This postseason has been like an obstacle course for the Thunder. And the next thing they have to get through is a 2-0 deficit in the Kelly Cup Finals.
Not much to say about a 4-0 shutout in Game 2. Reading executed, its goalie was great, it deserved to win. When the Thunder flies home, just leave the DVD of the game in the hotel room.
So now Game 3 is monumental for the Thunder. Like save-the-season big. It has come back too many times to count it out, but the Thunder is in quite a fix.
The Thunder made its first visit to Sovereign Center in Reading, Pa. on Thursday and had a brisk and productive practice.
The Thunder is preparing for the start of the ECHL Kelly Cup Finals against the Reading Royals which begins 4:05 p.m. Saturday. Stockton flew to Pennsylvania on Wednesday, and went on the ice on Thursday.
“I thought it was a good practice, we worked on a lot of things we want to concentrate on,” Thomas said. “Everyone is excited to be here. They are definitely ready to get going.”
Thomas said the rink at Sovereign Center is a little different than Stockton Arena. It’s tighter behind the net and in the corners, and he compared it to CenturyLink Arena in Boise, Idaho.
On Thursday evening the team went to a local arcade.
The Stockton Thunder is on its way to the Kelly Cup Finals after vanquishing the Idaho Steelheads for the Western Conference crown, but the players who celebrated on the ice aren’t the only winners.
Owners Brad and Dawn Rowbotham and team president Dan Chapman now have a banner to hang in Stockton Arena, and are looking for one more. And it’s an emotional moment for longtime staffers such as Linda Vasquez, who has been with the franchise since the beginning in 2005 and will move on to a new job after the postseason. And team captain Garet Hunt, who has always done the gritty, tough jobs during his five seasons, gets to the league’s biggest stage.
But the most telling sight in Stockton Arena on Saturday was the look on the faces of the fans as as the final moments melted away. Some were giddy, but many looked tense and nervous. They wanted this so bad after eight long years.
And now they have it. On to the finals.
The Thunder hasn’t done anything the easy way throughout the postseason, so it’s not surprising there would be one more hurdle as it moved the the verge of an ECHL National Conference championship.
Stockton led 3-2 with 1.4 seconds left in the game when they was a mad scramble in front of the Thunder net and Nathan Deck knocked the goal off its moorings. The officials called Deck for delay of game on a scoring opportunity, and awarded the Steelheads a penalty shot.
Austin Smith missed against Thunder goalie Olivier Roy, and Stockton is a game away from it’s first Kelly Cup Final.
It was tough to tell if the refs made the right call. I will say it’s tough to do it with that many people thrashing around the net. But it is a judgement call.
Said Thunder coach Matt Thomas: “It’s the right call, if it’s intentional. That’s the argument by me, that Deck didn’t do it intentionally. He was just scrambling back there.”
Deck stated: “I was battling in there, it wasn’t on purpose.”
It was just one more challenge the Thunder successfully overcame. Now it will try to finish this series tonight and avoid a return trip to Boise, Idaho.
Thomas spoke on a few subjects after the game, and he’s a few of his comments:
On Game 4: “It was another war. It was a hell of a game, man, just like every other game in this series. Our entire team played a very hard-nosed game. We ended up making one more play than them.”
Game 5: “Let’s put this way — we can’t make a mistake. You have to expect that it will be harder than tonight.”
So, is the home team going to win one in this series?
So far it hasn’t happened. After dropping two in Boise, the Idaho Steelheads got a bit of revenge by beating the Stockton Thunder 2-1 in overtime on Wednesday at Stockton Arena.
It was a very good game. The Thunder certainly played pretty well, but Idaho acted as if it absolutely had to get this one, which is true. The chances of coming back from a 3-0 hole were very slim.
So they are back in the series, and the Thunder will try to win the next two and avoid a return trip to Idaho.
The Thunder won the first two games of the Western Conference finals against the Steelheads in Idaho, and come home at 7 p.m. Wednesday to try to put Idaho in a deeper hole.
Both coaches — Matt Thomas of Stockton and Brad Ralph of Idaho — have praised the opposition, but Ralph did make some comments to the Idaho Statesman after a 2-1 overtime loss to Stockton which may draw the interest of the Thunder.
Ralph told The Statesman: “Look at the shots and the scoring chances and how we dominated the game (Sunday). It seems like we make one mistake and the puck’s in the back of the net. Their luck has got to run out here soon, and we’ll be ready to go when it does.”
Idaho has outshot Stockton 75-50 in the first two games, so it’s got to be frustrating. But my guess is that the Thunder won’t appreciate being called “Lucky,” and that likely made its way on to a bulletin board at Stockton Arena.
That’s what you call a productive weekend.
The Thunder went to Boise Idaho, played the Steelheads and skated away with two wins in the ECHL Western Conference finals.
The Thunder is halfway to qualifying for its first Kelly Cup Finals in its eight-season history, and now take the series back to Stockton Arena, where it is 6-1 in the postseason. Stockton can get to the finals without stepping foot in Idaho again.
This is all great news for the Thunder and its fans, but don’t expect the Thunder to get ahead of itself. Stockton had a 2-0 lead in the first round against Vegas and still had to go seven games to win it. A major difference is that lead was built at home, as opposed to winning two on the opposition’s ice.
This is better.
On to Game 3 on Wednesday night.
The Reading (Pa.) Royals is the fourth and final team to reach the conference championship round.
The Stockton Thunder qualified Tuesday, and will meet the Idaho Steelheads in the first game of the Western Conference finals on Friday in Boise Idaho. Reading finished off the Florida Everblades in seven games on Wednesday, and move on to face the Cincinnati Cyclones in the Eastern Conference finals. Their series also begins Friday.
The Thunder and Royals are looking for their first titles. The Steelheads and Cyclones both have two Kelly Cups.
The Thunder’s familiar, thrilling formula has put it in the ECHL’s version of the frozen four.
The Thunder fell behind, as usual, rallied as it always seems to do and beat the Alaska Aces 4-3 in Anchorage to finish off its Western Conference semifinal series in six games on Tuesday. Next up is a meeting with the Idaho Steelheads in the conference finals, and Stockton heads to Boise believing anything is possible.
It was Stockton’s fourth overtime win in the postseason, and in many ways it was the most impressive of its many comebacks. The Aces desperately needed to win, were on its home ice, and had an early 2-0 lead.
But the Thunder kept hitting the Aces with confidence-shattering blows, and they finally went down for good.
It got a goal from Harrison Reed with one second left in the first period, and Andrew Clark tied the game at 3-3 with just five seconds left in regulation. Nik Pokulok, a rookie with just 18 games as a pro, settled it in OT.
So Alaska, which led the league in victories,is gone, and the Thunder remains. The team from Stockton clearly has something special going, we’ll see if they can ride it into the Kelly Cup finals.
The Thunder could have finished its series with the Alaska on Sunday and taken a few days to bask in the warm California sun. But lost, so it’s off to Alaska, where it was 41 degrees on Sunday evening.
The Thunder still has a 3-2 lead in the ECHL Western Conference semifinals, and has two chances to win it in Alaska. Those are solid odds, but the Aces are always tough on their home ice.
Stockton played well on Sunday, it just didn’t get the one or two plays which have been the hallmark of the playoff comebacks. It came close though: Matt Bergland almost tied the game in the final seconds.
So the play-from-behind thing finally caught up with the Thunder. It still leads in the series, but Alaska has new life.
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