Thunder Couldn't Stop the Reign

The Stockton Thunder played their second game of the season tonight against the Ontario Reign, and they were greatly improved from the unfortunate defeat the night before. What I saw in the 1st period was a cohesive team, they skated fast, the guys passed to each other as if they'd been doing it their whole life, they were in sync, defense was sharp, and Tyson Sexsmith in goal looked calm and composed. Thunder's Mark Arcobello scored early at 1:14, with assists from Aaron Clarke and Craig Valette. Before 1st period ended, Ryan Constant had scored a second goal on a powerplay. Shots on goal were Stockton-13, Ontario-3.

It didn't take long into the 2nd period for Ontario's Eric Doyle to score on a shot that went over Sexsmith's glove and appeared to hit the crossbar then out, but the refs determined that it went in. This isn't where things started to fall apart for the Thunder though, as Jim McKenzie, with an assist from Chris Lawrence, scored about a minute later to put Stockton up 3-1.

Later on in the 2nd period Ontario scored an a powerplay, and then managed to tie the game at 3-3. Fraser Clair continued his scoring streak and put the Thunder up 4-3 heading into the 2nd intermission.

3rd period, all we wanted was for the Thunder to build on their score. What we got was the Reign tying the game up with less than 10 minutes to go in the game, and they did it on a 5-3 powerplay. And this is where the team we saw last night showed up again. Sloppy passes, couldn't keep the puck out of their defensive zone, poor entry or dump and chase into the offensive zone.

Thunder's Ryan Constant and the Reign's Chaz Johnson got matching roughing calls within the last couple of minutes of regulation. While 4 on 4, Stockton had some great chances to get ahead but just couldn't get the puck past Ontario's goalie Martin Jones.

In overtime, there were scoring chances for both teams, but with a little over a minute left, Ontario's Johnson somehow got the puck past Sexsmith and that was that.

Stockton Thunder's next match, just their third game of the season, is also against the Reign. The Thunder needs a killer instinct, needs to play the whole three periods just like they did in the first. They need to play a complete game. Next Friday, October 22, 2010, the Thunder needs to shut down the Reign. They almost had it tonight, but in sudden death overtime, almost doesn't get a win.

Triple Header LIVE TweetCast / Oilers vs Flames / OKC Barons vs Monsters / Thunder vs Reign

Welcome to the Triple Header LIVE TweetCast. Tonight we have 3 games that we are going to follow.

GAME #1

Lake Erie Monsters vs OKC Barons at 6:05pm MDT

OFFICAL GAME SHEET

LISTEN TO THE GAME HERE

ERIC'S GAME PREVIEW

GAME #2

Edmonton Oilers vs Calgary Flames at 8:08pm MDT on CBC

CHURCH OF EBERLE PREVIEW
GAME #3

Ontario Reign vs Stockton Thunder at 8:30pm MDT

LISTEN TO GAME HERE

Barons Game 4 Preview; Lake Erie vs. OKC

Away: Lake Erie Monsters (2-0-0); Last game: 2-1 SO Win vs. Syracuse
Home: Oklahoma City Barons (0-2-1); Last game: 2-1 OT Loss vs. Houston

Quick News and Notes

-This will be the first of six meetings between the two teams
-The Monsters are the AHL affiliate of the CHL Tulsa Oilers, the main rival to the old OKC Blazers
-Colin McDonald and Teemu Hartikainen are the only scorers for the Barons. McDonald with 1, Hartikainen with 2.
-The Barons are 0 for 18 on the PP, and 13 for 15 on the PK.
-Giroux continues to lead the team in PIM with 16, with Ben Ondrus in second with 12.

Players to watch:
OKC: After last night's game, it's hard to pick out one or two anymore. Hartikainen is always a given. Hopefully the rest of the team starts to break out and we get to see some scoring.
LEM: Julian Talbot(48) has two goals for the Monsters. Matthew Ford(23) and Justin Mercier(16) are the other Monsters goal scorers with one goal each.

After hearing the complaints of the AHL Live feed, I'm starting to not recommend it. A bit peeved that I spent that much on it to be getting the horrible quality that it is. REMINDER: The game tonight will be on KTOK 1000. The listen live link is in the top left corner under the KTOK logo. Be sure to follow myself (@AHLBarons) and Scott (@OilFieldHockey) as we tweet from the game.

EDIT: The Barons today assigned Jordan Bendfeld to Stockton.

-Written by Eric Rodgers-

Barons Game 3 Recap; A Baron Net

Why, oh why, are we not able to get the puck into the net? So many chances in these games that have gone an inch or two the wrong way. This was a much better game than last weekend. The Barons were making the Aeros fight for the puck, and their first goal was a lucky one that just managed to get by Gerber after a scrum in front of the net. The Barons goal by Colin McDonald was a nice deflection off of a Petiot shot that floated over Matt Hackett's shoulder into the net. After a scoreless third, the game into OT where with 17.4 seconds left on the clock, Casey Wellman got the puck past Gerber to end the game. Definitely a heartbreak for a team that pretty much outplayed the Aeros for the majority of the game.

