STOCKTON, Calif. – The Stockton Thunder fought the hard fight only to be upset in a 5-4 shootout loss against the Alaska Aces in Saturday’s game before 5,216 fans at the Stockton Arena. But this night would be remembered as the game that team captain, fan favorite, and assistant coach Garet Hunt would become the Thunder all-time point leader in the team’s ten year history.
Garet Hunt (24) scores past Alaska goalie Troy Redmann to become the Stockton Thunder’s all-time points leader with 157 points (Photo by Jack Lima)
Hunt wristed a rebound from the front of the net only 22 seconds into the game to score his 157th Thunder point, and twelfth goal of the year. The previous record had been held by former player Mike LaLonde.
“It’s a good milestone and pretty exciting,” said Hunt. “It couldn’t be any better; it was on a Saturday night, before the home crowd”
Coach Rich Kromm said. “[Garet Hunt] is certainly earned and deserving of all the milestones that he can reach. He’s been a great competitor here. Points are one thing, but Garet contributes in so many other ways. It’s all about heart for him, and he brings so much to the team. It’s nice to see him rewarded with something like that.
The Thunder had come off a hard loss the previous night when the Aces dominated in a 10-2 loss. But this night would be different.
Hunt said the tone in the locker room prior to the game was spent reflecting why they continued to play.
“Tonight we talked about coming out and playing for each other and playing for ourselves. We owed it to ourselves to come out and work hard and give the fans a good show.” Hunt continued, “It didn’t go our way in the end, we battled hard played a full 60 minutes and the guys left everything out there.”
Hunt’s goal was the only one in the first period, as Ace’s Troy Redmann and Thunder’s Lucas Gore gave solid efforts in the net for the duration.
Mike Pereira screens goalie Troy Redmann (photo by Jack Lima)
In the second period, Ace’s Brendan Connolly scored on the first man-advantage of the game at 3:15. The Aces took the lead less than a minute later, when Greg Wolfe netted a rebound past Gore.
J.T. Barnett evened the score on a power play goal six minutes into the period. But the Aces took advantage of another power play opportunity at 10:49. The Thunder’s J.P. Chabot evened the score when he wristed the puck into the net.
Kromm was pleased with the teams’ efforts saying, “Guys like Chabot go the net hard consistently, and his net front last night and tonight, created two goals for us.”
Lucas Gore (50) makes a stop on Chris Francis (photo by Jack Lima)
In the third period, Adam Phillips scored on another power play, when his slap shot hit the net through traffic at 4:46. Walters scored his second goal of the night, leading the teams into sudden death overtime.
J.T. Barnett (11) draws a four minutes high sticking major penalty from Corey Syvret (photo by Jack Lima)
The Thunder battled hard in the third and the overtime periods, but it became a goaltender dual. Gore had 37 saves by the end of the overtime period, while Redmann eventually took the win in the shootout with 25 saves.
Walters and Connolly scored against Gore in the shootout, while Redmann allowed no goals to the four shooters, Tyler Maxwell, James Henry, Vinny Scarsella and Tyler Shattock.
Ryan Walters scores a shoot-out goal on Lucas Gore (photo by Jack Lima)
“Gore competed hard tonight. He did a great job of controlling the puck. His effort was really good,” said Kromm, adding “He hasn’t practiced much, he had to go home to take some exams.”
The Thunder has been playing with only three defensemen due to call-ups and injuries. Forwards Shattock and James Henry have been covering the position well.
Kromm said, “I thought the effort was outstanding, considering the circumstances with the line up right now. I thought [Shattock and Henry] contributed how they could.”
“We just tied to forget about last night. Obviously we’re not in the playoff race. It’s good to have a game like that and show that we can still compete with teams that are in the playoff hunt,” said Phillips on their efforts after the game.
Troy Redmann stops James Henry’s shoot-out attempt (photo by Jack Lima)
Both teams were two for four on the power play. The Thunder will have another opportunity on Sunday’s afternoon game.
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