Stockton Thunder (ECHL) Go To Playoffs / Final Roster Named

Bendfeld Returns, Playoff Roster Announced

04/05/2010 2:02 PM - Bendfeld reassigned from Springfield; playoff tickets on sale now

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STOCKTON, Calif. - The Stockton Thunder, the proud ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers and American Hockey League's Springfield Falcons, announced the Oilers have reassigned defenseman Jordan Bendfeld to the Thunder from Springfield.

The roster move completes the team's mandatory 24-man playoff roster, which was due to the ECHL league office at Noon PT on Monday (subject to verification by the ECHL league office).

Additionally, it was announced that defenseman Trevor Hunt, right wingers Brett Hemingway and Riley Emmerson have been placed on the playoff inactive list and goaltender Bryce Christianson was signed as an emergency backup goaltender.

Bendfeld, 22, who earned the first recall of his AHL career on Mar. 3, and was selected in the seventh round (193rd overall) of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft by Edmonton and this season posted an assist and seven penalty minutes in 10 AHL games.

The 6-foot-3, 230-pound defenseman skated in 52 games for Stockton this regular season, collecting ten assists and 91 penalty minutes.

Through 69 career games with the Thunder, the 6-foot-3, 230-pound defenseman has scored one goal, 12 assists and posted 116 penalty minutes through two seasons (2008-10).

Christianson, 23, competed for the last three seasons (2007-10) in college at the University of Alaska-Anchorage (NCAA), compiling a record of 11-20-4 with a .876 save percentage with two career shutouts.

The 6-foot-2, 195-pound goaltender enjoyed a career-best 2.60 GAA, 21 games played and 8-8-4 record as a 2008-09 sophomore.

STOCKTON THUNDER PLAYOFF ROSTER:

Goaltenders (3): Bryce Christianson, Andrew Perugini, Bryan Pitton*

Defensemen (8): Anthony Aiello, Jordan Bendfeld, Ryan Constant, Justin DaCosta, Trevor Hunt, Daryl Marcoux, Steve Vanoosten, Bryan Young

Forwards (13): James Bates, J.F. Caudron, Kelly Czuy, Chris D'Alvise, Oren Eizenman, Riley Emmerson, Igor Gongalsky, Brett Hemingway, Colin Hemingway, Garet Hunt, Matt Marquardt, Jason Pitton, Matt Robinson
* Denotes currently on recall or loan to respective American Hockey League club (AHL)

Game one of the Kelly Cup Playoffs (National Conference Quarterfinal) begins tonight at the Menard Center in Wasilla beginning at 8:30 p.m. between Stockton and Alaska. The game can be heard on radio at 1280 KWSX and viewed online exclusively at www.stocktonthunder.com, courtesy of B2 Networks (audio is free of charge).

Kelly Cup Playoff tickets start as low as $9 per seat and range to $28 (Comcast Club). Current Thunder season ticket holders receive tickets to the first two rounds of the Kelly Cup Playoffs in their ticket package. Fans wishing to get priority seating on playoff tickets can do so by placing a deposit on new Thunder season tickets for the 2010-11 season.

The Thunder returns home for game three of the series on Friday, beginning at 7:30 p.m. at Stockton Arena.

A two-time recipient of the ECHL "Award of Excellence," the Thunder was voted "Best Local Sports Team" by readers of the San Joaquin Magazine, has led the ECHL in attendance for four consecutive seasons and drew 223,854 fans to Stockton Arena in 2008-09. Season tickets for 2009-10 are on sale now. For more information about tickets, merchandise, or other inquiries contact the Stockton Thunder offices at (209) 373-1500 or visit http://www.stocktonthunder.com/ 

Written by the Stockton Thunder

Four More To Go / Minnesota Wild (37-35-7) at Edmonton Oilers (24-46-8) / LIVE BLOG at 7:30pm MST

GAME DAY!!!

Welcome everyone to another fine TweetCast by Oilers Jambalaya.

Tonight you will see the tweets/comments of Paq Twinn, Smokin' Ray, Nick Walker, Scarlett, OilFieldHockey, Dan Tencer, The official Edmonton Oilers and the official Minnesota Wild tweets as well as the tweets from the Springfield Falcons and the Stockton Thunder.

Feel free to comment by typing in the box below. It's easy and no signup required. Once you comment, we will unmoderate you and you can then speak freely. Be patient if we don't see you right away. You will get on.

We hope you enjoy the TweetCast and we are glad you stopped by.

Minnesota Wild (37-35-7) at Edmonton Oilers (24-46-8)

Jordan Eberle, So Far In Springfield

Now that Jordan Eberle has played more than a handful of games with Springfield, I figured we would look and see how he's doing.

