Thunder completes wild rally in home opener

October 29, 2006 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


STOCKTON, Calif - Brendon Hodge's goal in the 13th shootout round propelled the Stockton Thunder (3-0-0, 6 points) to a 4-3 victory over the Long Beach Ice Dogs before 8,747 fans in the Thunder's home-opener at Stockton Arena on Saturday night.

Thunder forward Nathan Martz completed a dramatic third period comeback by re-directing a Beau Geisler shot past Ice Dogs goaltender Mike Brown with 34.1 seconds remaining in regulation time to tie the game at three. It was Martz's second goal of the game, and third goal on the season. Geisler tallied two assists on the night.

Long Beach managed to settle down the boisterous Thunder fans early on, opening the scoring at 2:36 of the first period when Ice Dogs left-winger T.J. Trevelyan beat Thunder goaltender Devan Dubnyk short-side to give Long Beach a 1-0 lead on the power-play. Martz responded for Stockton at the 14:48 mark, capitalizing on a power-play opportunity with a seeing-eye slap shot marker from the left face-off circle to level the score thru 20 minutes of play.

The two clubs traded goals in a physical second period that featured a myriad of minor penalties. After Ice Dogs captain Alex Kim gave Long Beach a 2-1 lead just shy of the half-way mark, Thunder defenseman Eric Main notched his first career ECHL goal to tie the score at two.

An unfortunate bounce off the hind boards with seven minutes remaining in the third period allowed Ice Dogs center Ash Goldie to score the go-ahead goal, and put the Ice Dogs ahead 3-2. The Thunder, however, managed to capitalize on some late Ice Dog penalty trouble, and complete the come-from-behind victory, capped by the Martz equalizer, and the Hodge shootout winner.

Dubnyk finished the night with 25 saves in net for Stockton to push his record to 2-0-0 for the season.

The Thunder faces another rematch with the Ice Dogs on Friday, November 3, at 7:30 p.m. at Stockton Arena. The game can be heard live (free-of-charge) and is available for viewing for a $6 "pay-per-view" rate on www.stocktonthunder.com, courtesy of B2 Networks.

Thunder season tickets, mini-plans and individual tickets for the 2006-07 season are on sale now. For more information about tickets, merchandise, or other inquiries contact the Stockton Thunder offices at (209) 373-1500 or visit www.stocktonthunder.com.



ECHL Stories from October 29, 2006


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