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

December 16, 2014 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


After a 7 game homestand that the Thunder went 4-2-1 on, the team, closer to the .500 mark, took to the road to play the Colorado Eagles in a four-game series in Loveland, Colorado. The first game on Wednesday started out poorly for the Thunder as they surrendered a goal to Brock Nixon just minutes into the game.

However Jack MacLellan scored his sixth of the season moments later to tie things up and Garet Hunt's second of the season gave the Thunder the lead. The team increased their lead thanks to Ryan Hayes and while Nixon would score again, that'd be as close as the game would get as Keith Seabrook iced the game with an empty netter from his own end in the Thunder's 4-2 win over Colorado. Kent Simpson got his third win with the team in the game.

With Thursday off, the Thunder returned to the ice on Friday in what turned out to be a high scoring affair. Mike Pereira scored his first of the season and first as a member of the Thunder on a breakaway. However the Thunder got in some penalty trouble and Colorado capitalized on two power-play goals. Sebastian Collberg would score late in the period to tie the game at two after one period of play.

Collberg came right back into it and with a similar shot, went upstairs on Clarke Saunders to put the Thunder ahead. Colorado would however score the next three to take a two-goal lead. Stockton surged back with Jack MacLellan's goal at the 16:50 mark and just 16 seconds later Garet Hunt tied the game at five all. An even later turnover doomed the Thunder and Nixon scored his second of the night for the Eagles to take the lead into the third. The Eagles tacked on two more to win 8-5.

After a scoring fest, the Thunder were right back at it with the Eagles on Saturday but the game would start by the Thunder looking for retribution over what the team believed was an illegal hit (note it was not penalized) on Sebastian Collberg that forced the Swede from the game in the third period of Friday's game. Garet Hunt looked to get after Daryl Bootland and the result was a Colorado power play that the team would score on. After one the Thunder were down by two.

Mike Pereira scored in the second but Colorado rattled off three straight to make it 5-1 after 40 minutes. The Thunder tried coming back in the game thanks to goals from Roberts Lipsbergs and Ryan Hayes but Nathan Moon's shorthanded empty-net goal would seal the Thunder's second straight defeat.

The Thunder would get even more bad news as Ryan Constant left the game in the second period and would not make a return, and would also not suit up on Sunday's finale of the four game set. The team would be without the veteran defenseman along with fellow d-man Shawn Boutin and forward Sebastian Collberg. Lukas Sutter would make a return but the Thunder would be a man short on the blueline. The Eagles stormed out again to a big lead and in the second James Henry brought the Thunder to within two when he scored a power-play goal. Minutes later Sutter would make an early exit in his second game against the Eagles after the official gave him a game misconduct. In total, Sutter picked up 34 PIMS which ties the all-time game high by Garet Hunt made in January 2009. The Eagles would go on to win 7-1.

Jack MacLellan's eight-game point streak came to an end. During his streak he had scored 5 goals and 7 assists.

Recent Transactions

12/8 - ADD Pereira (Activated off 21-day IR)

12/8 - DEL Leduc (Placed on 21-day IR)

12/8 - DEL Sivak (Recalled by Bridgeport)

Team Leaders

Goals: Ryan Hayes with 8

Assists: James Henry with 19

Points: Jack MacLellan and James Henry with 24

PIMs: Lukas Sutter with 108

Wins: Shane Owen with 5

Losses: Shane Owen with 8

GAA: Shane Owen with 3.68

SV%: Shane Owen with .898

Great Time to be a Kid

The Thunder have some amazing events in the next few weeks including a couple during the upcoming three-game homestand against Idaho. After we give away some 10th Anniversary Jersey magnets on Friday, the Thunder will have a giveaway targeted for those rabid Thunder fans 12-years-old and younger when we give away Youth Replica Jerseys to the first 500 kids 12 and younger! The jerseys are replicas of the Christmas jerseys the Thunder wore on 12-21 and 12-22 in 2007!

