Thunder Back at Home to Face Idaho

Published on March 13, 2015 under ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


Fresh off of a season-high seven-game road trip, the Stockton Thunder are back at Stockton Arena tonight at 7:30 p.m. to open up a three-in-three against the Idaho Steelheads

Arena: Stockton Arena

Date: Friday, March 13

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Giveaway: Garet Hunt Pin to the first 500 fans

Broadcast: ECHL.TV and Spreaker beginning at 7:15 p.m. PST

This Year's Record: Stockton is 2-10-0-0 vs. Idaho

Follow the Thunder Facebook Page for occasional updates or follow @StocktonThunder on Twitter for the play-by-play tweeting!

Heat Rises in Fall 2015

During the first intermission of Wednesday's watch party, Team President Dave Piecuch and Mayor Anthony Silva revealed that the Stockton AHL team will be known as the Stockton Heat.

The Heat name was selected over the Blaze, Scorch, Inferno and Fire after fans stuffed the boxes with names related to the parent club in Calgary.

Deposits are being taken now for the first season of AHL hockey! For just $50 per seat, you can reserve your spot as the new team kicks off play for the 2015-16 AHL season. Call 209-373-1500 or visit StocktonThunder.com/ahl!

Last Time vs. Idaho

Idaho came out and got on top of the Thunder early in the contest when Alex Belzile got a power-play goal past Lucas Gore who was making his debut.

Devin DiDiomete followed suit moments later before Adam Phillips wired a slapper past Chris Rawlings to pull the Thunder within one. However the Steelheads would get four goals in the third period to take down the Thunder 6-2.

Klarc Wilson was the only other goal scorer for the Thunder.

Tonight

After a season-high seven-game road trip, the Thunder return back to Stockton as the team hosts the Idaho Steelheads in the final three-in-three series between the teams. The Thunder are looking for some retribution after losing the past six games against the Steelheads including the three at Stockton Arena back on February 20, 21 and 22 and the three in Idaho last week.

Who to Watch

After scoring two in Ontario on Wednesday and playing in front of the home fans only on ECHL.TV, it's time for to watch Jack Combs play his first game for the Thunder at Stockton Arena.

Combs has been an absolute All-Star...literally and figuratively, this season. He ranks tied third in the ECHL with 64 points and is just one point behind Idaho's Wade MacLeod for second in the ECHL. He debuted for the Thunder back on February 25 and has two multi-point games with the team out of the 7 games he has played in the black and gold. His first multi-point effort was a four assist night in Utah on March 2 and his second was the two-goal performance on Wednesday.

He's currently been centering a line with Tyler Shattock and Vinny Scarsella but has played both center and winger. The home fans should be in for a real treat with Combs making his home debut tonight.

All-Time Watch

The scoring situation between Garet Hunt, Ryan Constant and Mike Lalonde is in danger of falling to one of the Thunder's star players very soon.

Lalonde's 156 career Thunder points is in jeopardy as Garet Hunt pulled within a point of the tying the record with 155 while Ryan Constant sits right behind him at 151.

Both Hunt and Constant have missed time due to injuries this season as Hunt missed 11 games while Constant was placed on Injured Reserve on December 14.

Hunt is the only one close to Lalonde's all-time record of 72 goals with his 61 markers, putting the Thunder captain 11 shy of tying the record.

Making a Debut

It's very possible that the Thunder fans will also get to see Lucas Gore sometime during this four-game homestand.

Gore, the WHL record holder for most saves in a game with 77, just completed his career with the University of Regina and joined the team ahead of last Saturday's game in Idaho.

Despite allowing 6 goals, Lucas Gore impressed in his first ever pro game against the Steelheads on Saturday. Gore stopped 33 shots and kept his team in it. His biggest save came after Alex Belzile's first period penalty ended and he was sprung on a breakaway. Gore stacked the pads to make the save.

Making a Debut....Part 2

After Lucas Gore made his debut against the Steelheads last Saturday, it would be defenseman Mike Busillo's turn on Wednesday as the big blueliner would suit up in his first ever pro game.

Busillo was a steady presence on the back end along with former college teammate Adam Phillips and fellow defenseman John Ryder, Brad Stebner and Tyler Maxwell. He finished his first pro game playing a lot and was the only Thunder player to finish better than even (+1). Busillo is the fourth UMass (Amherst) player on the team this season following Phillips, Mike Pereira and former Idaho defenseman Colin Shea.

Trade Deadline

The ECHL trade deadline came and went yesterday with the Thunder opting to not move any player. The Steelheads however were involved as they saw Troy Vance and Ludwig Karlsson get reassigned from the Steelheads to Texas and then immediately reassigned to the Missouri Mavericks. In return Idaho picked up defenseman Martin Lee who will be wearing 25 for the Steelheads today.

Lee, a graduate of Elmira College, turned pro in 2012-13 with the San Francisco Bulls. He would eventually find a home that season with the Utah Grizzlies, a team he played 68 games with last season. He ranked third among all ECHL defenseman in plus/minus in 2013-14.

Interesting Fact

Always a flare for the dramatic, Garet Hunt as we all know is one point away from tying the All-Time points record set by Mike Lalonde. While the Thunder captain spent the first nine games without a goal this season, the most games that Hunt has gone between goals has been 6 games (which has occurred twice). Judging by the pattern of how Garet has scored this season, he could be due very soon.

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



ECHL Stories from March 13, 2015


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