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Thunder, Wranglers Chase Pacific Division Leader Fresno

Published on November 6, 2006 under ECHL (ECHL) News Release


Fresno extended its winning streak to three games with back-to-back home wins against Phoenix and Long Beach. The Falcons are in first place in the Pacific Division and tied for second in the league with 12 points and a 6-1-0 record. Stockton (5-0-0) and Las Vegas (3-0-4) are tied for second with 10 points, one point ahead of Bakersfield (4-3-1).

Fresno travels to Victoria (2-4-1) for games on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Stockton will play its next six games on the road beginning Tuesday at Phoenix (3-5-0) followed by games at league leader Idaho (7-1-0) on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Las Vegas hosts Victoria on Tuesday and Phoenix on Friday before traveling to Bakersfield on Saturday and Long Beach (0-7-1) on Sunday. Bakersfield will host Long Beach on Friday and Las Vegas on Saturday.

Sitting atop the Pacific is a familiar position for the Falcons, who led the division wire-to-wire a year ago when they finished 43-15-14. Fresno reached 100 points for the first time ever and became the first ECHL team ever to not lose in regulation to a division opponent. The Falcons reached the Kelly Cup Playoffs for the first time last season and came within one goal of advancing to the Finals, losing in double overtime of Game 7 to eventual champion Alaska. Four-time ECHL All-Star Luke Curtin leads the Fresno offense with nine assists and 12 points and he is tied with teammate John Morlang for the league lead with two shorthand goals. Two-time ECHL Goaltender of the Year Scott Stirling is 4-0-0 with a goals-against average of 1.96 and a save percentage of .929 while Ryan MacDonald is 2-1-0 with a goals-against average of 2.60 and a save percentage of .927.

In its second season, Stockton is off to its best start at 5-0-0 after 3-2 wins against Long Beach on Friday and Phoenix on Saturday. The five consecutive wins and three consecutive home wins are both bests for the Thunder, who finished 18-40-14 in their inaugural season. Rookie Devan Dubnyk is 4-0-0 with a goals-against average of 1.96 and a save percentage of .948 while Cam Ellsworth is 1-0-0 with a goals-against average of 1.00 and a save percentage of .957.

Las Vegas had a record-setting year in 2005-06 when it finished second in the ECHL with 112 points and a 53-13-6 record a year ago, tying the league record for second-most wins and finishing with the third-highest point total in the league's 18-year history. Defenseman Scott Schoneck leads the Wranglers offense with six assists and seven points while Mike McKenna is 2-0-3 with a goals-against average of 2.07 and a save percentage of .921.

Bakersfield, which set 38 team records and advanced in the Kelly Cup Playoffs for the first time ever a year ago, has five points against defending ECHL champion Alaska, including going 1-0-1 on the road against the Aces. Andrew Ianiero leads the Condors with six assists and nine points while his three goals tie him for the team lead with Sean Venedam, Brett Lutes, Kevin St. Jacques and Alexandre Bolduc, who is on call up to Manitoba of the American Hockey League.



Steelheads Improve To ECHL-Leading 7-1-0

Led by goaltender Steve Silverthorn, Idaho swept its three-game home-opening series with Utah and the Steelheads sit atop the ECHL and the West Division with 14 points and a 7-1-0 record.

Idaho will remain home this weekend when it hosts Stockton, which is off to its best start ever at 5-0-0, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Steelheads are six points ahead of defending Kelly Cup champion Alaska (4-2-0) and eight points in front of Phoenix (3-5-0) and Utah (2-4-2).

After making 36 saves in regulation and two in overtime before stopping all three shootout attempts in a 6-5 win on Friday, Silverthorn had 19 saves in a 5-4 win on Saturday and 26 saves in a 4-1 win on Sunday. Named the RBC Financial Group ECHL Saver of the Month for October and under contract to Iowa of the American Hockey League, the 25-year-old is 7-0-0 and leads the league in wins, minutes (470) and saves (245) while he is tied for second in shutouts (1). Silverthorn, who attended the Dallas Stars Prospects Camp as well as training camp with Iowa before joining the Steelheads, leads the league in shootout percentage with 1.000 (7-for-7) and is tied for the lead with two shootout wins.