Highs

-Another 1 goal game, this time in OT. They've extended it all they can, it's time for a win.
-Colin McDonald getting his first goal of the season.
-I got to go on the ice during first intermission.
-Omark showed us he's got some mad stickhandling skills. Now we just need to see his shooting skills.
-The ref let the guys play, but there were some blatant calls that he let go.
-The defense looked good last night. Belle's a machine out there.
-Sound system was a little better.
-Outshot the Aeros 41-31. Now we just need those shots to make it INTO the net.
-Getting to see Bonk again was nice. You could tell he wanted to do something, but he just never got the chance to.
-Reddox was constantly attacking the net. Twice, he had awesome opportunities to get a goal.

Lows

-A heartbreak of a way to lose the game. 17 mother loving seconds left.
-The PP! 0 for 18! WTF?
-Plante and Ondrus need to take some fighting lessons from Belle.
-Sound system still sucked.
-Derrick is here why? I thought a mascot was supposed to pump up the crowd, not walk around it for photo ops. Anyone else find it sacrilegious that he wears #99?
-The prize I got during the first intermission was pretty lame($25 gift card to a restaurant), but hey, free food is free food.
-The etiquette videos. My first time getting to see them and my head wanted to explode. If they were going to do that, they should have ponied up and gotten Larry Hagman to be in it. That way, regardless of how bad they were, it's freaking Larry Hagman.
-They supposed STH-only entrance. I hadn't read the press release before I got there. According to the release, STH's got to enter through that entrance 15 minutes prior to everyone else. What ended up happening, the ushers let everyone in that corner entrance into the arena 15 minutes prior. Oops

Hopefully the team continues to improve, I'm ready for a win. Watch for my preview of tonight's game a little later.

-Written by Eric Rodgers-

Stockton Thunder Lose Opening Game 6-3 / A Game Recap

GAME RECAP: Ontario 6 - Stockton 3

10/15/2010 11:15 PM - Thunder set back on Opening Night before 6,117 fans
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FINAL STATS: Box score
VIDEO: Highlights and postgame locker room comments
AUDIO: Game highlights

STOCKTON, Calif. - Kellen Briggs made 24 saves and the Ontario Reign led wire-to-wire, capitalizing off five unanswered goals to send the Stockton Thunder to a 6-3 defeat on Opening Night, before 6,117 fans at Stockton Arena on Friday night.

The Thunder, who were led offensively by Fraser Clair with three points (2g-1a), dropped its fourth straight season opening defeat. Ontario's Tim Kraus, Jordan Morrison and rookie Aaron Lewadniuk each chipped in with two points.

Ontario got out to a fast start with three goals in the first ten minutes and took a 3-0 lead after the first period.

Shawn Collymore buried a one-timer from between the circles just 53 seconds into the game, followed by a Jeff Corey goal where he turned the defense inside-out, from off the rush and slipped a backhander through Tyson Sexsmith's five hole for a 2-0 edge with 2:31 into the first period.

Kyle Kraemer's bid from 40 feet out, straightaway, slipped through traffic and boosted the Ontario lead to 3-0 with 10:23 gone.

Ontario padded the lead to 4-0 in the second period on Matt Delahey's drive from the right point for a power-play goal at 1:32. Chaz Johnson then capitalized on a rebound at the left goal post following Sexsmith's stop on Eric Doyle's bouncing shot, boosting the edge to 5-0 at 7:48.

The Thunder finally got on the board with 4:05 left in the second when Clair banged in a rebound from the right circle, after Chris D'Alvise and Jason Pitton failed to connect on a two-on-one, tic-tac-toe style set-up.

The goal sparked a response by the Thunder who used a more physical approach to outshoot Ontario, 24-18 over the final two periods and claim three goals in the final 25 minutes.

Following Lewadniuk's first pro goal at 9:34 of the third period where he cashed in a rebound at the left goal post, Clair cut the deficit to 6-2 following a turnover with 4:09 to play, going to the backhand on Briggs from the right circle.

Jesse Gimblett, who began the third period with a scrap against Ontario's Luke Beaverson at 6:14, collected the first goal of his professional career with 21.4 seconds to play when he capitalized with a screen in front of Briggs and re-directed Clair's wrist shot from the left circle for a power-play goal.

Sexsmith took the loss in net with 24 saves.

NOTES: The Thunder scratched Trevor Hunt (injured reserve), Jordan Foreman (injured reserve) and Scott Howes (healthy) ... Sexsmith stopped a penalty shot by Tim Kraus with 15:28 left in the first period, closing the five-hole on Kraus' wrist shot ... the Thunder were outshot, 30-27 by Ontario but had a 13-8 shots edge in the third period ... the Thunder went 1-for-3 on the power-play ... Stockton's last season opening win was in 2006-07, when they opened on the road with a 6-1 victory over Bakersfield.

Stockton and Ontario will play in a rematch tomorrow at Stockton Arena, beginning at 7:30 p.m. (1280 KWSX/StocktonThunder.com).

A two-time recipient of the ECHL "Award of Excellence," Thunder was voted "Best Local Sports Team" by readers of the San Joaquin Magazine, led the ECHL in attendance for four consecutive seasons and drew over 200,000 fans for the fifth consecutive season in 2009-10. Season Tickets, mini-plans and individual tickets for 2010-11 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/

-Reprinted at OilersJambalaya.com with permission from the Stockton Thunder-