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Thunder comeback falls short in final game before holiday break

December 18, 2011 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


STOCKTON, Calif. - Chad Klassen recorded four points and his first career hat trick, enough to help the Idaho Steelheads defeat the Stockton Thunder (12-11-3, 27 points), 5-4, before 5,152 fans at Stockton Arena on Saturday night.

The loss put the Thunder in third place in the Pacific Division, in spite of a furious comeback attempt in the third period, a two goal effort from rookie Ryan Martindale and a four point eruption from defenseman Dan Ringwald, who made his return to the Thunder lineup just two hours after stepping off a flight from Oklahoma City.

Jerry Kuhn's 32 saves were enough for the win in net. Idaho broke a 3-3 tie with two goals in a span of 1:12 off deflections at the front of the net in the third period.

"I thought we worked real hard and should have earned a couple of more bounces," said Thunder head coach Matt Thomas. "Unfortunately that's the hard part of the game to take in with the bounces they got. The break comes for us at a good time and all in all, the effort was where it needed to be for us and the execution was strong. We just came up short."

Thomas Heemskerk took the loss with 21 saves.

Both teams battled through a scoreless tie in the first period with the best chance recorded by Jordan Fulton, who was stopped on a breakaway by Jerry Kuhn's glove.

A six goal onslaught by both teams began in the second period, including five tallies in a span of 6:08. Adam Maccarone snuck a slap shot off Heemskerk's blocker with 3:51 elapsed to put Idaho ahead, 1-0, followed up by Chad Klassen's backhander from the left circle for a power play goal and 2-0 lead at the 6:07 mark.

Foy's eighth goal of the season, coming on a breakaway following a saucer pass from Ian O'Connor, put the Thunder down 2-1 with 7:44 elapsed when he deked Kuhn successfully to the glove side.

Martindale then stashed a second chance rebound just 1:15 later for a power play goal to tie the game, 2-2.

The feverish pace continued and Idaho capitalized a minute later to restore their lead at 3-2 on Klassen's second goal of the game, converting a redirection over Heemskerk's glove.

Idaho fell into penalty trouble late in the period, giving the Thunder a 5-on-3 power play. Thomas capitalized by calling timeout when Martindale buried a loose puck from the base of the right circle with 7.3 seconds left in the period, leveling the game at 3-3.

Klassen recorded his hat trick with 12:42 left in regulation to restore the Steelheads lead when he deflected Derek LeBlanc's point shot past Heemskerk at the goal mouth. Adam Maccarone's second goal of the game stretched the lead to 5-3 when his drive from the blueline deflected into the net off the skate of Thunder defenseman Nathan Deck.

Ringwald boosted the Thunder back in the game on the team's third power play goal with 8:27 left when he finished a tape-to-tape, cross-ice feed at the right circle from Foy and beat Kuhn under the crossbar.

The Thunder continued to pursue the tie furiously and were robbed on a Ringwald snap shot from between the circle that Kuhn snared into his glove with less than four minutes left.

Kuhn helped seal the game with another glove save on Ringwald with less than a minute to play, preserving Idaho's win.

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