Thunder rallies with Konkle's natural hat trick, Cameron's four-point game

January 13, 2011 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


STOCKTON, Calif. - Veteran forward Jarrett Konkle collected a natural hat trick in his home debut and rookie Bretton Cameron's career-high four points (1g-3a) boosted the Stockton Thunder (15-11-6, 36 points) in a third period rally, sinking the Bakersfield Condors, 5-3 before a crowd of 3,620 at Stockton Arena on Wednesday.

Konkle's hat trick, third in his career and the second natural hat trick in Thunder history (Chris D'Alvise, 2009-10), guided the Thunder to its third win in four games and fourth over the Condors at Stockton Arena this season. Jim McKenzie's go-ahead goal with 5:57 left in regulation stood as the game-winner, breaking a 3-3 tie.

‚¬Å“The thing about Jarrett is he can score highlight reel goals and gritty goals with his nose for the net, ‚¬Â said Thunder head coach Matt Thomas. ‚¬Å“We've obviously found some chemistry between him, Bretton and Bureau. I thought all three adjusted well. Bretton's confident, he's scoring goals and we need guys to do that. ‚¬Â

In total, the line combination of Konkle, Cameron and P.A. Bureau combined for eight points.

Back-to-back fights opened the first four seconds of the game, with Garet Hunt and Bakersfield's Pascal Morency trading haymakers followed by Jesse Gimblett and Erick Lizon dropping the mitts. But, back-to-back goals by Vyacheslav Trukhno and Pete Zingoni gave the Condors a 2-0 lead in the first period, beginning on a Trukhno wrist shot off the rush at 4:11 from the left circle.

Zingoni then buried a shorthanded goal off his backhand with 6:14 left in the period, outhustling two Thunder defensemen for the puck in the left corner, chasing down his own pass in the slot and beating Bryan Pitton to the blocker side.

Konkle then got the Thunder back in the game, trailing 2-1 and buried his first goal of the game on a rebound with 12:40 left in the second period, putting a wrist shot over Brian Stewart's glove after Konkle was denied on a one-timer, originally set up by Cameron.

Just 1:10 later, Konkle evaporated the Condors lead with his second goal of the game, finishing off Cameron's post-to-post feed with a wrist shot from inside of the right circle.

The 2-2 tie carried over into the final period and Stockton blitzed its way to its first lead of the game with 10:10 remaining. Konkle stepped forward for the hat trick goal, pushing a second-chance backhander through Stewart's five-hole after Cameron was stopped on a wrist shot from the right circle on a two-on-one break.

Just 17 seconds later on the ensuing shift, Brad Snetsinger's wrist shot from off the rush - between the hash marks - leveled the score, 3-3.

The Thunder came back to claim the lead again, 4-3 on McKenzie's fourth goal of the season, when he raced to the front of the net and finished off Fraser Clair's dish from the left circle.

‚¬Å“The best goal of the game was McKenzie's, ‚¬Â said Thomas. ‚¬Å“We certainly needed guys to step up. I challenged those guys right at the timeout and they go down the ice and score. ‚¬Â

After the Condors pulled Stewart for an extra attacker, Cameron hunted down a clearing pass at the right boards in the neutral zone, skated around Morency's diving poke check, and shoved a forehanded shot into the empty net with 1.6 seconds remaining.

Stewart fell to 0-2-0 since joining Bakersfield on loan from Adirondack of the American Hockey League, making 26 stops.

NOTES: The Thunder scratched Chase Ryan (healthy), Jordan Foreman (injured reserve), and Tyson Sexsmith (injured reserve) ‚¬Â¦ Konkle's hat trick was the 13th in Thunder history and third this season ‚¬Â¦ Stockton and Bakersfield finished tied in shots, 30-30 ‚¬Â¦ the Thunder went 1-of-5 on the power-play and blanked the Condors on an 0-for-7 clip, including a brief 17-second, two-man advantage in the second period ‚¬Â¦ Stockton improved to 4-2-2 over Bakersfield in the head-to-head series this season.

The Thunder heads back to the road for its next game on Friday, visiting the Utah Grizzlies at Maverik Center at 6:05 p.m. The game can be heard on radio at 1280 AM KWSX and viewed live on the internet (pay-per-view video charge) at www.StocktonThunder.com, courtesy of AmericaOne.

A two-time recipient of the ECHL ‚¬Å“Award of Excellence, ‚¬Â Thunder was voted "Best Local Sports Team" by readers of the San Joaquin Magazine, led the ECHL in attendance for four consecutive seasons and drew over 200,000 fans for the fifth consecutive season in 2009-10. Season Tickets, mini-plans and individual tickets for 2010-11 are on sale now. For more information about tickets, merchandise, or other inquiries contact the Stockton Thunder offices at (209) 373-1500 or visit http://www.stocktonthunder.com/.

THREE STARS:

1. STK - 71 Jarrett Konkle

2. STK - 11 Bretton Cameron

3. STK - 15 Jim McKenzie



ECHL Stories from January 13, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central