AHL Stockton Heat

Weekly News and Notes of the Stockton Heat

February 1, 2016 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Stockton Heat News Release


News and Notes

Derek Grant is on a three-game point streak with 4 goals and 4 assists during the streak. He tied his single-season career-high goal total with 21 (last season) and is just three points back from his single-season career-high in points (38, last season)

Grant's 21 goals has him ranking second in the AHL, one back of the leader

Grant leads the Heat with seven multi-goal games. The game on Saturday where he earned four points was the second time this season that he hit the four point mark in a single game

Grant's five game winning goals this season have all come at Stockton Arena

With the shorthanded goal against Bakersfield, Grant tied Turner Elson and Garnet Hathaway for the team lead with 2 shorthanded goals, which ties the trio four fourth in the AHL

Kenny Agostino also finds himself on a three-game point streak with 3 goals and 2 assists in that span

Agostino had 7 goals and 5 assists in 11 games during the month of January

Speaking of the month of January, the Stockton Heat were led by Derek Grant who had 10 goals and 9 assists (19 points) in 10 games during January

Agostino had the second most points with 12 (7-5-12) in 11 games

Emile Poirier clocked in at third with 9 points (2-7-9) in 11 games

Freddie Hamilton was fourth with 8 points (3-5-8) in 11 games

Turner Elson finished fifth in points during January with 7 points (2-5-7) in 11 games

Kevin Poulin has won four of his last five starts and has points in five of his last six games

Since January 13, Poulin has not allowed more then 2 goals in a game

Joni Ortio has won five of his last six starts

Ortio tied Dwayne Roloson on the Calgary Flames Top Affiliate list for seventh most wins all-time with 58

Stockton was 10-14-0-2 entering January but went 8-2-1-0 in 11 games in the new year. The team went from seventh to fourth at the All-Star break

The Heat have won their last five games in a row and their last seven decisions at Stockton Arena

Approaching Milestones

Heat captain Aaron Johnson's next point will be his 200th career AHL point

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

Garnet Hathaway is 3 points away from 50 career AHL points

Emile Poirier is 9 games away from his 100th career AHL game

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

Drew Shore is 12 assists from his 100th career AHL assist

Derek Grant is 16 games away from playing his 300th AHL game

Recently Accomplished Milestones

Kenny Agostino played in his 100th career AHL game on Friday against the Manitoba Moose

An All-Star Month for an All-Star Player

Derek Grant.

We don't have to say much more then that because Grant's career year has been very much reported throughout the season.

He's played in 28 games this season and leads the Heat with 21 goals, 15 assists and 36 points for the Heat.

Grant had 19 points in 10 games during the month of January and finds himself among the league leaders in points and second in the AHL in goals.

He is set to appear in the AHL All-Star Competition tonight in Syracuse, New York, competing with the Pacific Division.

However last night during the Skills Competition, Grant was a big part of the Western Conference's 19-14 win over the East. He won the CCM Fastest Skater Competition with a time of 14. 307 time. He also scored the only goal of his round during the U.S. Army Pass and Score competition as he was paired with San Diego's Brandon Montour and San Jose's Ryan Carpenter.

The drill featured three shots where all three players had to touch the puck before a shot was attempted. Each player shot once with Grant scoring the lone tally of the round on Portland's Mike McKenna.

Finally, Grant ended his Skills Competition night in the Panasonic Breakaway Relay event with a rather silly attempt as he carried the puck on his stick and attempted to bounce a puck five-hole on Lehigh Valley's Anthony Stolarz but it went wide.

For a full scoresheet of the event, visit TheAHL.com.

Good Month for the Home Team

Stockton went undefeated at home during the month of January, winning all seven games they played at Stockton Arena.

First it was the team's first come-from-behind win over the Texas Stars on January 2 with a 7-6 win in the shootout. It was the first time the Heat came back when trailing after 40 minutes. The next night the Heat beat the Condors 3-1.

In mid-January the Heat trounced the San Antonio Rampage 6-2 before a quick trip out in the Midwest. The Heat would end the month with four more games at Stockton Arena, all wins, two against the Moose, one against the defending Calder Cup Champions and a Stockton Arena finale against Bakersfield.

Stockton is now 12-6-0 at home.

Rising Up the Goalie Leaderboard

Heat goaltender Joni 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 nine 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 passing Dwayne Roloson for seventh all-time (59) and six wins back of tying Curtis McElhinney for sixth all-time.

Ortio has also played in 102 games for the Flames top affiliate which puts him 10th all time, nine in front of former Stanley Cup Champion Mike Vernon who helped the Flames capture the Stanley Cup in 1989. The Finnish netminder is also nine games away from Giguere for ninth all-time and 10 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.

Records:

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

Overall Record: 18-16-1-2, 0.527 Win Percentage, 4th in the Pacific Division

Last Week's Results:

Jan. 27- Stockton Heat 2 vs. Ontario 1 (OT)

Jan. 30 - Stockton Heat 4 at Bakersfield 2

This Week's Schedule:

Fri. Feb. 5 - Stockton Heat at San Diego - Valley View Casino Center (7:05 p.m.)

Sat. Feb. 6 - Stockton Heat at Bakersfield Condors - Rabobank Arena (7:00 p.m.)

Recent Transactions

None last week

Team Leaders

Goals: Derek Grant with 21

Assists: Drew Shore, Kenny Agostino and Derek Grant with 15

Points: Derek Grant with 36

PIMs: Hunter Smith with 56

Wins: Joni Ortio with 9

Losses: Joni Ortio with 8

GAA (Played at least 5 games): Kevin Poulin with 2.24

SV% (Played at least 5 games): Kevin Poulin with 0.925

Team Stats

Goals For: Week: 6 | Overall: 109

Goals Against: Week: 3 | Overall: 111

Power Play: 31-178 (17.4%), 11th in AHL

Penalty Kill: 121-148 (81.8%), 21st in AHL

Records vs. Opponents

Pacific Division:

Bakersfield Condors (4-4-0-0)

Ontario (2-4-0-0)

San Antonio (2-1-0-1)

San Diego (2-1-0-1)

San Jose (1-4-1-0)

Texas (3-1-0-0)

TOTALS vs. PACIFIC: (14-15-1-2)

Central Division:

Iowa (1-0-0-0)

Rockford (1-1-0-0)

Manitoba (2-0-0-0)

TOTALS vs. CENTRAL: (4-1-0-0)

Calgary Flames (NHL)

Record Last Week: 0-2-0, 0 points

Record Overall: 21-22-3, .489 Win Percentage, 6th in Pacific Division

This Week's Schedule:

Wed. Feb. 3 - Flames vs. Carolina (6:30 p.m. PST)

Fri. Feb. 5 - Flames vs. Columbus (6:00 p.m. PST)

Sat. Feb. 6 - Flames at Vancouver (7:00 p.m. PST)

Adirondack Thunder (ECHL)

Record Last Week: 1-1-0, 2 points

Record Overall: 26-11-4, .683 Percentage, 2nd in East Division

This Week's Schedule:

Fri. Feb. 5 - Thunder vs. Norfolk (4:00 p.m. PST)

Sat. Feb. 6 - Thunder vs. Norfolk (4:00 p.m. PST)

Check out the Stockton Heat Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from February 1, 2016


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