Thunder falls shy despite two-goal effort by all-star MacMurchy

March 29, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


STOCKTON, Calif. - Aaron Gagnon's game-winning goal 5:10 into the third period snapped a 2-2 tie and helped the Idaho Steelheads send the Stockton Thunder (25-39-3, 53 points) to a 4-3 loss before a crowd of 6,889 at Stockton Arena on Friday night.

The loss puts the Thunder into an eighth place tie with the Phoenix RoadRunners in the National Conference for the final Kelly Cup Playoffs, who dropped a 3-2 loss to the Alaska Aces tonight.

The Steelheads scored first after a fast start by the Thunder, led by veteran Marty Flichel's 19th goal of the season at the 5:33 time mark, with the assist coming from Darrell Hay on Flichel's one-timer in the slot.. The score 1- 0 stuck until the start of the second period as Thunder goaltender Tim Boron made seven saves in the first period.

Tim Verbeek scored at the 2:08 mark of the second period to level the game at a 1-1 tie on his sixth goal of the year, converting a one-timer in the deep slot on a pass from behind the net by rookie Geoff Paukovich.

Momentum swung the other way with the Steelheads scoring two more times in the second period, putting Idaho ahead 3-1 with 10:20 into the second period on Mike Sullivan's 13th goal of the season on assists from Craig Cescon and Colin Sinclair. Sullivan scored on a one-timer inside of the left circle on Cescon's feed from the behind the goal line after the Thunder killed off an Idaho power-play.

The Thunder showed their resilience, making two scores of their own in the second period by all-star Ryan MacMurchy, his first one coming at the 12:28 time mark, with the assists going to Brandon Schwartz and Tom Zanoski. MacMurchy converted a one-timer in the mid-slot from Brandon Schwartz's blind pass from behind the net.

MacMurchy's second goal came at the 16:03 time mark, the Thunder's 14th shorthanded goal of the year, with the assists coming from Davis Rohlfs and Brian Lee to knot the score at 3-3 on a breakaway. MacMurchy took a feed from David Rohlfs at the defensive blueline and beat Idaho goaltender Steve Silverthorn to the blocker side.

The third period started on a high note for the Thunder but Gagnon converted the game-winner, his seventh goal of the year him to lift Idaho to a 4-3 lead at the third period's 5:10 time mark.

The Thunder had multiple chances to knot the score late in the game but were foiled on one final power-play.

Boron made 19 saves in spite of the loss, while Silverthorn countered with 15 saves for Idaho.

NOTES: The Thunder missed the services of Les Reaney (healthy scratch), Phil Cole (injured reserve), Beau Geisler (injured reserve) and Ryan Geris (injured reserve) ... the Thunder fell to a final 3-6-0 mark in the season series against Idaho and held the Steelheads to an 0-for-4 mark on the power-play ... Schwartz's assist on MacMurchy's first goal of the game was his 100th point in his professional career.

The Thunder returns to play on Saturday against the Victoria Salmon Kings for the regular season home finale, starting at 7:30 p.m. from Stockton Arena. The game can be heard live on radio at 1420 KSTN and online at http://www.stocktonthunder.com/, courtesy of B2 Networks.

The Thunder has led the ECHL in attendance for two consecutive seasons and drew 244,085 fans to the Stockton Arena in 2006-07. Season tickets, group tickets and individual tickets for 2007-08 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 March 29, 2008


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