Thunder's Valiant Effort Falls Just Short in Idaho 4-2

December 7, 2013 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


The Thunder battled hard in the middle contest against the Steelheads but Austin Fyten's hat trick would be enough to hand the Thunder their fourth straight regulation loss.

It was a slow start for the Thunder but a valiant comeback effort fell just short, as the Idaho Steelheads would hand the Thunder a 4-2 loss.

After being outshot 28 to 18 after 40 minutes played, the Thunder found their offense late in the game as they shot 15 on Idaho goalie Josh Robinson in their effort to erase a 3-1 deficit that Idaho built early in the game.

A big part of chipping away at the Idaho lead was goaltender Brad Phillips, who was getting his second start of the season and second start against the Steelheads. He was tested early in the first but had an answer for every Steelhead shot.

Then momentum and chances started to shift in the favor of Idaho and their efforts finally were able to beat Phillips as reigning CCM ECHL Player of the Month Mitch Wahl was able to slide a pass to the front of the net where Austin Fyten was able to get a stick on it and poke the puck through the Thunder netminder.

Idaho didn't have much time to celebrate as a bit of a donnybrook broke out as Ryan Constant mixed it up with Wahl. When cooler heads finally prevailed, it would be Constant on the receiving end of a slashing major and a minor roughing penalty while Wahl received only a two-minute rough.

The penalty time would expire in the second but just a short time afterwards Anthony Nigro found himself in front of the net all alone after a Thunder turnover behind the net. Nigro's shot beat Phillips and hit the post, but the rebound would come out to the right of the Thunder netminder and Wahl jumped on it for the 2-0 lead.

It'd then be Wahl again who continued to showcase his star power as he fired one on Phillips but yet another rebound benefitted the Steelheads and in particular, Fyten, who scored his second of the game just under two minutes after Wahl's goal.

"We definitely started tonight a little slow," explained Constant. "There was some talk by our Captain and from our other leaders and we knew we needed to put a better effort out there. There's no doubt we're in a rut right now, and the only way to get out of that is to work our butts off."

Credit the Thunder for battling back and credit the Thunder Captain Garet Hunt for continuing his hot streak as he received a pass from James Henry at the top of the circle and Hunt blasted a wrister past Robinson to pull the Thunder within two. Hunt, who has scored 3 goals in his last 4 games, is now tied with Brayden Irwin for the team lead in goals with 8.

"We came together as a group in the second half of that game," explained Hunt. "People started going in hard on the forecheck and it becomes contagious. I see guys like Mathieu Gagnon and Henry going in and hammering the body and I don't want to let them down. So we all just feed off each other."

As the Thunder began to pick up the pace at the tail end of the second period, they very nearly pulled within striking distance as Irwin drove to the net and put a backhand that was stopped by Robinson. The Idaho netminder thought he had the puck but it squirted back to Irwin who found Constant on the back door but it would be Tyler Elbrecht who did the "snow angel" in the crease with the netminder out of it. Elbrect's tremendous defensive effort kept two high quality Constant shots out of the net.

"We started to push and get our forecheck going and everybody started to contribute physically," said Head Coach Rich Kromm. "I think that play by Irwin was an illustration of what we need to do. He came in, drove wide and played it in front for a great opportunity to score. We need more of that."

Then the Thunder came back to life in the third period as they whipped 15 shots on Robinson. A great opportunity came about due to the work ethic of Gagnon. The Frenchman cut to the front of the net and put a hard, low shot on Robinson, and although the Idaho goaltender stopped the shot, he allowed a rebound that caromed to the far circle where Constant would jump on it and slap one past the netminder. It was Gagnon's first point of the season and first as a member of the Thunder.

The Thunder continued to put pressure on the Steelheads who seemed to be playing a much more defensive period. Idaho stymied the Thunder offense for the most part and when the defense didn't, their goaltender Robinson did. With Phillips out of the net in the dying seconds Idaho got a hold of the puck and fired it the length of the ice but it slowed before it could reach the icing line.

The Thunder picked the puck up and a desperation, home-run pass was read by Fyten who walked in and slid the puck in the empty net to complete the hat trick and seal the win for the Steelheads. The Thunder have now fallen in four-straight contest and are now winless in their last five. Despite the loss, Phillips turned aside 30 of 33 Idaho shots and while his team was outshot in the contest, it would only be by a single shot as the Thunder ended with 33.

"I'm definitely not happy with our performance tonight but it's a learning experience for our guys," said Hunt. "The way we played in the third period is how we want to play, but we didn't play a full 60 minutes tonight. A great part of the game of hockey is that we get to get right back at it again tomorrow night."

The Thunder will hope to do just as their Captain explained, forget about this game and focus on the next one tomorrow night against the Steelheads, again at 6:10 PST. The University Plaza Waterfront Hotel's watch party will kick off an hour before puck drop as the Thunder hope to put an end to this skid in their regular season finale in Boise, Idaho.



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