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Thunder rally falls barely short in a wild five-goal third period

February 16, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


VICTORIA, British Columbia - The Victoria Salmon Kings used a rally of five unanswered goals to hold off a Stockton Thunder (21-16-9, 51 points) rally, as the Thunder fell to a 6-3 loss to Victoria before 3,869 at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre on Friday.

All-star rookie Troy Bodie gave the Thunder a 1-0 lead on his 18th goal of the year at the 11:12 mark of the first period, snapping a five-game goal-scoring drought. Bodie took a deflected pass from Nathan Martz, who was positioned at the right wing boards. Bodie corralled the puck in the slot and rifled a wrist shot past Victoria goaltender Julien Ellis' glove for the game's first goal.

Victoria quickly responded with two goals in a 13-second span, beginning with Paul Ballantyne's first goal of the year at 12:04, who threw a shot from the right corner off traffic that deflected past Thunder goaltender Devan Dubnyk.

On an ensuing end-zone faceoff, Gustav Engman gave the Salmon Kings a 2-1 advantage when his left point shot skipped off traffic past Dubnyk, re-directing past his blocker side at the last second.

The Thunder pressed in the second period on a multiple number of chances which included left wing Tim Sestito's wrap-around attempt that was robbed by Ellis, who was caught out of his crease.

Victoria capitalized with the only goal of the frame on Marc-Andre Bernier's 13th goal of the season at the 10:10 mark. After a point-blank save by Ellis, Victoria turned the play into a 2-on-1 chance which was finished by Bernier's wrist shot from the left circle that deflected off Dubnyk's left should and into the net.

Victoria took a commanding 5-1 lead on two power-play goals in 18 seconds from Wes Goldie and F.P. Guenette, which kick-started the Thunder rally. Mike Lalonde buried his 22nd goal of the season at the 7:01 mark to cut Victoria's lead at 5-2, netting a wrist shot from the left circle. Just 1:13 later, Jim Dahl scored his sixth goal of the season at the 8:24 mark, deflecting a wrist shot by Stephen Slonina past Ellis.

The Thunder had two power-play chances in attempts to tie the score, but Victoria killed both chances off. Kiel McLeod followed with an empty-net goal with 1:15 left to finish the score at 6-3.

Thunder goaltender Cam Ellsworth relieved Dubnyk after Guenette's third period goal and made eight saves in Dubnyk's place, with Dubnyk attending to an equipment check. Dubnyk made 23 saves in the contest, while Lalonde (1g-1a), Bodie (1g-1a) and Martz (two assists) led the Thunder offense with two points each.

Before the game, the Thunder activated rookie defenseman Eric Main off the three-day injured reserve list.

The Thunder returns to play with the final game of the week-long series at Victoria, beginning at 7:05 p.m. from Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre. The game can be heard live on the internet (free-of-charge) and is available for viewing for a $6 "pay-per-view" charge at www.stocktonthunder.com (courtesy of B2 Networks).

Thunder season tickets, mini-plans and individual tickets for the 2006-07 season are on sale now. For more information about tickets, merchandise, or other inquiries contact the Stockton Thunder offices at (209) 373-1500 or visit www.stocktonthunder.com.



ECHL Stories from February 16, 2007


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