After 8 games played, Eberle has himself 9 points. He's scored 4 goals and has 5 assists in those 8 games. Basically one goal every other game. Not bad, but not great either. I just figure if he's a goal scorer, wouldn't/shouldn't he be scoring more than that?

To answer my own question, no. If you look at the long range of what he is doing, -- and he keeps this pace up -- he would score 41 goals in 82 games. That's pretty good when you look at it that way. Very good.

Out of those 4 goals, only one was scored on the PP. I'm not sure how to feel about that.

In those 8 games he's played, Eberle has taken 17 shots for an average of 2.125 shots per game. If you look at the higher end goal scorer types, they shoot more than 2 shots a game. 2.125 shots per game is not very good.

However his shot percentage is very good at 23.5%. If you look at every other player that has been with the Falcons or the Oilers this year, Jordan is above and beyond the rest and that gives me relief as a fan.

With one last stat to look at, this one doesn't tell us all we need to know about the player. So I really don't know what to think here. After 8 games played, Eberle is a -1. Is that good? Is it bad? I don't know.

So at a quick glance, Jordan Eberle is looking very good for a sad sack organization don't you think?

I do have a few concerns about Eberle. All his points have came in bunches. Will he have the consistency it takes to be a pro? Can he keep his high shooting percentage? Shouldn't he shoot more?

And I guess the big question, will he be with the Oilers next season? Or more like should he be?

I hope so, what about you?

-Smokin' Ray-

Happy Easter From Oilers Jambalaya

As another holiday rolls around, I'm reminded that it's about the kids (and not us) and simply just being with your family on a nice holiday weekend.

We hope that the Easter Bunny was good to all of you and that you have all enjoyed yourselves.

Happy Easter from all of us at Oilers Jambalaya.

-Smokin' Ray-

Most. Boring. Game. Ever. / An Oilers Game Recap

This is brief game recap of the Edmonton Oilers vs the Phoenix Coyotes game on CBC.

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PRE GAME RECORDS

Edmonton Oilers (24-46-7) at Phoenix Coyotes (47-25-6)

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FINAL SCORE

Edmonton Oilers - 2

Phoenix Coyotes - 3  so

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TONIGHT'S STARTING LINES

Penner Cogliano Linglet
O'Sullivan Pouliot Nilsson
Moreau Horcoff Pisani
Comrie Stortini Jones

Whitney Gilbert
Chorney Strudwick
Johnson Arsene

Deslauriers
Dubnyk

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VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS



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THE MEAT AND POTATOES

The Good:

- Jeff Deslauries was really, really good. He kept this team in this game. Jeff has been better than I had expected this season.

- Pouliot was a work horse. He played pretty good. He was one guy who I seen all game and not for bad stuff either.

- Ryan Whitney is making me a believer. He's been great. Tonight he was pushy, angry and very aware. He was making some real great passes and was on the ice for both Oiler goals.

- Tom Gilbert also played pretty good. He picked up two assists on the Oilers only two goals. I even seen him push a guy down. I know. Shocking.

- I thought that Aaron Johnson was also pretty solid. He laid out some hard and heavy hits and he's looking like he fits in on this squad.

- Dustin Penner didn't really play well all game, but he did score his 29th goal of the season and that makes me happy. One more for 30.

- With only 7:36 of ice time, Ryan Jones didn't accomplish much. He did score the tying goal though. So that's something right?

- Andrew Cogliano played with Penner again this game and he picked up an assist on Penner's goal.

- Dean Arsene had 5 hits and played pretty good.

The Not So Good:

- This was a boring game. Even the overtime and shootout had no drama. UGH! Glad this train wreck is almost over.

- The Oilers take this game to a shootout. Tom Gilbert is the best choice? 8 rounds of shootout and no Cogliano? Strange.

- Mike Comrie is the natural center on his line yet, Zack Stortini was playing center. With Comrie not wanting to make concessions to improve the team, that is reason enough for me to not want him back next season.

- Strudwick and Chorney were their usual terrible selves. Both were burned by being on the ice for both Coyote goals.

- Shawn Horcoff made some bad plays and wasn't really that good. Maybe he's just tired of the crap like the rest of us?

The Side Dish:

- The Falcons only had one goal in a 6-1 loss. Eberle was the guy to score. Recap here.

- The Thunder were losing 4-1 at the time of this recap. Recap to follow.

- Hall vs Seguin recap is here.
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POST GAME VIDEO

*waiting for availability*

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EVENT SUMMARY
GAME SUMMARY

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NEXT GAME

Edmonton Oilers vs Minnesota Wild

Mon 05/04/2010

7:30 PM

TSN

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CLICK HERE TO READ THE LIVE TWEETCAST

-Written by Smokin' Ray-