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Thunder Finish in Alaska at 4:00 p.m. PST

November 16, 2014 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


The Thunder complete their three-in-three series against the Alaska Aces today at a game set to start at 4:00 p.m. PST

Arena: Sullivan Arena

Date: Sunday, November 16

Time: 4:00 p.m. PST

Broadcast: ECHL.TV and Spreaker beginning at 3:45 p.m. PST

This Year's Record: Stockton is 1-3-0-0 vs. Alaska

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

Last Time Out

The Thunder got on the board first with another power-play goal in the first period. Ryan Constant shuffled the puck down the boards where Tyler Maxwell picked the puck up, skated into the left circle and put a low shot that Aces goaltender Niklas Lundstrom stopped but the rebound was picked up by Ryan Hayes who roofed the puck over the goalie and put the Thunder on the board.

In the second period the Thunder would get into some penalty trouble of their own as Tyler Shattock went to the box for kneeing and just 30 seconds later, Shawn Boutin boarded Jason Gregoire and headed to the box giving the Aces the two-man advantage. They would capitalize when Corey Syvret was able to blast one past Shane Owen and tie the game up with time left for the 5-on-4 power play.

The Thunder looked to be killing the advantage well but with Loic Leduc laying prone on the ice in an attempt to block the pass across, the puck deflected off of him and took a strange hop into the Thunder net giving the Aces the 2-1 lead.

After shooting eight pucks on Lundstrom in the first period, the Thunder were only able to muster seven shots the rest of the way giving them a total of just 15 shots, a season low. The Aces finished with 36 shots, meaning another great outing for Owen who stopped 34 of 36 but also another loss as the Thunder would fall by that 2-1 final.

Tonight

The Thunder hope their luck will change today with an afternoon matinee finale for the weekend series against the Aces. Alaska has won the last two meetings but the Thunder improved defensively last night. For today's game it's going to be the offense who will need to step up and help provide some "run support" for the goaltenders.

The Thunder now have two games left on this five-game road trip before heading back to Stockton for a season-long seven-game homestand.

Who to Watch

After being the healthy scratch in last night's contest, expect Roberts Lipsbergs to be back in the lineup tonight. Lipsbergs had a strong first game in Alaska and showed a lot of poise on the puck in his zone entries.

Lipsbergs is also someone who knows a thing or two about playing on international ice with vast experiences playing overseas in Latvia and in various international competitions with Latvia.

A tough record

The Thunder have not faired well against the Aces in their 79 all-time meetings. The Thunder have mustered a 29-39-11 all-time record against the Aces for a winning percentage of .437 in 10 seasons of playing the Aces.

The only Western Conference teams the Thunder have ever had more trouble with was the Fresno Falcons. In 35 games against the Falcons the Thunder went 9-20-6 for a winning percentage of .343.

Looking back on a year-to-year basis, the Thunder have only ever twice had winning records against the Aces. In the previous nine seasons, the Thunder had a winning record in 2008-09 when the team went 6-0-1 against Alaska (.929 winning percentage) and again in 2009-10 posting a 5-1-4 record (.700 winning percentage) against the Aces.

The Thunder went .500 against Alaska in 2007-08 and in 2011-12 but in the other five seasons the Thunder have been unable to post winning records. The Central California side may be 1-2-0 against the Aces currently but including tonight's game, the Thunder and Aces meet up 11 more times (six games in Stockton, five in Alaska) in the 2014-15 season.

Shane Owen Shines

Shane Owen returned to his normal, magnificent self after the goaltender was a brick wall against the Aces last night. The former goalie of the Aces stopped 34 of 36 against his former team and kept his new team in the game and gave them a chance to win. Despite the solid play, Owen picked up his fifth loss on the season.

Owen manned the pipes for the Aces in 2011-12 for two games, going 0-1-1 with a 2.93 goals-against-average and a .854 save-percentage. This season for the Thunder Owen has gone 3-5-0 for the Thunder and has registered a 3.56 goals-against-average and a .902 save-percentage.

Rough Road Ahead

The Thunder have now fallen in their last three games (Ontario, Alaska, Alaska) and have fallen in six straight road games. That matches the Thunders longest road losing streak in the history of the franchise that came back in the 2007-2008 season (the good news is though that the Thunder did make the playoffs that year).

The Thunder have two more road games including today before returning home for a seven-game homestand, which should be welcomed by the team. The Thunder host Bakersfield for three-straight before Utah visits at the end of November and then December begins with the Thunder taking on these Aces in Stockton Arena.

A couple fun promotions will occur during this homestand including Star Wars Night, Black Friday, 10th Anniversary Night and Hockey with Heart. For tickets or information visit StocktonThunder.com or call our Front Office at (209) 373-1500.

13 feet 4 inches

13 feet four inches is the difference between the width of the ice surface in Stockton and the rink here at Sullivan Arena.

The home rink for the Alaska Aces might sacrifice a foot and a half behind each net, but the width is what makes the home ice advantage so helpful for the Aces. With the added space of the international ice surface, it means more time and space for defenseman at the point to get shots off and of course more space for players to move laterally around the ice in attempts to evade would be defenseman.

Quotes

"We're going to have to come out flying, get pucks deep and we have to respond. We can't come here for this weekend and not get any points so I think today's game will be huge and we're going to have to show a lot of heart and hard work." - Shane Owen on how the team must respond today

"We have to be stronger, get more of an attack established and shoot more pucks to the net. We talked about that because when we did get pucks to the net, there usually was a rebound there for us. We just didn't get enough rubber at the net, so for us to have success today we have to do that more often and get the same quality goaltending we got last night from Shane. He was magnificent for us." - Coach Kromm on what the team has to do to beat Alaska today

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