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Thunder Begin Homestand against Bakersfield

February 11, 2015 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


The Stockton Thunder host the Bakersfield Condors to kick off a tied season-long seven-game homestand tonight beginning at 7:30 p.m.

Arena: Stockton Arena

Date : Wednesday, February 11

Time : 7:30 p.m. Doors at 6:30 p.m.

Giveaway : Thunder Decals to the First 500 fans

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

This Year's Record : Stockton is 6-4-0-0 vs. Bakersfield

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

Voting Open for 2014-15 ECHL Fantasy Team

The ECHL is giving fans the opportunity to vote for players to comprise the 2014-15 Fantasy Team, of which, one player from each Member Team will be selected to wear a special ECHL Fantasy Team jersey at an upcoming home game.

The Thunder have preselected three players, Garet Hunt, Tyler Maxwell and Jack MacLellan to appear on the team's ballot while fans have the opportunity to also write-in a selection of their choice. The top vote-getter on the Thunder will wear a special fantasy team jersey on Saturday, March 14 when the Thunder play the Idaho Steelheads.

Voting is now open on ECHL.com . Fans are limited to one ballot during the voting period, which runs until 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday, Feb. 23. Fans can vote for up to one player on each ECHL Member Team's ballot before hitting the "Cast Vote" button at the bottom of the voting page. The results of the Fantasy Team voting will be announced the week of Feb. 23.

Last Time vs. Bakersfield

In Stockton's first game of 2015 on January 2, the Thunder and the Condors found themselves in an all-out goaltender battle, in which Kent Simpson and Ty Rimmer each made lighting the lamp no small task for their respective opponents.

Simpson stopped 27 shots and, as the old adage goes, was the team's best penalty killer, leading the Thunder to a perfect 5-for-5 record while shorthanded. Unfortunately, the defensive effort didn't lead to offensive success as the Thunder were shutout by Ty Rimmer and his 18 saves.

The shutout ended what was a ten-game point streak for former Thunder forward Peter Sivak. The Condors came away with a 2-0 win.

Tonight

The Thunder look to bounce back after a three-game road swing in Alaska that saw the visitors fall in all three games.

Despite the 0-3 record over the weekend, Stockton showed a lot of heart in the final period of Sunday's matchup as they scored 5 goals in the final 20 minutes and proved that they can score in bunches.

Stockton will need to carry the momentum they gathered during those final 20 minutes into tonight's contest with Bakersfield as the Thunder hit the ice at Stockton Arena for the first game of a seven-game home stand.

The Condors come into tonight's matchup with a 2-6-1-1 record in their last 10 games.

Who to Watch

Tonight will be Thunder fans' first opportunity to see one of the newest faces wearing the Thunder sweater as with Redwood City, California native Bryon Paulazzo making his Stockton Arena debut.

Paulazzo is a skilled forward with good hands and a nose for the net. He racked up 5 shots on net in three games versus Alaska and was buzzing around the offensive zone every chance he had. The California kid has to be excited for what is essentially a homecoming for him as he makes his first appearance as a professional hockey player back in his home state, an hour-and-a-half away from his home (pending California traffic of course) in the Bay Area.

We love the storyline of Paulazzo coming home to be the hero, in front of family and friends who will certainly be in attendance.

It makes it much easier to pick him as the man to watch tonight after the series he had in Alaska, finishing his checks, playing a hard-nosed style and creating scoring chances with his forechecking.

The Thunder will have three California bred men on the team today with Paulazzo (Redwood City), Tyler Maxwell (Manhattan Beach) and emergency backup goalie Dave Guy (Cupertino) on the roster.

All-Time Watch

We're monitoring the situation between Garet Hunt, Ryan Constant and Mike Lalonde as Lalonde's all-time lead in points could be in danger of falling to one of the Thunder's star players soon.

Lalonde's 156 career points is in jeopardy as Constant pulled ahead with 151 points with the Thunder while Hunt is right behind them both with 150.

That means Constant is just 5 points back of tying the record while Hunt is 6 points back of tying the record. Both players 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 57 markers, putting the Thunder captain 15 shy of tying the record.

My Cousin Vinny & the Tylers

The line of Vinny Scarsella, Tyler Maxwell and Tyler Shattock has been on a tear of late.

Despite the team's struggles in Alaska, the line managed to put up 4 goals and 7 assists in just three games and look to be Stockton's top line as far as offense is concerned.

Shattock, is a strong power forward. He's hard to move off the puck and forechecks as hard as anyone in the league.

Additionally, he has been distributing the puck very well as of late and has made numerous highlight-reel assists all season long.

Scarsella, can best be described as fast, faster and fastest. On top of his obvious ability to get up and down the ice, he has great puck moving skills and doesn't mind battling in front with guys twice his size.

Maxwell, is the reigning sniper of the Thunder and has led the team in goals for the majority of the season. He scored 3 of the 4 goals scored by his line in Alaska and has a team-leading 17 goals on the year. He has a knack for setting up in a scoring position and the accuracy to put the puck past the goalie from any angle.

If this line is able to continue firing on all cylinders, the Thunder will have no trouble putting points on the board.

Interesting Fact

Including tonight, there are only five games between ECHL rivals Stockton and Bakersfield. Tonight on home ice, once again at Stockton Arena on St. Patrick's Day and three games (two on the road) to end the season. Both teams will be heading to the AHL after this season with the Edmonton Oilers moving their AHL affiliate to Bakersfield and the Calgary Flames moving their AHL affiliate to Stockton.

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ECHL Stories from February 11, 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.

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