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Thunder in Southern California to Take on Reign

March 11, 2015 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


The Thunder meet the Ontario Reign tonight at Citizens Business Bank Arena starting at 7:00 p.m. to conclude their season high seven-game road trip

Arena: Citizens Business Bank Arena

Date: Wednesday, March 11

Time: 7:00 p.m.

Broadcast: ECHL.TV and Spreaker beginning at 6:45 p.m. PST

This Year's Record: Stockton is 0-5-0-0 vs. Ontario

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

An AHL Watch Party Reveal Tonight

Stockton hockey fans are encouraged to attend tonight's Thunder watch party at the University Plaza Waterfront Hotel for the reveal of the AHL's name and logo.

Come watch as the Thunder take on the Ontario Reign and learn more about the next chapter of hockey in the Central Valley. The reveal will take place during the first intermission and the winner of the Name the Team contest will be announced during the event.

The team will either be known as the Stockton Blaze, Stockton Inferno, Stockton Scorch, Stockton Heat or Stockton Fire.

Last Time vs. Ontario

The Thunder's second game of the new year happened to be the fifth game this season between the rivals.

Ontario opened the game with three goals in the first period including goals from Geoff Walker and Gasper Kopitar 26 seconds apart.

Walker added his second of the game before Joe Cannata and former Thunder goalie Shane Owen kept the teams off the scoresheet in the second. Ryan Hayes and James Henry scored power-play goals in the third to give the Thunder a chance but they were unable to tie in the 3-2 defeat.

Tonight

The Thunder take on the Ontario Reign to complete their season high seven-game road trip. The Thunder are looking for their first win over the Reign this season after falling in five previous contests, three in Stockton and two in Southern California.

Who to Watch

We'll go with Tyler Maxwell again for two big reasons.

First off, this is his neck of the woods. Maxwell's hometown of Manhattan Beach, California is just an hour away from Citizens Business Bank Arena which should mean a few friends and family members will be in the barn to watch tomorrow.

However Maxwell may not be playing the forward role he's been accustomed to as Coach Kromm has used him on defense for the last two games after injuries and call-ups have decimated the Thunder blueline.

After losing Austin Levi to a call-up the Thunder then lost Keith Seabrook to an AHL promotion and trade to the Rockford IceHogs. Then the Thunder lost Mario Larocque to injury and then Loic Leduc to another AHL call-up.

Maxwell has slotted well on the blueline, playing solid and smart defense that he has played a bit of while in Europe. Maxwell and the rest of the defense will have to be on their toes as they will be shorthanded when they face a tough Ontario team.

All-Time Watch

The scoring situation between Garet Hunt, Ryan Constant and Mike Lalonde is in danger of falling to one of the Thunder's star players very soon.

Lalonde's 156 career Thunder points is in jeopardy as Garet Hunt pulled within a point of the tying the record with 155 while Ryan Constant sits right behind him at 151.

Both Hunt and Constant have missed time due to injuries this season as Hunt missed 11 games while Constant was placed on Injured Reserve on December 14.

Hunt is the only one close to Lalonde's all-time record of 72 goals with his 61 markers, putting the Thunder captain 11 shy of tying the record.

We Haven't Seen You in awhile Friend

After playing each other a whopping 16 times last season (plus four more in the playoffs), the Thunder and Reign will play their sixth of eight season meetings.

The Reign have undergone a few big changes since the last time we met them at the beginning of January. Gone is power forward Geoff Walker and in came Robert Czarnik who came over from the Indy Fuel, however, Czarnik was traded earlier this morning to the Gwinnett Gladiators with Garry Nunn coming back the other way. Nunn has 44 points in 58 games with the Gladiators this year.

The Reign are without a few major players Joe Cannata has been on the IR since February 8 and tough guy Jeremy Yablonski and forward Gasper Kopitar join Cannata on the IR. Maxim Kitsyn was also recalled just days ago to the Manchester Monarchs.

All of the injuries and call-ups have taken a toll on the Reign as they've gone just 4-4-1-1 in their last 10 and currently hold just a 5 point advantage over the Utah Grizzlies for the third playoff spot. The Reign do have one additional game in hand against Utah after tonight's game against the Thunder is over.

From College to the Pros

After seeing Cody Reichard in three straight games, we saw former WHL and CIS goalie Lucas Gore get his first pro start on Saturday against the Steelheads.

Gore, the WHL record holder for most saves in a game with 77, just completed his career with the University of Regina and joined the team ahead of last Saturday's game.

Despite allowing 6 goals, Lucas Gore impressed in his first ever pro game against the Steelheads on Saturday. Gore stopped 33 shots and kept his team in it. His biggest save came after Alex Belzile's first period penalty ended and he was sprung on a breakaway. Gore stacked the pads to make the save.

Interesting Fact

Garet Hunt has only played two of the five previous games between these teams. He's scored 21 career points against Ontario in 62 games. He had 5 goals and 4 assists against Ontario last season.

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