AHL Stockton Heat

Weekly News and Notes of the Stockton Heat

Published on January 18, 2016 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Stockton Heat News Release


News and Notes

Derek Grant is tied for third in the AHL with 17 goals with Lehigh Valley's Petr Straka, one behind Hershey's Chris Bourque for second and two behind Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's Scott Wilson for first (19)

Each of Wilson, Bourque and Straka have played at least six more games than Grant

Grant leads the league in shots with 117, a shot more than Albany's Reid Boucher

Grant's four-point night on Sunday in Iowa was the most points an individual player has posted this season

It was also the most points that Grant has put up in a single game in his career.

In total, Grant leads the Heat with nine multi-point games. The next closest is Kenny Agostino with seven

Stockton's Hunter Smith and Austin Carroll are tied for the third most major penalties in the league among rookies with six

All of Smith and Carroll's majors have been fighting majors

Speaking of Austin Carroll, he recorded his first game winning goal of his career on Sunday in Iowa.

Stockton averages the seventh most penalty minutes in the league with 16.18 minutes per game

The Heat have played the fewest number of home games in the league (14) however the Heat's next four games will take place at Stockton Arena

The Heat's longest home-stand this season is four games, which occurs three times

Stockton leads the AHL in shots per game with 35.09

Approaching Milestones

Kenny Agostino is a game away from playing in his 100th AHL game

Garnet Hathaway is 4 points away from 50 career AHL points

Colton Orr is 2 PIMS away from 600 in his AHL career. The forward has 1186 PIMS in the NHL

Heat captain Aaron Johnson is just 5 points away from 200 career AHL points

Bill Arnold is 10 games away from his 100th AHL game

Emile Poirier is 13 games away from his 100th career AHL game

Recently Accomplished Milestones

Turner Elson recorded his 50th career AHL point, an assist, on Wednesday at home against San Antonio. Elson added another assist in that game and scored on Sunday as well

Garnet Hathaway played in his 100th career AHL game on Wednesday against San Antonio

All the Talk About Grant

For much of this season, all the talk has been about forward Derek Grant for good reason.

Grant is pacing for a career year having scored 17 goals and adding 11 assists (28 points) in just 24 games played.

He was the first goal scorer in team history, he was the first All-Star in team history, and was the third player ever called up to the Calgary Flames and second ever Heat player to play with the big club.

Not only does Grant lead the team in goals (17) and points (28), and of course rank among the league leaders in goals, Grant has also established a few team records over the course of the season. They are simply too many to list in paragraph form:

Derek Grant is one of the eight players that have scored 2 goals in a single game. He's also the only player to do it more than once (5)

Grant's 3 assists on January 17 in Iowa ties him for the most assists in a single game. It's been accomplished three times.

Grant's four points on Sunday in Iowa is also the most points a player has recorded in a single game

Derek also has the most shots attempted in a single game with 13 on January 2 vs. Texas

Grant's three game winning goals is the most by a single Heat player unless you include shootout game winners. If you were to include those, he and Freddie Hamilton would be tied with three game winners

Don't forget that Derek Grant also has the longest point streak in team history as he's scored points in seven straight games (6-7-13) from December 31 to the present. Not only is it a team-best, but it's also a personal long. His previous best was five games.

Klimchuk's Confidence Growing

After going a lengthier time without notching his first pro point, Morgan Klimchuk has really come into his own recently, and this past week was a particularly good week for the rookie.

The Flames first round, 28th overall pick in 2013 picked up a goal on Wednesday and an assist on Sunday, bringing his season totals to 3 goals and 3 assists for 6 points, all of which have been picked up in the last 12 games he's played.

Most importantly, Klimchuk proved to himself that he doesn't have to be at the SAP Center to score as his first 4 points all came against the San Jose Barracuda on the road.

However the Regina, Saskatchewan native put up a goal against San Antonio at home on Wednesday and added an assist on Sunday in Iowa.

While the junior standout wants to go back to what he's done best throughout his junior career, scoring, he's also brought a level of trust with his two-way play to the table, being relied heavily upon as one of the Heat's top penalty killers and defensively responsible forwards.

Rising Up the Goalie Leaderboard

Seeing the Heat play against Leland Irving on Sunday, who happens to be the Calgary Flames Top Affiliate leader in wins (among the Flames CHL, IHL and AHL affiliates from 1980 to present) with 93 got us thinking about goaltender Joni Ortio.

Ortio has played parts of five seasons for the Flames top affiliate, suiting up for the Abbotsford Heat, the Adirondack Flames and now the Stockton Heat so it was not inconceivable that Ortio would be around the leaderboard for wins during his terrific AHL career.

He started this season ranking ninth all-time with 49 wins, but after earning eight with Stockton, Ortio has surpassed Jean-Sebastian Giguere (51) for sole possession of eighth all-time. That's not the only big name that Ortio could surpass soon as he's one win away from tying Dwayne Roloson for seventh all-time (58) and seven wins back of Curtis McElhinney for sixth all-time.

