Sports stats



Stockton Thunder Vs. Idaho Steelheads

March 28, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


FACEOFF: 7:30 p.m. PT

RADIO: None

INTERNET: www.stocktonthunder.com (B2 Networks)

RECORDS:

Stockton Thunder (25-38-3, 53 pts) - T-3rd, Pacific/T-7th National

Idaho Steelheads (37-22-9, 78 pts) - T-2nd, West/T-4th National

2007-08 HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES

11/2/07 Idaho 0 at Stockton 4

11/3/07 Idaho 2 at Stockton 3

01/29/08 Stockton 1 at Idaho 4

01/30/08 Stockton 2 at Idaho 6

03/07/08 Idaho 2 at Stockton 3

03/19/08 Stockton 0 at Idaho 1

03/21/08 Stockton 2 at Idaho 3

03/22/08 Stockton 0 at Idaho 3

03/28/08 Idaho at Stockton

MILESTONE TRACKER

o Brian Lee is 1 game away from 200 in his professional career

o Brandon Schwartz is 1 point away from 100 in his ECHL career

o Tim Verbeek is 8 games away from 400 in his professional career

TONIGHT'S MATCHUP

The Thunder engages in the final regular season matchup against the Idaho Steelheads, carrying a record of 3-5-0 in the nine-game set. The home team has every game in the head-to-head series this year and the Thunder is 10-7-1 in the last two seasons against the Steelheads. Both teams previously met on Mar. 22 at Qwest Arena, with the Steelheads taking a 3-0 victory behind goaltender Matt Zaba's third shutout of the season.

TONIGHT'S GUEST

The Stockton Thunder welcomes staff from the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League to tonight's game, attended by Oilers development coach Bob Mancini.

LAST GAME RECAP

Wes Goldie's goal with 50.9 seconds remaining in regulation snapped a 6-6 tie and helped the Victoria Salmon Kings send the Stockton Thunder (25-38-3, 53 points) to a 7-6 defeat before a crowd of 5,836 at Stockton Arena on Wednesday night. The offensively-charged contest had the Thunder and Salmon Kings combining for 13 goals, tying the Thunder record for most goals in a game (combined with both teams), while Victoria all-star Ash Goldie had a career-high five points (3g-2a) and his fourth hat trick of the season, finishing one point shy of his six point effort at the 2008 ECHL All-Star Game at Stockton Arena. Five different Thunder had multi-point games.

FIRST THING'S FIRST

Of the 25 wins the Thunder has accumulated this season, 22 have come when the Thunder scores the first goal of the game. The Thunder is 22-12-1 when scoring the first goal of the game. Lance Monych leads the Thunder with seven "first goals."

CROWING OUT THE ECHL

The Thunder drew 5,836 in a Mar. 26 home game against the Victoria Salmon Kings to remain the league's leader in attendance with an average of 6,550 fans in 34 dates (222,711 total). The Thunder has three sellouts (9,737) this season, the most recent coming a Saturday, February 16 game against Alaska. The Thunder is vying to become the first team since 2004-05 to lead the ECHL in attendance for three straight seasons (Florida led the ECHL in attendance for five straight seasons). The Thunder drew 244,085 fans to Stockton Arena in 2006-07 and drew the fifth largest crowd in ECHL All-Star Game history on January 23 with a total of 7,455 fans.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

"When I was a player, I loved this time of year," Cichocki said. "There's pressure, but it can be a lot of fun, and we need to have fun with it and do what we have to do."

- Chris Cichocki, The Record, 3/26/08 on playing in games with playoff implications

SIR LANCE-A-LOT SETS THE PACE

Lance Monych's arrival to the Thunder roster already puts him atop the team's scoring lead with 46 points (27g-19a) and first in goal-scoring with 27 goals.

GOAL(TENDING) ORIENTED

Goaltender Tim Boron has provided some of the most prolific goaltending in the Thunder's three-year history, recently breaking the single-season club record with three shutouts and made a career-high 50 saves against Las Vegas in a 1-0 win at Stockton Arena on January 20. Boron is tied for second in the ECHL with three shutouts. Meanwhile, Thunder rookie netminder Glenn Fisher (on recall to Springfield of the AHL), a fifth round selection (148th overall) of the Edmonton Oilers in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, has parlayed his two best months of the season in February and March. Fisher had a season-best 2.52 goals-against-average and .933 save percentage in February and has a.908 save percentage in March.

IT AIN'T OVER TILL IT'S OVER ...

The Thunder has four wins this season when trailing after two periods, including three on home ice at Stockton Arena.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS - PENALTY SHOTS

Entering the 2007-08 season, the Thunder has made 1 penalty shot and missed 6 penalty shots, while opponents had made 0 penalty shots and missed 4 penalty shots.

ABOUT THE STEELHEADS

The Idaho Steelheads are the ECHL affiliate of the NHL's Dallas Stars and AHL's Iowa Stars and captured their second Kelly Cup championship in four seasons last year. Head Coach Derek Laxdal is back for his third season behind the Idaho bench, carrying a 174-104-25 lifetime coaching record with the Steelheads and Central Hockey League's Wichita Thunder. Laxdal has 67 games of NHL playing experience with the New York Islanders and Toronto Maple Leafs. Idaho returned 11 players from last year's Kelly Cup champion squad to the team's original roster this year and sent center Greg Rallo, veteran defenseman Darrell Hay and goaltender Kellen Briggs to Stockton for the 2008 ECHL All-Star Game.

2008 Playoff March Notes -

- The Thunder has 6 regular season games remaining.

- Stockton has regular season games remaining against the following teams:

● Idaho (1)

● Fresno (1)

● Victoria (1)

● Utah (3)

- The top eight teams in the National Conference will qualify for the 2008 Kelly Cup Playoffs and will be seeded by conference ranking (exception - division winners, who will be seeded #1 and #2) in the first round of the playoffs. The #1 seed will play #8, the #2 seed will play #7, the #3 seed will #6, and the #4 seed will play the #5 seed. First round winners will be reseeded again in the second round.

- If the Kelly Cup playoffs began today, the Thunder would face the Victoria Salmon Kings in the National Conference quarterfinal round.

- Currently, 64 points guarantees a playoff spot as the 9th place Bakersfield Condors can only amass 63 points this season.

- TIE-BREAKER: If two teams are tied at the end of the regular season, the following are the tie-breakers: wins, points (head-to-head), wins (head-to-head), goal differential (head-to-head), winning percentage within division (if in the same division), winning percentage within conference, goals for, goals against, and then coin toss.

- Last season, the Thunder clinched its first Kelly Cup Playoff berth in club history with the 5th seed and a 38-24-10 record (86 points)

• Discuss this story on the ECHL message board...

ECHL Stories from March 28, 2008


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