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

December 22, 2014 - ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


After a rough series away from Stockton in Colorado that ended with the Thunder going 1-3-0, the Thunder returned to home ice to play the top team in the Pacific Division, the Idaho Steelheads.

On Friday things didn't get off to a great start for the Thunder as they picked up a bench minor early on having too many men on the ice. On the ensuing power play opportunity Steve Quailer's shot was blocked by goalie Philippe Trudeau, but the rebound was put behind the big netminder courtesy of Ludwig Karlsson. The next shift the Thunder were on the receiving end of a power play but the Steelheads scored their fourth shorthanded goal against the Thunder this season when Jason Bast got behind the defense and backhand-deked around Trudeau to make it 2-0 Idaho.

The Thunder would respond thanks to a sick pass from Keith Seabrook to Sebastian Collberg on the power play to give the dynamic Swede a breakaway that he'd bury past Olivier Roy. Moments later though a turnover on the boards resulted in a two-on-none for the Steelheads that again made its way into the net. The Thunder would mount a valiant third period comeback, scoring one that was tipped by Lukas Sutter and Mike Pereira, but in the end they'd be kept inches away from tying, literally, but Roy and the Steelheads won their fourth straight against Stockton.

The Thunder would correct things and put together some fantastic defensive efforts in the next two games as Saturday's game started great for the team when a great play set up by Ryan Hayes allowed Brad Stebner, who was added late due to an injury to John Ryder, to find his defensive partner Loic Leduc who snuck a shot past Henri Kiviaho. Less than two minutes later though an unlucky bounce against the Thunder resulted in Wade MacLeod directing a rebound through Kent Simpson's pads off of his skates and in. The Thunder though continued to battle hard and got an early tally from Alex Mallet in the second and finished it in the third with a last minute empty netter to finally beat the Idaho Steelheads 3-1. Simpson stopped 32 of 33 shots.

Another good start for the Thunder on Wingstop's Kids Take Over Stockton Arena as Keith Seabrook got the Thunder on the board while on their first power play of the night just 1:12 into the game. Before you could blink Tyler Maxwell, playing in his second game since being activated off the 21-day IR list, scored and the Thunder had two goals on just three shots on former Thunder netminder Roy.

Can't count out Idaho though as they came back and scored their own power-play goal, as well as yet another shorty against the Thunder to tie the game. It looked like the teams would go into the third tied by J.T. Barnett followed up an Austin Levi shot and scored what would eventually be the game winner. Tyler Maxwell added an empty netter to give the Thunder a 4-2 win and increase his points in the game to three. Shane Owen stopped 33 of 35 shots in his sixth win.

Recent Transactions

12/20 - ADD Maxwell (Activated off 21-day IR)

12/20 - DEL Collberg (Reassigned by New York Islanders to Bridgeport)

12/19 - ADD Leduc (Activated off 21-day IR)

12/14 - DEL Constant (Placed on 21-day IR)

Team Leaders

Goals: Tyler Maxwell with 9

Assists: James Henry and Jack MacLellan with 19

Points: Jack MacLellan with 27

PIMs: Lukas Sutter with 110

Wins: Shane Owen with 6

Losses: Shane Owen with 8

GAA: Shane Owen with 3.57

SV%: Shane Owen with .901

From Ownership

"Our guys played the way we know they can this weekend against a very good opponent in Idaho. We got two out of three wins and easily could have been a weekend sweep. This was a great way to go into our short break, with two big wins and a couple days to recharge the batteries. I'd also like to wish all Thunder fans happy holidays." - Thunder Owner Brad Rowbotham

WE PAINT the Ice Night Coming Soon!

The Thunder will invite fans to paint the Stockton Arena ice surface after the game on Tuesday, December 30. Get your tickets now and get to the Arena early to sign up to paint! We will allow one parent or guardian out on the ice with their children. Adults won't be allowed to paint the ice on their own so if you want to try and sign up to paint, find a niece, nephew, grandkid, neighbor, etc... and bring them to the game! Need tickets? Check out our holiday plans, including a specific Paint the Ice plan featuring two Upper Premium tickets and a replica jersey or bobblehead for $39 !

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

The Pacific Division is separated by 11 points from top to bottom. The Thunder are just 7 points away from fourth however Colorado, the fourth placed team, has three games in hand.

The Thunder are third in the Pacific Division having scored 90 goals for behind Idaho (93) and Colorado (92).

Stockton is the third most penalized team in the league (613 PIMS) behind Tulsa (639) and Ontario (617).

Lukas Sutter is the most penalized rookie in the league and the third most in the league with 117 minutes in the sin bin.

The Thunder are 8-7-0-0 when scoring first in a game. They've scored the first goal in 52% of their games.

The team has the fourth best power play having converted 21.7% of their chances, but also have the fourth worst penalty kill with just a 79.3% kill ratio.

Stockton is tied with Utah and Orlando for the league lead in shorthanded goals allowed with seven. Five of those have come by the hands of the Idaho Steelheads.

The Thunder are 8-0-0-0 when leading after two but haven't won a game in 15 tries when down after two.

Streaks

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

Tyler Maxwell is on a six-game point streak (6G, 6A).

Keith Seabrook is on a three-game point streak (1G, 2A).

Tyler Shattock is on a two-game assist streak (3A).

Alex Mallet is on a two-game point streak (1G, 1A)

Approaching Milestones

James Henry is 5 games away from 100 played in his career.

Tyler Shattock is 15 games away from 300 in his pro career.

Alex Mallet is 3 points away from 50 in his ECHL career. He's also 14 games away from 150 career pro games.

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 4 games away from 150 ECHL games. He's just 9 points shy of 50 in his pro career.

Austin Levi is 13 games away from 100 career pro games.

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

Coach Kromm is 27 games away from 200 ECHL games coached.

Recently Accomplished Milestones

Jack MacLellan picked up his 50th career ECHL point on 12/20/14 vs. Idaho.

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 22, 2014


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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