Levesque's Three Point Effort Caps Morning Wire To Wire Victory

Published on November 15, 2011 under ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - Rookie center Gabriel Levesque scored two goals, added an assist and the Stockton Thunder (5-3-3, 13 points) never trailed, prevailing in a 4-2 victory over the Bakersfield Condors before a crowd of 6,145 at Rabobank Arena on Tuesday.

Starting at a rare 10:30 a.m. time (helping to accommodate local schools in attendance for an educational promotion), the Thunder gave head coach Matt Thomas a victory in his first meeting against counterpart Matt O'Dette, a former Thunder assistant coach and defenseman from 2008-11.

Goaltender Thomas Heemskerk, named runner up for the ECHL Goaltender of the Week award just minutes before the opening faceoff, improved to 5-0-0 with a 19 save performance. Bretton Cameron and Kevin Baker added goals for the Thunder, who ran their unbeaten streak to 4-0-2 in the last six games.

"Our effort was more thorough today," said Thunder head coach Matt Thomas. "We executed our game plan and managed to withhold Bakersfield's strong push in the second. Gabriel had a good game - the early goal and the third period goal off the great play by Garet Hunt set the tone for us offensively. Heemskerk did an outstanding job."

Levesque, whose three points set a career high, wasted little time getting the Thunder on the board. Just 1:06 into the game his wrist shot from the outside of the right circle beat former Thunder goaltender Bryan Pitton over the glove.

Cameron's power play goal with 38.4 seconds left in the period hiked the lead to 2-0 after he stashed a rebound at the goalmouth, following Pitton's stop on Levesque from between the circles.

Bakersfield broke through on Heemskerk, who turned away eight shots in the first period, with 4:13 left in the second on Peter Boyd's power play goal. The Condor forward skated to the left post and converted Ian McKenzie's feed from the right wing.

Levesque tipped in his second goal of the game to restore the two goal cushion with 12:23 left in regulation. Garet Hunt spun a wraparound attempt on Pitton and Levesque got his stick on the loose puck at the right goal post.

Less than four minutes later, former Thunder forward Jesse Gimblett cut the deficit back to a goal with 8:47 remaining. Gimblett glided to the right post and buried a bouncing puck into a half open net.

Pitton was pulled for an extra attacker and following a missed attempt by Matt Marquardt from the wing, Baker skated the rebound to the neutral zone and buried an empty net goal from the red line with a minute left in the game.

"We did a great job handing the early start time and our ability to stick to the game plan gave us every opportunity to win that type of a hockey game," said Thomas. "I couldn't be pretty. It needed to be a ‚¬Ëœchip away at it' type of effort and it needed to be a step by step process to play that type of hockey game."

Pitton, facing his former team for the first time since signing with Bakersfield in the previous offseason, took the loss with 27 saves.

NOTES: The Thunder scratched Jody Pederson (injured reserve), Brock Matheson (injured reserve), Jason Morgan (injured reserve), Jesse Fratkin (injured reserve), Ian O'Connor (healthy) and Colten Hayes (injured reserve) ‚¬Â¦ the Thunder owned the shots advantage for the whole game and outshot the Condors, 31-21 ‚¬Â¦ Hunt played in his 186th game in a Thunder uniform, tying Mark Adamek for the all-time team lead ‚¬Â¦ he is scheduled to break the record on Wednesday at Ontario ‚¬Â¦ Baker's goal broke a personal six game goal scoring drought ‚¬Â¦ the Thunder improved to 2-0-1 on their six game road trip.

The Thunder returns to play tomorrow at 7:00 p.m., visiting the Ontario Reign at Citizens Business Bank Arena. Radio coverage of the game will be available at 1280 KWSX. Online coverage is available for viewing (pay-per-view video charge) and listening (free of charge) at www.StocktonThunder.com, courtesy of AmericaOne.

A two-time recipient of the ECHL "Award of Excellence," Thunder was voted "Best Local Sports Team" by readers of the San Joaquin Magazine, led the ECHL in attendance for four consecutive seasons and drew over 200,000 fans for the sixth consecutive season in 2010-11. Season Tickets for 2011-12 are on sale now. For more information about tickets, merchandise, or other inquiries contact the Stockton Thunder offices at (209) 373-1500 or visit http://www.stocktonthunder.com/.

THREE STARS

1. STK - 12 Gabriel Levesque

2. BAK - 55 Jesse Gimblett

3. STK - 24 Garet Hunt

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



ECHL Stories from November 15, 2011


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.

OurSports Central