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Thunder boasts record offense for 6,750 fans at Stockton Arena

December 11, 2011 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


STOCKTON, Calif. - Kevin Baker collected his first hat trick in a Stockton Thunder (12-8-3, 27 points) uniform and the Thunder broke a pair of offensive records, winning in a 9-6 rout of the division rival Bakersfield Condors before a crowd of 6,750 fans at Stockton Arena on Saturday night.

The Thunder, who completed the feat with just eight true forwards in the lineup and buoyed by eight defensemen to compensate for the loss of Cameron Abney and Ryan Martindale to the AHL earlier in the day, reached a new franchise pinnacle for most goals in one game (9) and combined with the Condors to score 15 goals, breaking the previous mark of 13 set on three previous occasions.

Ten different Thunder players enjoyed multi point games and goaltender Thomas Heemskerk earned 28 saves "" many on quality scoring chances "" en route to the win.

"We needed that type of a game," said Thunder head coach Matt Thomas. "It's never fun for the goaltender to have to face what he had to face, but we needed to score some goals and tonight the puck was going in. We look for Kevin to score goals and it was nice to see him lead the way offensively. We had a lot of guys contribute on the scoresheet tonight. I think that was important for us, as well."

The Thunder never trailed in the game, allowed Bakersfield to reach no closer to two goals in the final two periods and chased their former goaltender, Bryan Pitton, in the second period with six goals on 24 shots. It was his first return to Stockton Arena since signing with Bakersfield as a free agent in the offseason.

Jordan Fulton finished off a second chance rebound by Nathan Deck at the goalmouth just 4:18 into the game for a 1-0 Thunder lead.

Matt Foy then took a feed by Deck and cranked a slap shot past Pitton from the left circle for a power play goal and a 2-0 advantage with 8:17 left in the period.

Bakersfield cut the two goal lead in half on Ian McKenzie's second goal of the season, stashing a rebound past Heemskerk from the right circle at the 16:03 mark.

The Thunder promptly went to work in the second period, combining with Bakersfield for a nine goal slugfest and earning a season best five goals in the period.

Baker and Garet Hunt scored just 19 seconds apart early in the second period to push the Thunder out to their biggest lead of the game at 4-1, beginning 50 seconds in with Baker's 2-on-1 finish at the right circle on a cross-ice pass from Jordan Foreman.

Hunt then caught Pitton out of his net on a dump-in and tucked away his third goal of the season for a 4-1 lead.

Robbie Dee got Bakersfield back to within a pair of goals with 6:29 elapsed on a shorthanded goal, converting a backhander over Heemskerk's glove.

Bretton Cameron and Ian O'Connor turned the tide around again with back to back goals in a 34 second span for a 6-2 Thunder lead that chased Pitton from the game for Matt Keetley.

Cameron's sixth goal of the year at 7:30 on the power play was finished off a rebound produced from a Mike Little slapshot from the mid-slot and O'Connor followed with a slapshot from off the rush that found the back of the net from the right circle.

At 10:23 of the period, Bakersfield's Scott Freeman cut the deficit to 6-3 on the second shorthanded goal of the game and Baker helped the Thunder respond 1:54 later for his second goal of the game, converting a backdoor feed by Foreman at the right post.

The Condors came back with a pair of goals late in the period to cut the Thunder lead to 7-5 on a Jesse Gimblett power play goal at 13:16 and Freeman's second goal of the game "" a rebound at the left post "" with 3:23 left in the period.

Little boosted the Thunder to an 8-5 lead on his second goal of the season, finishing a one timer in the slot from a Colten Hayes feed with 1:56 elapsed in the final period.

Matthew Sisca, who led the Bakersfield offense with a four point game (1g-3a), stashed his eighth goal of the season and Bakersfield's third shorthanded goal of the game at the 5:24 mark.

The Thunder were able to manage the puck for the remainder of the game and sprung Baker away from the defensive zone with 40.3 seconds left with an empty net goal, completing the hat trick and helping fans celebrate the new record with hats that were thrown onto the ice.

Keetley, who was in net for the game winning goal, took the loss with 12 saves.

NOTES: Before the game, defenseman Brock Matheson was activated off injured reserve ... scratched for the game were Gabriel Levesque (injured reserve) and Jason Morgan (injured reserve) ... Foy's goal gave him his sixth point in four games ... Baker has five goals in the last three games ... both teams engaged in fisticuffs which included a near line brawl in the final 31 seconds of the game, combining for 124 penalty minutes ... Bakersfield enforcer Hans Benson earned an instigator in the scrum "" grounds for an automatic one game suspension by the ECHL (instigator in final five minutes or overtime) ... the Thunder improved to 3-0-0 in the head to head series.

The Thunder wraps up the three game weekend series tomorrow, aiming for a sweep against the Condors at 4:00 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/.

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