Thunder vs. Grizzlies Preview

Published on April 4, 2008 under ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


FACEOFF: 6:05 p.m. PT RADIO: None INTERNET: www.stocktonthunder.com (B2 Networks)

RECORDS: Stockton Thunder (26-40-4, 56 pts) - 4th, Pacific/9th National Utah Grizzlies (31-29-10, 72 pts) - 4th, West/6th National

2007-08 HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES 11/24/07 Utah 8 at Stockton 3 11/28/07 Stockton 4 at Utah 3 (SO) 11/30/07 Stockton 2 at Utah 3 (SO) 12/01/07 Stockton 0 at Utah 4 02/06/08 Utah 6 at Stockton 4 02/29/08 Utah 3 at Stockton 1 04/03/08 Stockton 3 at Utah 5 04/04/08 Stockton at Utah 04/05/08 Stockton at Utah

MILESTONE TRACKER o Tim Verbeek is 4 games away from 400 in his professional career

TONIGHT'S MATCHUP The final two regular season games for the Thunder will take place at suburban Salt Lake City's E-Center, facing the Utah Grizzlies. The Thunder is 1-5-1 this season against Utah. The Kelly Cup Playoffs are still in the balance for the Thunder on the road trip, who are 1-2-1 this season at The E-Center and need a victory tonight to leapfrog the Phoenix RoadRunners into eighth place in the National Conference.

LAST GAME RECAP Ryan Kinasewich bookended a four-goal rally by the Utah Grizzlies in the final 24 minutes of play with a three-point effort (2g-1a), helping send the Thunder to a 5-3 loss before a crowd of 2,778 at The E-Center on Thursday night. Brian Lee, Tom Zanoski and Tim Verbeek each scored for the Thunder while goaltender Tim Boron made 42 saves in the losing cause.

FIRST THING'S FIRST Of the 26 wins the Thunder has accumulated this season, 23 have come when the Thunder scores the first goal of the game. The Thunder is 23-13-2 when scoring the first goal of the game. Lance Monych leads the Thunder with nine "first goals."

CROWING OUT THE ECHL The Thunder announced that last Saturday's home game against the Victoria Salmon Kings was officially a sellout, marking the fourth capacity crowd of 9,737 that the Thunder has drawn this year at Stockton Arena. The Thunder leads the ECHL in attendance and it is the second straight year the Thunder has surpassed the mark of 230,000 fans for one season. Saturday's crowd raised the Thunder's yearly attendance total to 239,337, an average of 6,648 fans per game. The Thunder is vying to become the first team since 2004-05 to lead the ECHL in attendance for three straight seasons (Florida led the ECHL in attendance for five straight seasons).

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING "When I was a player, I loved this time of year," Cichocki said. "There's pressure, but it can be a lot of fun, and we need to have fun with it and do what we have to do." - Chris Cichocki, The Record, 3/26/08 on playing in games with playoff implications

SIR LANCE-A-LOT SETS THE PACE Lance Monych's arrival to the Thunder roster has put him atop the team's scoring lead with 50 points (30g-20a), leading the team in goal-scoring with 30 goals. Monych is the first player in Thunder history to hit the 30-goal plateau.

GOAL(TENDING) ORIENTED Goaltender Tim Boron has provided some of the most prolific goaltending in the Thunder's three-year history, recently breaking the single-season club record with three shutouts and made a career-high 50 saves against Las Vegas in a 1-0 win at Stockton Arena on January 20. Boron is tied for third in the ECHL with three shutouts. Meanwhile, Thunder rookie netminder Glenn Fisher, a fifth round selection (148th overall) of the Edmonton Oilers in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, has parlayed his two best months of the season in February and March. Fisher had a season-best 2.52 goals-against-average and .933 save percentage in February and has a.908 save percentage in March.

HELP FROM ABOVE The Thunder were reassigned left wing Jacob Micflikier and defenseman Sebastien Bisaillon from the AHL's Springfield Falcons yesterday and are scheduled to make their return to the Thunder lineup tonight. Micflikier, recalled to Springfield in December, led the Thunder and ranking third among ECHL rookies in scoring with 33 points (10g-23a) in 27 games, garnering a selection to the National Conference roster of the 2008 ECHL All-Star Game. Bisaillon returns to the Thunder after a five-month absence, made his NHL debut last year with Edmonton and has four goals in five games with the Thunder this year.

HI, MY NAME IS ... The Thunder made two additions to its roster this week, claiming defenseman Joe Dustin off waivers from the Bakersfield Condors on Monday. Dustin made his debut in a Thunder uniform on Tuesday and has scored 27 points (7g-20a) in 58 games with the Condors earlier this season. Scheduled to make his professional debut tonight at Utah is left wing Luke Lynes, signed by the Thunder as a free agent today after a four-year junior hockey career with the Brampton Battalion (OHL). Lynes had Lynes had a career-high 65 points (34g-31a) and 34 goals in 68 games with Brampton in 2006-07, leading the team in scoring, goals and power-play goals (20).

