Matchup: Stockton Thunder at Idaho Steelheads. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at Qwest Arena, 7 PM game time.
Thunder-struck: It’s a fitting way to draw the curtain on the 2009 portion of the regular season since it’ll be the tenth meeting of the season between Idaho and Stockton. Idaho is a perfect 9-0-0 against the Thunder so far, but Stockton’s roster has undergone a major overhaul since the teams last saw each other a month ago. Since then, Stockton has climbed out of the Pacific Division cellar and is nipping at the heels of second-place Ontario.
Wire to wire? While Stockton is climbing the Pacific Division standings, Idaho has been atop the West Division standings all season. The Steelheads opened the season with seven wins in their first eight games and has been in first place ever since. And head coach Derek Laxdal’s team has done it amid constant roster movement (which is typical as an affiliated minor-league team) – the team has had nearly 30 different players dress for a game this year, yet fewer than half a dozen have appeared in every contest.
For the third night in a row, the final score at Qwest Arena was a 5-1 count. However, unlike last night’s contest, the Idaho Steelheads (23-9-2) did not get the better of the Stockton Thunder (14-15-3). Stockton shot in front 4-0 before the Steelheads were able to solve Thunder netminder Andrew Perugini.
One goal went on the board in the first period, and it belonged to the Stockton Thunder. After Richard Bachman made a fantastic save in the Steelheads net, a rebound squirted straight onto the tape of Oren Eizenman of the Thunder, who fired the puck by the sprawling Bachman at 16:26 of the opening period.
Just as they did in the first period, the Stockton Thunder tacked on a single goal in the second period to take a 2-0 lead into the locker room after 40 minutes. After a series of saves made by Bachman, a bouncing puck was sent home by Stockton’s Igor Gongalsky.
Stockton extended the lead to 3-0 at 3:13 of the third period when Riley Emmerson poked home a rebound after another series of Bachman saves. Just over eight minutes later at 11:31, Eizenman made it 4-0 on a Stockton power play.
Matt Sorteberg capitalized on a turnover by Thunder goalie Andrew Perugini, firing the puck over the line for his first professional goal at 12:08; Brandan Kushniruk and Matt McKnight picked up the assists on the goal. For McKnight, the assist gives him 15 points in his last 14 games since being out of the lineup on November 27th and 28th.
Less than a minute later at 12:54, Chris D’Alvise scored to give Stockton a 5-1 lead, which is how the game would end.
Bachman stopped 24 of 29 shots and saw his record fall to 10-4-1. Andrew Perugini earned the win, stopping 29 of 30 shots to improve to 7-6-2.
The Steelheads take on the Victoria Salmon Kings in Victoria on January 8th and 9th before returning home to play Utah at Qwest Arena on January 13th.