Heat Host San Jose for Only the Second Time
January 25, 2017 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Stockton Heat News Release
Arena: Stockton Arena Date: January 25, 2016 Time: 7:00 p.m. PST (6:00 p.m. PST doors) Broadcast: AHL Live, Spreaker & iHeartRadio beginning at 6:45 p.m. PST Giveaway: Ryan Lomberg Photo card to the first 500 fans LEADING SCORER: STOCKTON: F Mark Jankowski (33GP, 13-16-29) SAN JOSE: F Daniel O'Regan (31GP, 11-23-34)
For the live, in-game tweets, follow @AHLHeat. Stay tuned at the end of the game for the Chase Chevrolet Big Moment of the Game with your chance to win an autographed puck from Tyler Wotherspoon.
TONIGHT After suffering their first loss on home ice on Saturday in the New Year, Stockton looks to get back on track at Stockton Arena against the San Jose Barracuda. The Heat are 2-2-1 vs. San Jose this year and haven't hosted their NorCal rival since Opening Night on October 15, which resulted in a 3-2 win for the Heat.
This marks another difficult, three games in four nights stretch for the Heat as they host San Jose, travel to the midwest tomorrow, play in Milwaukee on Friday and travel to and then play Grand Rapids the following night.
LAST TIME VS. SAN JOSE Close is how the last meeting between the Heat and Barracuda was. No scoring in the first two periods and shots very close at 21-16 in favor of San Jose.
To continue a trend throughout the week on the road, the third period proved to be the deciding factor as the Barracuda scored two goals in the first 10:00 of the third while Mantas Armalis and the San Jose defense shut the Heat down for the first time all season in the 2-0 win for San Jose. It took to the 34th game of the season for the Heat to suffer their first shutout loss of the year.
WHO TO WATCH He didn't get the Teddy Bear Toss goal on Saturday, but did score in his second-straight game, and he was our "Who to Watch" then too!
Let's keep it rolling with Ryan Lomberg, who for the first time in his AHL career, has goals in back-to-back games, looking to make it a streak with another one tonight. Plus, it's his photo given out to the first 500 fans in the building tonight so we think the recipe is there for another good game from Lomberg.
We know what Lomberg brings every game, but when you think back to the last time San Jose was in Stockton Arena, you think back to one of the plays of the year where Lomberg, at least 15 feet behind Barracuda defenseman Tim Heed, chased the defender down, beat him to the puck and poked a puck upstairs on Troy Grosenick to give the Heat their Opening Night win vs. San Jose.
No doubt a memorable goal, and we hope tonight is another memorable game for everyone's favorite wrecking ball!
HEY NOW, YOU'RE AN ALL-STAR Mark Jankowski is set to follow in the footsteps that Derek Grant walked last year as the second ever Heat player to be named to the AHL All-Star game.
Jankowski leads the team in goals and points, is seventh among rookie skaters in the AHL with 29 points. He is one of 13 first-year players to receive the initial All-Star nod and one of six among the Pacific Division team. To add to his accolades, Jankowski scored the team's first ever hat trick on Friday and had his first four-point night of his career (3-1-4).
Since 1995, 93% of All-Star Game participants have gone on to compete in the NHL, which bodes well for Jankowski as he made his NHL debut with Calgary back on November 28.
SHINKARUK ADDS RECORD Hunter Shinkaruk became the first Heat player to pick up four assists in a single game. Jankowski & Shinkaruk both matched the most points in a single game by a Heat player (4 points), which has now occurred nine times.
Shinkaruk set a new individual career high of 4 assists in one game and tied his career high of 4 points in one game. The last time he had 4 points in a game was back on December 18, 2015 while still playing in the Vancouver Canucks organization. His then Utica Comets played a road game against the Springfield Falcons (now Tucson Roadrunners) with Shinkaruk recording a goal and adding 3 assists.
NEARING MILESTONES While he's still trying to snap a streak of 14 games without a goal, Linden Vey has put up a few assists in that span and is just one point away from his 200th career AHL point.
Hunter Shinkaruk is also one point away from his 100th career point and his next assist will be the 50th of his AHL career.
Keith Aulie and Brandon Bollig are both nearing penalty minute milestones with the next minor penalty earning Aulie his 200th minute in an AHL box while Bollig's next minor will be his 500th minute in his AHL career.
WHEELING AND DEALING The San Jose Sharks made a trade yesterday with the Ottawa Senators, sending Tommy Wingels to the Senators in exchange for two players who will report to the team's AHL affiliate in Buddy Robinson and Zack Stortini. The team also picked up a seventh round pick in this year's NHL Entry Draft.
Robinson, 25, was undrafted but signed with the Senators out of Lake Superior State (NCAA) to a three-year deal back on March 25, 2013. Since then, Robinson has played 245 AHL games, all for the Binghamton Senators to go along with 7 NHL games with the Ottawa Senators. In 33 games so far this year for Binghamton, Robinson has 7 goals and 5 assists.
Stortini, 31, brings loads of experience to the Barracuda, having played 530 AHL games to go along with 257 NHL games. Known as a tough opponent to play against, Stortini was the most penalized player in the AHL back in 2013-14 (299 PIMS) and in total has 1609 penalty minutes in the AHL. Add to that 725 PIMS in the NHL and you have someone who's spent nearly 39 hours in a professional penalty box in his career.
He's not just a physical player, but a gifted and experience one as well. Stortini helped the Hamilton Bulldogs to a Calder Cup back in 2006-07 and is just a few seasons removed from having his best offensive year of his career with 13 goals and 25 points for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in 2014-15. He had been serving as the team captain for the Binhamton Senators for the last two seasons.
INTERESTING FACT Saturday the Heat broke the record for the fastest pair of goals just 19 seconds apart thanks to Frattin and Lomberg (old record was 21 seconds back on Feb. 14, 2016 - Kenny Agostino/Turner Elson) and the record for fastest three goals just 3:36 apart from Frattin, Lomberg & Angelidis (old record was 4:52 on Mar. 19, 2016 - Morrison/Drew Shore/Shinkaruk).
• Discuss this story on the American Hockey League message board...
American Hockey League Stories from January 25, 2017
- Crunch Edged by Penguins, 3-2, in Overtime - Syracuse Crunch
- Monumental Win as Wild Defeats Western Conference Leaders 2-1 - Iowa Wild
- P-Bruins Suffer First Shutout Loss of Season 1-0 - Providence Bruins
- B-Sens Lose 7-2 to the Phantoms - Binghamton Senators
- Road Watch Party Tonight at Savoy Lounge - Rockford IceHogs
- Heat Host San Jose for Only the Second Time - Stockton Heat
- Syracuse Crunch Weekly - January 25, 2016 - Vol. 23, No. 15 - Syracuse Crunch
- Extensive Coverage on Tap for 2017 AHL All-Star Classic - AHL
- Sound Tigers Host Bruins Tonight - Bridgeport Islanders
- Copley Returns to Wolves - Chicago Wolves
- Toronto's Kerby Rychel Added to AHL All-Star Classic Roster - AHL
- Minnesota Wild Reassigns Forward Christoph Bertschy to Iowa - Iowa Wild
- Ontario Reign Game Preview: Reign and Condors Collide at Citizens - Ontario Reign
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
