Weekly Weather Report: the Weekly News and Notes of the Stockton Thunder

Published on January 29, 2014 under ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


LAST WEEK : 1-1-0-0

THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS : (all times PST)

HOME : Saturday, Feb. 1 (7:30 p.m.) vs. Colorado Eagles

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WEEK IN REVIEW :

STK 4 - ONT 1 (1/24/14) : The Thunder had their sights set on winning their third-straight game against the Ontario Reign in Southern California, and they got out to a good start thanks to a powerplay goal from James Henry . Henry fired a shot through traffic that had eyes and beat goaltender Jussi Olkinuora to give the Thunder the 1-0 lead just 1:45 into the game. The Reign would tie things up shorthanded when Mike Dalhuisen's shot was blocked at the blueline. Jake Hauswirth raced in on Brian Foster, but the goaltender made the stop, however, Jason Dale following up on the play tapped it past the goaltender and Dalhuisen who were searching for the puck. However nearing the end of the second period the Thunder took control as Henry found Nathan Deck splitting the defense during a 4-on-4 situation. The defenseman wristed one past Olkinuora to put the Thunder up 2-1. Then just 1:14 later J.P. Burkemper hopped on the puck at his own blueline and used his blazing speed to get around Ontario's Cameron Burt. The trailing Ontario defenseman forced Burkemper to the outside but using his size and impeccable stick handling skills, Burkemper held the defenseman at bay, evaded a poke check thrown by Olkinuora, deposited the puck in the net, and barrel rolled into the corner after being tripped up. The goal was a great individual effort that gave the Thunder a two-goal advantage. Ontario was unable to get anything going in the third period and Greg Miller's empty net goal sealed the Thunder's third-straight win on Ontario ice. Foster finished the game stopping 29 of 30.

STK 2 - ONT 5 (SO) (1/26/14) : The teams had a day to rest and recover before finishing their home-and-home series in Stockton. Once again it'd be the Thunder getting out to the lead, once again it was a powerplay goal, and once again it'd be scored by James Henry . Henry collected the puck at the side of the net, spun around, and stuffed it past Jussi Olkinuora. With the Thunder on the penalty kill later in the period, Sean Escobedo would hit an Ontario player behind the net for the delayed call. During the play, Everett Sheen's shot would carom to Matt White's stick and the forward knocked it past Brian Foster and in. In a reversal from Friday's game, it'd be the Reign to take control as Maxim Kitsyn and Mario Lamoureux would score in the second period. Newly acquired defenseman Sacha Guimond would put Ontario up 4-1 in the third but just over two minutes later Greg Miller would get one back for the Thunder. On the power play for the last 55 seconds of the game, the Thunder thought they had scored to make it a one goal game, but the goal was waved off. A number of players crashed the net with the puck eventually making it's way behind the red line, but the official waved the goal off immediately. In the end, it'd be a 200 foot empty net goal by Matt Register to assure Ontario's win by a 5-2 final.

2013-14 TEAM LEADERS :

Points -Joey Martin (37)

Goals - Garet Hunt (13)

Assists - Joey Martin (27)

Plus/Minus - James Henry (+14)

Penalty Minutes - Mathieu Gagnon (94)

2013-14 GOALTENDING LEADERS :

Games Played - Brian Foster (28)

Wins - Brian Foster (17)

Goals Against Average - Parker Milner (2.69)

Save Percentage - Parker Milner (.913)

Shutouts - Brian Foster, Parker Milner (1)

2013-14 CURRENT STREAKS : Goals - James Henry, Greg Miller (2)

Assists - Garet Hunt (3)

Points - Matt Bergland, Garet Hunt (3)

Wins - Parker Milner (2)

Losses - Brian Foster (1)

2013-14 SEASON LONG STREAKS :

Goals - Ryan Hayes (4)

Assists - Joey Martin (5)

Points - Corey Trivino (7)

Wins - Brian Foster (6)

Losses - Parker Milner (5)

UPCOMING MILESTONES :

-Joey Martin is 2 goals away from 50 in his ECHL career

-Nathan Deck is 2 assists shy of 50 in his ECHL career

-Ryan Hayes is 6 points away from 150 in his ECHL career and 17 games away from 200

-Lee Baldwin is 7 assists away from 50 in his ECHL career

-Ryan Constant is 8 goals shy of 50 in his ECHL career

-Corey Trivino is 8 games away from 100 in his ECHL career

-Alex MacLeod is 11 games shy of 50 in his ECHL career

-Jason Clark is 12 games away from 50 in his ECHL career

-Joey Martin is 19 points shy of 200 in his ECHL career

RECENTLY ACCOMPLISHED MILESTONES :

-Garet Hunt picked up his 50th career goal in his 350th career game against the Ontario Reign on 1/15/14.

-Matt Bergland picked up two points against Ontario on 1/15/14 to secure 50 career points in the ECHL.