IT AIN'T OVER TILL IT'S OVER ... The Thunder has five wins this season when trailing after two periods, including four on home ice at Stockton Arena. Below is a look at the Thunder comeback wins when trailing through 40 minutes:

DATE OPPONENT W/L/T SCORE AFTER 2 GWG 3/29 Victoria W, 3-2 (so) Trailed 1-2 (team - shootout) 3/7 Idaho W, 3-2 Trailed 1-2 Zanoski 11/28 @Utah W, 4-3 (so) Trailed 1-3 (team - shootout) 11/23 Alaska W, 4-3 Trailed 2-3 Micflikier 11/3 Idaho W, 3-2 Trailed 1-2 Schwartz

INSIDE THE NUMBERS - PENALTY SHOTS Entering the 2007-08 season, the Thunder has made 1 penalty shot and missed 6 penalty shots, while opponents had made 0 penalty shots and missed 4 penalty shots. Below is a look at Thunder and opposing penalty shots for this season:

PENALTY SHOTS BY THUNDER - REGULAR SEASON 0 MADE, 1 MISSED 1. MISSED - Tom Zanoski vs. Michael Mole vs. Utah 2/6/08

PENALTY SHOTS VS. THUNDER - REGULAR SEASON 2 MADE, 3 MISSED 1. MADE - Bo Cheesman vs. Glenn Fisher vs. Alaska 11/21/07 2. MISSED - Gino Guyer vs. Tim Boron vs. Phoenix 1/26/08 3. MISSED - Lance Galbraith vs. Glenn Fisher vs. Idaho 3/7/08 4. MADE - Lance Galbraith vs. Glenn Fisher at Idaho 3/22/08 5. MISSED - Olivier Labelle vs. Tim Boron at Utah 4/3/08

ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES The Utah Grizzlies are the ECHL affiliate of the NHL's New York Islanders and the AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers and are in their third season of ECHL play. Jason Christie is in his third season as head coach for the Grizzlies and has been with the team since their inception into ECHL. Prior to joining the Grizzlies, Christie played ten years professionally and coached Peoria Rivermen to the Kelly Cup Championship in the 1999-2000 campaign. Christie is the all time franchise leader for wins with Peoria. Utah did not qualify for the Kelly Cup Playoffs last season, tallying a 22-42-8 record (52 points).

PLAYOFF NOTES

ECHL NATIONAL CONFERENCE PLAYOFF STANDINGS (Top-8 qualify for Kelly Cup playoffs)

Rank National GP W L OTL SOL PTS PCT GF GA STK P10 PIM 1 y Las Vegas Wranglers (DL) 70 46 12 5 7 104 0.743 237 170 5-0-0-0 9-1-0-0 1410 2 x Fresno Falcons 70 42 20 4 4 92 0.657 240 209 3-0-0-0 6-4-0-0 1532 3 x Alaska Aces (DL) 70 41 24 4 1 87 0.621 244 223 1-0-0-0 7-3-0-0 1280 4 x Victoria Salmon Kings 70 40 23 4 3 87 0.621 250 238 0-2-1-1 4-4-1-1 1150 5 x Idaho Steelheads 70 38 22 5 5 86 0.614 217 181 4-0-0-1 5-4-0-1 1453 6 x Utah Grizzlies 70 31 29 2 8 72 0.514 230 250 1-0-0-0 1-6-1-2 1523 7 Bakersfield Condors 71 25 37 2 7 59 0.415 224 277 0-1-0-0 6-4-0-0 1760 8 Phoenix RoadRunners 71 24 38 5 4 57 0.401 205 261 1-0-0-0 4-5-0-1 1541 9 Stockton Thunder 70 26 40 2 2 56 0.400 191 241 0-1-0-1 2-7-0-1 1422

x = Teams who have clinched a playoff spot. y = Teams who have clinched the division title DL = DIVISION LEADER

2008 Playoff March Notes - - The Thunder has 2 regular season games remaining. - Stockton has regular season games remaining against the following teams: ● Utah (2)

- The top eight teams in the National Conference will qualify for the 2008 Kelly Cup Playoffs and will be seeded by conference ranking (exception - division winners, who will be seeded #1 and #2) in the first round of the playoffs. The #1 seed will play #8, the #2 seed will play #7, the #3 seed will #6, and the #4 seed will play the #5 seed. First round winners will be reseeded again in the second round.

- Currently, 60 points guarantees a playoff spot as the 8th place Phoenix RoadRunners can only amass 59 points this season.

- TIE-BREAKER: If two teams are tied at the end of the regular season, the following are the tie-breakers: wins, points (head-to-head), wins (head-to-head), goal differential (head-to-head), winning percentage within division (if in the same division), winning percentage within conference, goals for, goals against, and then coin toss. - Last season, the Thunder clinched its first Kelly Cup Playoff berth in club history with the 5th seed and a 38-24-10 record (86 points)

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