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Thunder Look for Revenge against Idaho

December 19, 2014 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


The Thunder host the first placed Idaho Steelheads tonight at Stockton Arena looking to take down the Steelheads for the first time this season.

Arena: Stockton Arena

Date: Friday, December 19

Time: 7:30 p.m. (Doors at 6:30 p.m.)

Giveaway: 10th Anniversary Jersey Magnets to the first 500 fans

Broadcast: ECHL.TV and Spreaker beginning at 7:15 p.m. PST

This Year's Record: Stockton is 0-3-0-0 against Idaho

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

WE PAINT the Ice Night Coming Soon!

The Thunder will invite fans to paint the Stockton Arena ice surface after the game on Tuesday, December 30. Get your tickets now and get to the Arena early to sign up to paint! We will allow one parent or guardian out on the ice with their children. Adults won't be allowed to paint the ice on their own so if you want to try and sign up to paint, find a niece, nephew, grandkid, neighbor, etc... and bring them to the game! Need tickets? Check out our holiday plans, including a specific Paint the Ice plan featuring two Upper Premium tickets and a replica jersey or bobblehead for $39 !

Last Time Out

The Thunder got some good news with Lukas Sutter making his way from the broadcast booth as a color commentator the games on December 12 and 13, and back onto the ice but did get some bad news with Ryan Constant, Shawn Boutin and Sebastian Collberg ruled out before the game started, meaning the Thunder would dress a man short. The Eagles stormed out again to a big lead and in the second James Henry brought the Thunder to within two when he scored a power-play goal.

Minutes later Sutter would make an early exit in his second game against the Eagles aft er the official gave him a game misconduct. In total, Sutter picked up 34 PIMS which ties the all-time game high by Garet Hunt made in January 2009. The Eagles would go on to win 7-1. Jack MacLellan's eight-game point streak came to an end. During his streak he had scored 5 goals and 7 assists.

Tonight

The Thunder have their eyes set on some revenge as the team hosts the Idaho Steelheads for the first time this season. The Steelheads, who are tops in the Pacific Division with a 16-8-2 record. After a big Military Appreciation win against the Aces the Thunder set out for Idaho in three games in four nights situation. The first game resulted in the first shutout of the season, but unfortunately it was a former Thunder goalie picking up the shutout as Olivier Roy got the 3-0 win. The game on Halloween was one the Thunder may have felt they should have won but their comeback was thwarted by the Steelheads. The team lost Peter Sivak to the AHL then and lost Mike Pereira to injury. The following game saw the team lose their captain to injury and then lost Loic Leduc to a long 10 minute penalty in another Idaho win. It's time for the Thunder to reverse the tide against the Steelheads tonight.

Who to Watch

There is certainly going to be a lot of pressure on a guy like Keith Seabrook to shoulder some big minutes and important production now that Ryan Constant has been placed on injured reserve.

Seabrook is now the defenseman who has the most offensive production as he has 5 goals and 5 assists in 22 games played. He has tremendous force when he shoots the puck and certainly his passes are very hard and tend to be tape-to-tape, however he won't just be counted on to help quarterback the power play or to produce offensively, but develop into a shutdown defenseman who rarely makes any mistakes while Constant is on the shelf.

Look to Seabrook tonight as his role, which is already large as the #2 defenseman on the team, is about to increase as Coach Kromm looks to him to shoulder the load.

Returning to Stockton

The man that Thunder fans grew very fond of from Nijmegen, Netherlands is poised to make his return to Stockton Arena this weekend.

Mike Dalhuisen, who was signed by the Texas Stars in the AHL, is currently down in the ECHL with the Steelheads and could play this weekend in front of a crowd who enjoyed not only his brand of hockey but also his demeanor around fans. Dalhuisen earned a reputation as a tough defenseman who could also produce with his booming slap shot last year, earning immediate respect from fans with a Gordie Howe hat trick in his first game with the team. He ended up with 16 points in 32 games played with the Thunder before the Bridgeport Sound Tigers traded him to the San Antonio Rampage. The Nijmegen, Netherlands native was assigned to the Cincinnati Cyclones and played in their Kelly Cup Final run.

Dalhuisen is pointless in 5 games this season for Idaho but has 21 PIMS.

Another player Thunder fans loved while he was here will play his first game back in this building since Game 4 of the Kelly Cup Finals against Reading in 2013. Olivier Roy is set to make his return to Stockton Arena tonight, and judging by the season he's having, one could assume Roy gets the start.

The man that backstopped the Thunder through the team's best season in the history of the franchise is playing in his first season with the Idaho Steelheads and is 13-5-0-1 with one shutout coming against his former team. He has a 2.39 goals-against-average this season to go with his .910 save percentage.

The last time Roy played in Stockton he was injured in a collision and was replaced by Tyler Bunz, however he went 12-7 and recorded a 2.81 goals-against-average and .911 save-percentage in 22 appearances in the 2013 Kelly Cup Playoffs.

He was traded last year in an NHL trade from the Edmonton organization to the Calgary organization. That trade landed the Flames Ladislav Smid and Roy (who would help Alaska win a Kelly Cup last season) and put Laurent Brossoit in Bakersfield.

All-Time Watch

We're monitoring the situation between Garet Hunt, Ryan Constant and Mike Lalonde as Lalonde's all-time lead in points could be in danger of falling to one of the Thunder's star players soon.

Lalonde's 156 career points is in jeopardy as Constant pulled ahead with 151 points with the Thunder while Hunt is right behind them both with 145.

That means Constant is just 5 points back of tying the record while Hunt is 11 points back of tying the record. Both players 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 54 markers, putting the Thunder captain 18 shy of tying the record.

Streaks on the Line tonight

Ryan Hayes is on a five-game point streak (3G, 2A)

Sebastian Collberg is on a four-game point streak (3G, 3A).

James Henry is on a three-game point streak (1G, 4A)

Interesting Note

Ryan Hayes has now pulled ahead of Steve Slonina for 17th on the Thunder's all-time points list. Hayes' 61 points in 69 regular season games is just 11 points away from cracking the top 10 on the team's all-time list.

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