Salmon Kings halt Thunder record streak before 6,434 fans at Stockton Arena

Published on November 21, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


STOCKTON, Calif. ‚¬" David Shantz made 31 saves and the Victoria Salmon Kings scored three times in a span of 2:27 to send the Stockton Thunder to its first regulation loss since Oct. 15, 4-1, before 6,434 fans at Stockton Arena on Sunday.

The Thunder, who had its club record 12-game unbeaten streak in regulation snapped, got its only goal from Jason Pitton in the second period. Matt Siddall, Kiel McLeod and Ryan MacMurchy scored in the Victoria rally and added an insurance goal from Chad Painchaud.

"We're all down, but it's good because you hate losing," said Thunder head coach Matt Thomas. "Part of having the right kind of culture in our room is one where it's completely depressing when you lose a hockey game. We know what it feels like to win and we know how bad it feels to lose. I think the guys are certainly going to come out with a better effort on Wednesday."

Both teams battled through a scoreless tie in the first period, with Victoria's David Shantz providing a key save to keep the Thunder off the board. He stopped Chris Lawrence's deke to the backhand from between the hash marks with his blocker.

Victoria then put three goals up in a span of 2:29, beginning with a Matt Siddall rebound after goaltender Garrett Zemlak stopped P.J. Atherton's drive from the blueline, but had the puck slip behind him to a lurking Siddall with 3:49 into the second period.

Just 27 seconds later, Kiel McLeod buried a one-timer from the left circle on Milan Gajic's threaded pass from the right corner, boosting Victoria to a 2-0 lead.

MacMurchy, who played with the Thunder from 2007-09, boosted the lead to three goals with 12:43 left when he ripped a snap shot from the right wing, finishing Rick Cleaver's rinkwide pass while on the rush.

Pitton got the Thunder on the board, trailing 3-1 with 6:43 left in the second period. He set a screen nearby David Shantz, and caught a piece of Dan Ringwald's wrist shot from the top of the left circle that slipped past Shantz's glove.

Victoria put the game away after the Thunder failed to capitalize on a power-play early in the third and Chad Painchaud scored his fifth goal of the season with 4:37 left in regulation, burying a snap shot from the right circle.

Zemlak took his first regulation loss in a Thunder uniform, falling to 1-2-1 with 25 saves.

NOTES: Before the game, the Thunder released Marcus Watson from his amateur tryout agreement ... the Thunder scratched Chase Ryan (healthy), Tyson Sexsmith (injured reserve) and Craig Valette (injured reserve) ... Jesse Gimblett recorded four shots on goal in his first game back from a four-game suspension ... Garet Hunt, returning from a two-game suspension, put two shots on net ... the Thunder outshot Victoria, 32-29 and fell to 18-21-5 in the lifetime series ... the Thunder held its annual "Coats For Kids" drive, presented by News10 and AAA and collected over 1,000 coats for donation purposes ... the Thunder drew over 14,000 fans to Stockton Arena for back-to-back games against Idaho and Victoria.

The Thunder continues its five game homestand at Stockton Arena for its next game on Wednesday against the Las Vegas Wranglers at 7:00 p.m. The game can be heard and viewed live on the internet (pay-per-view video 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 fifth consecutive season in 2009-10. Season Tickets, mini-plans and individual tickets for 2010-11 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/.

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



ECHL Stories from November 21, 2010


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