Derek Nesbitt leads the Steelheads with 11 points and three power-play goals while he is tied for the team lead with five goals and six assists in eight games. Marty Flichel is tied for the lead with five goals and tied for second with 10 points and two power-play goals while Lance Galbraith is tied for the lead with six assists and tied for second with 10 points and two power-play goals. Flichel has scored a goal in each of his last three games (3g) and has scored in all eight games (5g-5a), the longest steak in the ECHL, while Nesbitt has a five-game scoring streak (4g-5a) and Galbraith has a three-game scoring streak (3g-3a).



Bombers Have Sellout Of 9,989 For Home Opener

League Attendance Rises 6.8 Percent From 2005-06

The second-largest crowd in history in Dayton, a sellout in Gwinnett and over 15,000 for two nights in Stockton highlighted a weekend that saw the ECHL raise its average attendance to 4,484 per game, an increase of 6.8 percent from the first three weeks of 2005-06.

The last team to play its home opener, Dayton had a sellout crowd of 9,989, which is the largest crowd at the Nutter Center since a team record 10,057 on Jan. 23, 2004. Saturday marked the fourth time in history that Gwinnett has had a sold-out crowd of 11,355 and it raised the Gladiators average to 9,164 per game. The 25 home openers in the ECHL drew an average of 5,845 per game and included sellouts in Alaska, Charlotte, Dayton, Reading and 10,112 in South Carolina.

Stockton had its second crowd of more than 8,000 with 8,209 on Saturday and ranks third in the league with 7,964 per game. The Thunder is looking to lead the league in attendance again after averaging 6,343 per game and drawing 228,364 in their first year in 2005-06, the highest totals since 2001-02 when Florida led the league with 238,296 and 6,619.

Las Vegas drew more than 10,000 for its first two games and is seventh in the league with 5,491 per game while Idaho welcomed 12,649 for its first three home games for an average of 4,216 per game.

Looking to raise its attendance for the fourth straight year, Bakersfield had 6,730 on Saturday to raise its average to 6,026. The Condors average is up 7.5 percent from last season and has grown 33.5 percent from 2003-04 when they joined as an expansion team.

Charlotte is fifth in the league with 5,967 per game which is up two percent from last season when the Checkers raised average attendance by more than 15.5 percent.

The league has raised its average attendance each of the last three seasons and in 2005-06 averaged 4,372 per game, the largest per-game average since 1999-2000, as 13 of the 22 returning teams increased their average attendance.

Johnstown Rookies Leading First-Year Players

Johnstown has the top two rookie scorers and four of the Top 10 first-year offensive leaders are Chiefs.

The Chiefs, who are 4-5-0 and tied for fourth in the North Division, are the ECHL affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League and the Springfield Falcons of the American Hockey League.

Stanislav Lascek leads first-year players with nine assists and 11 points in eight games and Maxime Boisclair is second in the league with 10 points (3g-7a) in nine games. Gus Katsuras is tied for fifth with eight points (2g-6a) in seven games and P.J. Atherton is tied for second among rookies with eight assists while his eight points in nine games ties him for fifth.

Johnstown's Radek Smolenak, who was called up to Springfield on Thursday, is tied for 13th among rookies with six points (4g-2a) in six games.

Lascek and Smolenak are under NHL contract to Tampa Bay while Atherton and Boisclair are under AHL contract to Springfield. Lascek and Smolenak were both drafted by the Lightning in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft with Smolenak being chosen in the third round (73rd overall) and Lascek being selected in the fifth round (133rd overall). Atherton was selected in the sixth round (170th overall) by Tampa Bay in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.

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ECHL Stories from November 6, 2006


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