RECAP: Foy Story
Thunder constructs wire to wire effort, now 7-1-1 in last nine games at home
FINAL STATS: Box score
STOCKTON, Calif. –
AUDIO: Game Highlights – Thunder Replay
VIDEO: Game highlights and postgame reaction from the locker room
The Thunder outshot Idaho 38-20, never trailed in the game and improved to 7-1-1 in the last nine home games, running its record to 4-3-1 in the season series over Idaho. Thunder rookie goaltender Thomas Heemskerk, making his first return to action since Dec. 26, boosted his record to 9-5-0 with 18 saves.
“We were dominant with shots, we had two power play goals and everyone played well,” said Thunder head coach Matt Thomas. “You take things by what you can improve on every night and that’s a good lesson to learn when you still come out on top. Tonight was good for our power play because of our struggles in the past.”
Thomas Heemskerk made 18 saves for a win in his return to the lineup. (photo by Sean Blair)
The win put the Thunder back into sole possession of fifth place in the Western Conference with 21 games to play.
The Thunder owned the first period with a 19-1 lead in shots after 20 minutes and parlayed back to back power play goals for a 2-0 lead, beginning with Ryan Lowery’s first ECHL goal with 13:53 left when he finished Matt Foy’s rocket cross-ice pass at the right circle.
Lowery and Foy connected again with 9:29 left for a 2-0 Thunder edge, when Lowery fired a pass from the right point to Foy at the goal mouth, who ricocheted the puck over goaltender Jerry Kuhn’s glove.
Patrick Kennedy shaved Idaho’s deficit to 2-1 with 13:24 left in the second period on a power play goal, redirecting Cody Purves’ wrist shot from the left circle through Heemskerk’s five hole.
The Thunder had two high quality scoring chances to expand the lead but Kuhn turned them away on highlight reel saves. He stopped Kevin Baker at the right post on a feed from Chris D’Alvise and then stoned Ryan Martindale’s deflection with the right pad on a redirection at the left post.
Martindale finally found the back of the net with 18.9 seconds left in the second period when he converted Mike Little’s point feed at the goal mouth.
Idaho got back to within a goal, 3-2 on Aaron Lewicki’s 13th goal of the season with 8:54 left in regulation when he buried a snap shot from the right circle to complete a 3-on-2 rush.
With the Thunder clamping down defensively and using a conservative approach late in the game, Heemskerk withstood Idaho’s attack the rest of the way and the Thunder barely missed on two empty net chances, closing out the game.
Kuhn took his league leading 17th loss with a 35 save effort.
NOTES: Scratched for the game were Brock Matheson (injured reserve), Sebastian Owuya (injured reserve), Gabriel Levesque (injured reserve), Jason Morgan (injured reserve) and Chris Doyle (healthy) … Heemskerk, who had missed the last 22 games due to injury, earned his first win since Dec. 10 … D’Alvise registered four shots on goal in his return to the Thunder lineup from the American Hockey League.
The Thunder returns home for their next game tomorrow, hosting the Colorado Eagles at 7:30 p.m. at Stockton Arena. The game will be carried on radio at 1280 AM KWSX (potentially joined in progress) and online for viewing (pay-per-view video charge) and listening (free of charge) at www.StocktonThunder.com, courtesy of AmericaOne.
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 sixth consecutive season in 2010-11. Season Tickets for 2011-12 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/.
THREE STARS
1. STK – 83 Matt Foy
2. STK – 29 Thomas Heemskerk
3. STK – 16 Ryan Lowery
That was much better. Passing was good and puck control was very good. When these guys play like this they almost always win. Holding Idaho to one shot on goal in the first period was great.
There was no second period let down and they kept rolling, that was the difference tonight. Great job guys.