Levesque ends Cow Palace preseason opener with overtime winner

October 4, 2012 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


SAN FRANCISCO - Gabriel Levesque buried a rebound at the bottom of the right circle to lift the Stockton Thunder to a 5-4 victory in overtime over the San Francisco Bulls at the Cow Palace on Wednesday.

The Thunder opened the preseason victorious on the strength of two goals by veteran Harrison Reed, who led a four goal charge by the Thunder in the second period.

Justin Bowers opened the scoring for the Bulls, who were playing in their inaugural preseason game, at 14:42 of the first period on a deflection at the right circle. Kevin Baker was credited with his first goal of the preseason at 6:23 of the second, putting San Francisco up by a pair of goals.

The Thunder answered with three unanswered goals in a span of 1:59. Reed's first goal of the night beat Taylor Nelson at the left circle to cut the deficit to 2-1 at 10:21 of the second period, on a power play.

Evan Mackintosh then capitalized off a turnover just 17 seconds later to tie the game on a wrist shot from between the circles. Phil Mangan buried a rebound with 7:40 left in the period and the Thunder claimed its first lead of the game at 3-2.

Sacha Guimond's one timer tied the game with 5:25 left in the period but the Thunder responded on Reed's second goal of the game. With less than 15 seconds left, Reed walked out to the right circle and fired a snap shot past Nelson's blocker for a 4-3 lead.

Bowers then netted his second goal of the game at the 9:57 mark of the third period on a wrist shot for a power play marker and 4-4 tie.

Matt Bergland was leveled by San Francisco's Trevor Hendrikx on an illegal check to the head at the opening shift of overtime and Hendrikx was handed a five minute major penalty. It didn't take long for the Thunder to end the game, when Levesque followed up on a rebound after Nelson stopped a point shot. Levesque slipped the rebound past Nelson's glove for the winner.

NOTES: The Thunder scratched Jesse Fratkin, Matt Reber, Rob Kwiet, Aaron Atwell, Marcus Mitchell, Hannes Oberdorfer, Ryan Fitzsimmons and Matt Pamidi ... the Thunder went 2-of-8 on the power play ... San Francisco led in shots, 47-39.

The Thunder returns to play in preseason action on Friday at Bakersfield, starting at 7:00 p.m.



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