The fun doesn't stop there as the kids will take over a number of jobs for the Thunder on Sunday during Kids Take Over Stockton Arena! There will be kids helping you to your seats, kids selling you tickets, kids broadcasting the game, kids taking photos, etc... We're in the process of hiring our kids now for what should be a fun afternoon!

After the holidays though the fun won't stop, and this time kids of all ages (yes even you big kids) will love WE PAINT the Ice Night on December 30th when we head down to Stockton Arena's ice surface and paint it! After the painting is done it will be sealed by layers of ice and the Thunder will then play the Ontario Reign on New Year's Eve (6:00 p.m. start time on 12/31) on the ice surface that YOU painted!

Get your tickets now by calling (209) 373-1500 or peruse our holiday ticket and merchandise plans at StocktonThunder.com/holiday .

All-Time Watch

We're monitoring the situation between Garet Hunt, Ryan Constant and Mike Lalonde as Lalonde's all-time lead in points could be in danger of falling to one of the Thunder's star players this season.

Lalonde's 156 career points is in jeopardy as Constant pulled ahead with 151 points with the Thunder while Hunt is right behind them both with 144.

That means Constant is just 5 points back of tying the record while Hunt is 11 points back of tying the record.

Hunt is the only one close to Lalonde's all-time record of 72 goals with his 54 markers, putting the Thunder captain 18 shy of tying the record.

News and Notes

James Henry's 19 assists has him tied for third in the league. Lukas Sutter's 108 penalty minutes is good for first in the league among rookies and third in the league overall. Sebastian Collberg has a 27.3 shooting percentage since being loaned to the Thunder. Shane Owen is third in the league in saves made with 449. Ryan Constant's 17 points has him tied for sixth among defenseman. Stockton averages 21.92 minutes in penalties per game. The team has the third most major penalties (28) and most 10-minute misconduct penalties (10). The Thunder have the fourth best power play in the league converting on 22.1% of their opportunities. Conversely the penalty kill is the third from the bottom with a 78.9% kill percentage. The team is 6-0-0-0 when leading after two periods. They have yet to win when trailing after two.

Streaks

Peter Sivak is on an eight-game point streak (5G, 6A).

Jack MacLellan is on a five-game point streak (3G, 4A).

Tyler Shattock is on a four-game point streak (3G, 3A).

Ryan Constant is on a four-game point streak (1G, 4A).

Tyler Maxwell is on a four-game point streak (4G, 1A) and three-game goal streak.

Approaching Milestones

Jack MacLellan is also 2 points away from 50 career ECHL points.

James Henry is 8 games away from 100 played in his career.

Tyler Shattock is 18 games away from 300 in his pro career.

Alex Mallet is 5 points away from 50 in his ECHL career.

Ryan Constant is 4 goals away from 50 in his ECHL career. He's 1 assist away from 150 career ECHL assists and just 5 points away from 200 career ECHL points.

Garet Hunt is 2 games away from 400 career ECHL games played. He's 9 assists away from 100 and 7 points away from 150 in his ECHL career.

Shawn Boutin is 10 games away from 150 ECHL games. He's just 6 games away from 200 pro games played and 5 points shy of 50 in his pro career.

Peter Sivak is 2 games away from 150 career ECHL games.

Recently Accomplished Milestones

Kent Simpson played his 50th career ECHL game on 12/13.

J.T. Barnett played his 50th career ECHL and pro games against Alaska on 12-6-14.

Sebastian Collberg scored his first ECHL goal on 12-6-14. He recorded his first ECHL point, an assist, on 12-5-14 against Alaska and his goal a day later against the Aces stood as the game winner.

James Henry scored his 50th career ECHL point, an assist, on Keith Seabrook's second period goal against Utah on 11-28-14.

Roberts Lipsbergs scored his first pro goal against Bakersfield on 11-26-14.



ECHL Stories from December 16, 2014


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