Ortio has also played in 101 games for the Flames top affiliate which puts him 10th all time, eight in front of former Stanley Cup Champion Mike Vernon who helped the Flames capture the Stanley Cup in 1989. The Finnish netminder is also 10 games away from Giguere for ninth all-time and 11 games away from Levente Szuper for eighth all-time.

The goalie on top of the games played list is Marc D'Amour who has played 198 games with the Colorado Flames (CHL), Moncton Golden Flames (AHL) and Salt Lake Golden Eagles (IHL) from 1982-1986 and again from 1987-1988.

Coming Home

The Stockton Heat have played the fewest home games this season in the AHL but that is about to change.

Stockton Arena will be the site of the next four games, this Friday and Saturday against the Manitoba Moose and then Wednesday the 27th against the Ontario Reign and Saturday the 30th against the Bakersfield Condors.

This will be the first of three occasions that the Heat will be home for four-straight, their longest home-stand of the season.

The Heat welcome in Manitoba this weekend as the final new opponent the team will face this season however Stockton fans will eagerly await seeing the Iowa Wild come to town in March as the final new opponent to make their way to Stockton Arena.

Stockton is 8-6-0-0 in the first 14 games, however the team has been on a roll at home as of late, recording wins in their last three home games dating back to the beginning of 2016. That is the longest win streak at home this season and the Heat will look to carry that momentum through the remained of the schedule for January.

Teddy Bear Toss Coming Up on Saturday

This Saturday, the Stockton Heat will feature one of our favorite promotions as Teddy Bear Toss returns for the 11th season in Stockton.

The Heat host the event for the first time, where you, the fans, are encouraged to bring stuffed animals to the game and once the Heat score (make sure it's a good goal too because San Diego had this problem this season), fans chuck their teddy bears and stuffed animals onto the ice which will then be collected, counted and distributed to local charities courtesy of the United Way.

This year, the Heat's ownership group has already seen one team they own, the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL, break world records for the amount of bears collected 28,815 bears and stuffed animals.

While the Heat might not be able to keep up with the Hitmen, one team should certainly help motivate Stockton fans to bring a bunch of bears to the game as the Heat's biggest rival, the Bakersfield Condors, collected 7,908 and we want to beat that number right here at Stockton Arena.

For tickets to the game, visit StocktonHeat.com or call the Front Office at 209-373-1500.

Records:

Last Week's Record: 2-1-0-0, 4 points

Overall Record: 14-16-1-2, 0.470 Win Percentage, 7th in the Pacific Division

Last Week's Results:

Jan. 13 "" Stockton Heat 6 vs. San Antonio 2

Jan. 16 "" Stockton Heat 0 at Rockford 3

Jan. 17 - Stockton Heat 7 at Iowa 4

This Week's Schedule:

Fri. Jan. 22 - Stockton Heat vs. Manitoba Moose - Stockton Arena (7:30 p.m.)

Sat. Jan. 23 - Stockton Heat vs. Manitoba Moose - Stockton Arena (7:30 p.m.)

Recent Transactions

None last week

Team Leaders

Goals: Derek Grant with 17

Assists: Drew Shore and Turner Elson with 14

Points: Derek Grant with 28

PIMs: Hunter Smith with 56

Wins: Joni Ortio with 8

Losses: Joni Ortio with 8

GAA (Played at least 5 games): Jon Gillies with 2.31

SV% (Played at least 5 games): Jon Gillies with 0.920

Team Stats

Goals For: Week: 13 | Overall: 98

Goals Against: Week: 9 | Overall: 105

Power Play: 27-162 (16.7%), 17th in AHL

Penalty Kill: 108-133 (81.2%), 23rd in AHL

Records vs. Opponents

Pacific Division:

Bakersfield Condors (3-4-0-0)

Ontario (1-4-0-0)

San Antonio (1-1-0-1)

San Diego (2-1-0-1)

San Jose (1-4-1-0)

Texas (3-1-0-0)

TOTALS vs. PACIFIC: (11-15-1-2)

Central Division:

Iowa (1-0-0-0)

Rockford (1-1-0-0)

TOTALS vs. CENTRAL: (2-1-0-0)

Calgary Flames (NHL)

Record Last Week: 1-1-1, 3 points

Record Overall: 20-20-3, .500 Win Percentage, 6th in Pacific Division

This Week's Schedule:

Tue. Jan. 19 - Flames at New Jersey (4:00 p.m. PST)

Thu. Jan. 21 - Flames at Columbus (4:00 p.m. PST)

Sun. Jan. 24 - Flames at Carolina (3:00 p.m. PST)

Adirondack Thunder (ECHL)

Record Last Week: 3-0-0, 6 points

Record Overall: 24-9-2, .714 Win Percentage, 1st in East Division

This Week's Schedule:

Mon. Jan. 18- Thunder at Reading (10:00 a.m. PST)

Fri. Jan. 22 - Thunder vs. Manchester (4:00 p.m. PST)

Sat. Jan. 23 - Thunder at Manchester (4:00 p.m. PST)

Sun. Jan. 24 - Thunder at Manchester (12:00 p.m. PST)

Check out the Stockton Heat Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from January 18, 2016


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