way of San Joaquin County.

This year, the Heat's ownership group has already seen one team they own, the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL, break world records for the amount of bears collected 28,815 bears and stuffed animals.

While the Heat might not be able to keep up with the Hitmen, one team should certainly help motivate Stockton fans to bring a bunch of bears to the game as the Heat's biggest rival, the Bakersfield Condors, collected 7,908 and we want to beat that number right here at Stockton Arena.

LAST TIME VS. MANITOBA

Less than 24-hours ago, the Heat defeated the Moose by a score of 2-1 by way of the shootout.

The game was an all-out goaltender battle, as Kevin Poulin and Eric Comrie each stood on their head for their respective teams.

Ultimately, it was an Emile Poirier breakaway goal in the second and Derek Grant scoring the lone goal in the shootout that put the Heat over the edge and earned the victory.

Poulin stopped 30 of the 31 shots he faced on the evening, earning his fourth win this season in the process, while Comrie stalled 49 of the 50 shots he faced in a losing effort.

WHO TO WATCH

With all the coverage of Derek Grant's point streak, the recent success of some other players has gotten put on the backburner so to speak. One such player is Freddie Hamilton.

Last night, Hamilton sprung Poirier on his breakaway with an underrated chip-pass that led to the goal.

Underrated - that's sort of how Hamilton's January has gone for the guy currently tied in second on the Stockton Heat in points.

After an admittedly slow December, Hamilton has returned to the form we saw early in the season, earning seven points in eight games this month alone. Last night against the Moose was yet another example of Hamilton making a smart, but not flashy play to give a scoring chance to a teammate.

Watch for Hamilton to continue making those types of plays in tonight's game against Manitoba.

HIP HIP POIRI-YAY

With goals in back-to-back games, Emile Poirier has seemingly found his scoring touch following a stretch of six games without a goal. Poirier has registered eight points in January, but six of those points are helpers and all eight have come in four games.

Poirier, though, does have four points in the last two games and has helped to lead the Heat offensively during this hot streak of theirs.

The 2013 first-round pick of the Calgary Flames entered this season with high expectations for himself and after a bit of a rough start has begun to contribute in all the ways he expected himself to at the beginning of the season. Scoring points, creating opportunities with his speed, providing gritty play across all 200-feet of the ice - all of these aspects have shown up for Poirier during this successful stretch for the Heat.

Even Coach Huska had positive words for Poirier performance following last night's tilt, saying that Poirier is truly "starting to play the way we knew he could and need him to".

Being the prospect that he is, it's important for Poirier to keep up the good work in Stockton because his play could very well impress the brass up north and earn him a trip to a much, much colder climate.

COMING IN UNDER THE RADAR

While Derek Grant's seven game point streak has ended and we publicize a guy like Poirier on the offensive side, one player, who also finds himself with points in his last two, has done a tremendous job without the glory. That player is Brett Kulak.

Kulak was someone that was performing at his peak before the season even began as his performance at the Young Stars Classic and the Flames training camp earned him the chance to begin the season with the big club. After the Flames got healthy, Kulak found himself in the American Hockey League with the Stockton Heat and saw his play dip.

However the dip, which did coincide with a difficult stretch for the Heat team, is a thing of the past as Kulak continues to perform at that level that earned him the chance to play for the Calgary Flames. The two-way defender has a goal and an assist in his last two games, kicking off the play that landed directly in front of Emile Poirier for the partial breakaway goal that was scored in the second last night.

More importantly is the steady, and consistently good play the defender has brought on the backend. While at the lowest this season he has been -4, Kulak now finds himself in the positives for plus-minus (+1) sitting third on the blueline behind Dustin Stevenson (+4) and Aaron Johnson (+3).

Kulak is riding a confident stretch of hockey and has consistently performed well this month as the Heat correct their record. For Stockton's continued success, the team must rely on players, like Kulak, to continue to play a high quality 200-foot game.

INTERESTING FACT

While it might be too early to look into the standings for the Stockton Heat, there's no question that the current stretch of hockey for the Heat has helped them nearly correct a tough stretch of hockey to end 2015.

Tonight the team has a chance to be somewhere it hasn't been since November 21. Move up a spot in the standings.

The game to keep an eye on tonight is the San Antonio Rampage game as they host the Bakersfield Condors at 5:00 p.m. PST today. Here's how it breaks down:

The Stockton Heat obviously need to win tonight. If they win and San Antonio wins both teams would be at .500, however by virtue of the first tiebreaker (which is points-percentage excluding shootout wins) San Antonio would stay ahead of the Heat (Heat have three shootout wins while San Antonio has one).

If the Heat win and San Antonio loses, Stockton would be at the .500 mark while San Antonio would be at .476, meaning the Heat would leapfrog the Rampage.

If the Heat win and San Antonio picks up a point, Stockton would be at the .500 mark while San Antonio would be at .488 meaning the Heat would take over sixth.

If both teams pick up a single point in their respective games tonight, Stockton would be at .486 while San Antonio would be at .488 meaning the Heat would remain in seventh.

Complicated we know, and certainly the Heat need not worry about the math and just go out and play, however it's exciting to see the home team with a chance to move up the ladder.

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Arena: Stockton Arena

Date: January 23, 2016

Time: 7:30 p.m. PST (Doors at 6:30 p.m. PST)

Broadcast: AHL Live, Spreaker & iHeartRadio beginning at 7:15 p.m. PST

Leading Scorer: STOCKTON: F Derek Grant (25GP, 17-11-28)

MANITOBA: F Chase De Leo (39GP, 11-11-22)/Brenden Kichton (35GP, 4-18-22)

For the live, in-game tweets, follow @AHLHeatPR. Stay tuned at the end of the game for the Chase Chevrolet Big Moment of the Game with your chance to win an autographed Derek Grant puck.

Check out the Stockton Heat Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from January 23, 2016


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