-Parker Milner recorded his first career shutout as a professional in a Thunder 5-0 win over San Francisco on 1/4/14

-Shawn Boutin played in his 100th career ECHL game in a Thunder 5-0 win over San Francisco on 1/4/14

-Brian Foster played in his 100th career ECHL game in a loss to San Francisco on 1/3/14

TEAM NOTES :

-The Thunder are 11-7-0-2 on home ice while 10-7-0-3 in road games. At Stockton Arena the team is +9 in goal differential while on the road the team has allowed one more goal then they've scored.

-Stockton has played in three overtime and seven shootout contests. The Thunder have won all three games in extra time and have won two shootout games.

-In the skills competition, the Thunder have scored just 7 of 40 attempts thanks to Joey Martin (x3),Mitch Bruijsten (x2), Greg Miller and former Thunder forward Brayden Irwin. Thunder goaltenders have allowed 9 goals on 41 attempts.

-The Thunder are 16-5-0-3 in games when they've scored first.

-Stockton is 9-4-0-0 against Mountain Division opponents and 12-10-0-5 against Pacific Division opponents. -The Thunder have the top power play unit in the league as they along with the Evansville Icemen, are the only teams that have converted over 20% of their power play chances. The Thunder have an overall conversion rate of 20.6%, but on home ice, the Thunder's PP has struck 27% of the time. Away from Stockton Arena, the Thunder are 16 for 97 on the power play, good for a 16.5% conversion rate.

-The Thunder have scored the most goals in the league with 135. Cincinnati is second with 132 followed by Evansville (131), Alaska (130) and Florida (127).

-The Thunder are fourth in the league in goals for per game as they average 3.38 goals per game behind Cincinnati, Evansville, and Alaska.

-Stockton is +9 in goals differential in the first period, +7 in the second, -8 in the third, and +3 in overtime.

-The Thunder are averaging 30.13 shots per game while allowing opponents to fire 31.55 per game. The Thunder have outshot opponents 13 times at Stockton Arena and just 8 times on the road.

-Stockton is 12-3-0-2 when leading after the first period, 16-0-0-3 when leading after two, and 15-5-0-1 when they outshoot an opponent. However, the team is 2-11-0-1 when trailing after the second period and 5-8-0-3 when they are outshot by an opponent.

-Oddly, the Thunder are great in games decided by 1 goal, or games decided by 4 or more. In 1-goal games, the Thunder are 11-2-0-5 and in games where the team has finished with a 4-goal or more lead the team is 7-1-0-0. The Thunder have only won three contests when the game is decided by 2 or 3 goals in 14 tries.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES :

-Andrew Clark now ranks tied sixth on the rookie leaderboard with 26 points despite missing the last 16 games due to a call up to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

-Andrew Clark joins Alaska's Peter Sivak and Ontario's Kyle Kraemer as the only three players in the ECHL to score 5 points in a single game this season. Clark registered 2 goals and 3 assists in the December 15th game against Bakersfield.

-Joey Martin is tied 9th with Jeremy Langlois of the Evansville Icemen on the points leaderboard with 37. Martin is tied for 3rd in the ECHL with 27 assists.

-Greg Miller is tied 7th in the league among rookies with 25 points.

-Ryan Constant is tied first in points with Kalamazoo's Sam Ftorek on the defensive leaderboard with 26 points (6-20-26).

-In addition, Ryan Constant is tied for 2nd in the league with 12 powerplay assists.

-James Henry is fifth in the league among rookies with a +14 rating.

-Mathieu Gagnon is tied for third in the league with 12 major penalties. All of Gagnon's majors have been for fighting.

-Greg Miller leads the team in powerplay goals with 5. Miller is also tied first in the league among rookies in Powerplay goals.

-Joey Martin and James Henry lead the team with 3 Game Winning goals. Other game winners came from Andrew Clark,Garet Hunt, Ryan Hayes, Corey Trivino, Greg Miller, Landon Oslanski, Shawn Boutin, Mike Dalhuisen, Nathan Deck, and the departed Brayden Irwin and Kirill Kabanov.

-James Henry's 3 game winning goals sees him tied second in the ECHL among rookies.

-Garet Hunt now leads the Thunder in shots on goal with 93 followed by Joey Martin (90), Matt Bergland (85), and Nathan Deck (79).

-For Thunder shooters who have fired over 50 shots on net, Greg Miller has the best shooting percentage on the team, having scored on 17.1% of his 70 shots.

-Brian Foster ranks second in the league in saves made with 799. Foster's 17 wins sits him third in the league.

INJURY REPORT :

-Ryan Hayes was placed on the 21-day IR with an upper body injury on 11/27/13

-Jason Clark was retroactively placed on the 21-day IR with an upper body injury on 12/26/13

LAST WEEK'S ROSTER MOVES :

-Dave Guy released as emergency backup goaltender 1/20/14

-Dave Guy added as emergency backup goaltender 1/23/14

-Michal Spacek activated from injured reserve 1/23/14

-Parker Milner assigned to the Stockton Thunder from the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 1/28/14

-Dave Guy released as emergency backup goaltender 1/28/14

BEAR-Y GOOD STOCKTON :

For the second straight year the Thunder were able to collect over 5,000 bears that were then donated to The United Way of San Joaquin. This year 5,243 bears were thrown on the ice after Alex MacLeod scored the fastest goal in the team's Teddy Bear Toss history just 2:48 seconds into the game!

