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Rancourt's first career hat trick victimizes Thunder in four goal setback

December 17, 2011 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


STOCKTON, Calif. - Marc Rancourt led an Idaho Steelheads team that was outshot, 40-28, with his first career hat trick en route to sending the Stockton Thunder (12-10-13, 27 points) to a 6-2 defeat at Stockton Arena on Friday night.

Rancourt scored twice in the third period to help put the game away and helped Jerry Kuhn pick up the win with 38 saves. The Thunder, who came within two shots of tying their season best and put 17 shots on net in the first period, were paced offensively with a goal and assist each from Ryan Martindale and Kevin Baker.

"We played pretty well in the first part of the game," said Thunder head coach Matt Thomas. "(Chad) Klassen's goal in the second period took some wind out of our sails. I thought we were ready to go in the third and then we get a breakaway goal against us. I haven't said it all year, and I thought our goaltending had an off night. They've performed above expectations all year and tonight we couldn't support them."

"You can overanalyze it to death. In reality, it should have been a game where we had control early on. It happens and that's what tomorrow is for."

Olivier Roy took the loss in net with 22 stops.

After the Thunder outshot Idaho, 15-4 in the opening 15 minutes and were stoned on three rebound chances by Kuhn in the middle of the period, Aaron Lewadniuk surprisingly cashed in with the first goal of the game with 2:36 left in the first period on a rebound at the goal mouth.

Just 29 seconds later, a wrist shot by Martindale found the back of the net for a power play goal and a 1-1 tie on a feed by Nathan Deck to the right circle.

Rancourt stashed a second chance rebound with eight minutes left in the second period after Chad Nehring missed a wrist shot off the post from the left wing.

The Thunder fell into penalty issues late in the period with a two-man disadvantage and after getting Brock Matheson out of the box, Chad Klassen stole a clearing pass and scored his ninth goal of the season with two seconds remaining in the period on a wrist shot from the right circle.

After the Thunder hemmed Idaho in the offensive zone to begin the third period, Derek LeBlanc responded on Idaho's first chance of the period and scored on a breakaway for a 4-1 edge with 2:10 elapsed.

From there, Rancourt collected his second goal of the game with 12:23 left in regulation on a rebound at the goal mouth for a power play marker. The Thunder finally recovered and Baker's 13th goal of the season cut the deficit to 5-2 with 7:06 remaining.

Rancourt converted the hat trick effort with 5:31 left in the game on another rebound over the glove of Roy.

NOTES: Scratched for the game were Gabriel Levesque (injured reserve), Sebastian Owuya (healthy), Cameron Brodie (healthy) and Jason Morgan (injured reserve) ... the Thunder went 1-of-2 on the power play and Idaho collected a 3-of-5 effort ... Baker's goal was his sixth in five games ... the Thunder eclipsed the 40 shot mark for the third time this season ... the loss ended a 5-0-0 winning streak for the Thunder in the head to head series, dating back to Jan. 30, 2011.

The Thunder returns to play tomorrow, hosting the Idaho Steelheads at 7:30 p.m. from Stockton Arena. 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. IDH - 35 Jerry Kuhn

2. STK - 7 Ryan Martindale

3. IDH - 15 Marc Rancourt

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