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Thunder pounce on Bulls early; Riendeau, Reber and Hunter combine for 9 points

January 19, 2013 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


STOCKTON, Calif. - Yannick Riendeau, Eric Hunter and Matt Reber racked up a combined nine points to lead a relentless Stockton Thunder (21-13-7, 49 points) offense, en route to a 5-2 victory over the San Francisco Bulls before 5,617 fans at Stockton Arena on Friday.

The Thunder, who won its second straight game over San Francisco and in the first meeting between the two teams in Stockton, improved to 12-4-2 on home ice.

"We were at home all week," said Thunder head coach Matt Thomas. "We were well-rested and we refocused. We were recharged. I think that had a lot to do with it."

Center Gabriel Levesque chipped in with two assists as well.

For the Thunder, goaltender Cody Reichard (10-4-4) made 25 stops. Taylor Nelson recorded just nine saves on 13 shots for the Bulls.

Riendeau made his presence known early. After Reber swung a pass into Hunter by the left post, Hunter slid the puck across goal to Riendeau. Riendeau touched it off into the net, giving the Thunder a 1-0 lead just 2:11 into the opening frame.

Just 23 seconds later, the Thunder capitalized on a power play. Right after the face off, Hunter found defenseman Mike Little between the circles. Little threaded a pass to Riendeau at the right post, and Riendeau did not miss, stashing the puck by Nelson. In less than 30 seconds, the Thunder had converted on their first two shots of the game and taken a 2-0 lead.

"Our first shift was really hard. We went hard on the puck," said Riendeau, "Reber made a great pass and I had an open net."

"The other one," Riendeau continued, "we went in and I just shot on net. When you shoot on net, good things happen. I have to do that more often."

That lead was cut in half at the 7:59 mark. This time, it was San Francisco converting on the power play, when former Thunder defenseman Rob Kwiet sent a cross-ice pass to Peter Sivak at the right post. Sivak's initial shot was saved by Reichard, but Sivak put away the rebound to make the score 2-1.

Near the end of the period, the Thunder used the same magic that scored the opening goal to find the back of the net again. This time, it was Reber who found a cutting Riendeau in front of goal, and Riendeau who swung the puck across goal to a waiting Hunter. Hunter buried the puck at the right post to put the Thunder up 3-1 18:22 into the first period.

The Thunder struck early in the second period as well. Levesque sent a pass into traffic between the circles. Defenseman Cameron Brodie got a poke on the puck, sending it bouncing towards goal. Forward Matt Ambroz won the race to the puck with Nelson, finishing with a juke to increase the Thunder lead to 4-1 just 1:06 into the second period.

That goal brought a change from the San Francisco bench, as Nelson was replaced by Bryan Hince.

The Bulls bounced back on another power play. Sivak found Rylan Galiardi behind the Thunder goal. Galiardi quickly sent the puck in front of goal to Dean Ouellet, who beat Reichard to reduce the Thunder lead to 4-2 with 10:55 gone by in the second period.

Reber brought the house down with a spectacular goal in the third period. Taking the puck at the blue line, Reber spun around one defender and took the puck to the left circle. Reber then cut back to goal and beat another defender, setting himself up with a one-on-one by the left post. Reber's shot flew by Hince's glove, sending the fans into a frenzy 6:34 into the final frame.

"I think the guys were excited to get them here," said Thomas, "We obviously haven't done that well against them in the Cow Palace. So it was important for us to feel like this is a place where we can beat them. That was one of our focuses going into the weekend, and we got off on the right foot."

Hince made 19 stops in relief.

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