Judging by the picture it seems that MacLeod, Jason Clark, Mike Dalhuisen, J.P. Burkemper, and Greg Miller had a fun time counting the bears!

FINISHING PINK WEEKEND OFFICIALLY :

On January 26 the Thunder officially closed Pink Weekend with a jersey and check presentation to two very important representatives of St. Joseph's - Breast Health Services. The check of $19,000 was accepted on the organizations behalf by Sister Abby Newton of St. Joseph's Foundation - Breast Health Services, as well as cancer survivor and mother of five, Natalee Cooks.

GO RED PASSPORT CARD DURING HOCKEY WITH HEART :

Get ready because on February 1st, the team hosts the Colorado Eagles for Hockey with Heart. In addition to event proceeds being donated to the American Heart Association, fans will have the opportunity to get your "Go Red Passport Card" stamped by all of the sponsored booths on the concourse for your chance to win great prizes donated by Chase Chevrolet, Mary Kay, the American Heart Association, and even a special package that features two tickets to see the Thunder play in West Valley City, Utah when the team takes on the Utah Grizzlies later this year. Travel to the game is courtesy of Amtrak!

ROUGH & READY ISLANDERS :

The team announced that Stockton Thunder will become the Rough & Ready Islanders for three games only this season as part of the ECHL's Heritage Hockey Weekend event. Both the Thunder and the Alaska Aces were tasked with coming up with an identity that pays tribute to their respective NHL affiliates while also recognizing the areas in which they hail from. Team President Brian Sandy was the mind behind the Rough & Ready Islanders name and jerseys as he worked with Port City Marketing Solutions and The New York Islanders to come up with this one of a kind jersey.

Rough & Ready Island is a former U.S. Naval base, and supply and ordnance depot during World War II, located just three miles west of Downtown Stockton. The island's transfer to Stockton Port officials began June of 2000, and has been a big source of economic growth and development for the city.

SEASON TICKET HOLDER GIFT AVAILABLE NOW :

If you haven't picked your Season Ticket Holder gift up, you'll want to at the Thunder Information Booth during home games, or the Thunder Front Office during normal business hours to pick up your very own replica of the 2012-13 Western Conference Championship banner!

SEASON TICKET HOLDER CHALK TALK #3 :

Head Coach Rich Kromm will host his third Chalk Talk of the season on February 15th at 6:15 for Season Ticket Holders only in the conference rooms near the North Entry. Coach will answer a few questions from Broadcaster Brandon Kisker to get things going, and then take your questions on the state of the team, or just general hockey questions. Coach will answer questions for about 15 minutes before he'll head down to the dressing room to prepare the boys!

SUPER STALOCK :

Former Thunder goaltender Alex Stalock set a new San Jose Sharks team record during the 1/27/14 game against the LA Kings. Stalock hadn't allowed a goal for 178 minutes and 55 seconds, breaking the previous record held by now New York Islanders goaltender Evgeni Nabokov. Nabokov had previously taken the record in 2009 when he had a streak of 170 minutes and 58 seconds. In 13 games played this season, Stalock has 7 wins (including 2 shutouts) and has posted a .943 save percentage and a 1.56 goals against average. Stalock played in 6 games with the Thunder during the 2011-12 season. The goalie went 5-1-0and posted a .914 save percentage and 2.83 goals against average during his time with the Thunder.

BUSY BIRTHDAY MONTH :

The Thunder have a few birthdays upcoming in February. On February 1st, the Thunder will help J.P. Burkemper celebrate turning 23. Just three days later on February 4th, the goaltender with 17 wins, Brian Foster, will turn 27. Four days later on February 8th, Shawn Boutin will turn 24 and to end the busy birthday month, Jason Clark will turn 22 on February 27th. February and October are the Thunder's busiest birthday months with 4 apiece.

FROZEN MOMENT :

This week's moment comes to us after the game during the Season Ticket Holder skate when a couple young girls were left without a pair of skates. He may be rough and tough on the ice, but off of it, he's a perfect gentleman. Mike Dalhuisen took it upon himself to make sure these girls had a good time and this shot was a piggyback ride around the rink. The enjoyment on both faces is what makes this shot a true, frozen moment.

FAN PICTURE OF THE WEEK :

Here we have the Babowal family who were sitting in the Lower End Zone next to the Zamboni entrance. The kids were very interested in the big machine (and after what we learned during Kids Take Over Stockton Arena, what kid isn't) and had a blast with their parents! This picture was emailed to us and we couldn't be more happy that they all enjoyed their time!

TWEET OF THE WEEK :

It was @zippybrown2's first hockey game this past Sunday and from the looks of the tweet, it seems like he had a fun time! Hockey is such an amazing sport and one thing we love is when you Thunder fans introduce the sport to a friend, colleague, or maybe even family member who hasn't watched the sport. Maybe they lost touch with the sport after the lockouts, or maybe they have never sat in a stadium and watched a game before, but we know as soon as one watches a hockey game, you get hooked, like Peter!

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ECHL Stories from January 29, 2014


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