GAMEDAY BLOG: Heat Host San Jose for First Meeting
Arena: Stockton Arena
Date: October 14, 2015
Time: 7:00 p.m. PST
Broadcast: AHL Live, Spreaker & iHeartRadio beginning at 6:45 p.m. PST
Doors: 6:00 p.m., Puck drop: 7:00p.m.
Giveaway: Heat schedule card to the first 1,000 fans
2014-15 LEADING SCORER: STOCKTON (ADK): LW Kenny Agostino (1GP 0-3-3)
SAN JOSE (WOR): LW Michael Haley (1GP 1-1-2)
TONIGHT
The Stockton Heat will look to build on their opening night performance, in which they dominated the Rockford IceHogs from start to finish by a score of 7-0. San Jose enters Stockton Arena with their only game played thus far being a loss to the very same Rockford team the Heat took down.
For the Heat, they enter with confidence due to not just their opening night win, but also the fact that they beat San Jose 4-2 on the road during the preseason. Tonight will be the first of 12 matchups this year between the two and this one promises to be the tone-setter for the season series.
WHO TO WATCH
Tonight the player to watch is forward Turner Elson.
Elson has made two of the best highlights already since training camp opened up. The first of which was when we put a backhand shot top shelf, glove side during the preseason game against Bakersfield.
The second was on the very first official goal scored in Stockton Heat team history when Elson put a no look, backhand pass right on Derek Grant’s tape for the easy tap-in goal. Elson is a leader on and off the ice and shown flashes of brilliance on the ice. Look for him to show a few more of those skills tonight in his first matchup against San Jose.
GO GO GADGET GILLIES:
Jon Gillies made his pro debut a memorable one as he stopped all 19 shots the IceHogs could muster to record his first pro win and his first pro shutout in his first pro game.
He was one of just three players to record shutouts during the opening weekend of play and one of only two goaltenders after the first weekend to not surrender a single goal.
CALLING ON GRANLUND
An unfortunate injury to Calgary Flames forward Lance Bouma Tuesday night left a void in the Calgary lineup. The Flames made the decision to call-up Markus Granlund to help fill that void for the time being.
Granlund, 22, performed well last season with the Flames, scoring 18 points (8-10-18) in 48 games and he scored a goal and an assist in his first game with the Heat this year. The Finnish-born centerman was the last forward cut from Flames camp and now gets another shot to stick with the big club in Calgary.
IT’S A HAMILTON THING:
October 10 was a good day for the Hamilton family. While Freddie Hamilton scored the final goal of the evening for the Stockton Heat, his brother Dougie scored his first goal as a member of the Calgary Flames earlier that night in a game the Flames would end up winning in overtime against Vancouver.
Dougie was acquired by Calgary in a trade from Boston just before the 2015 NHL Entry Draft while his brother Freddie was picked up from the Avalanche and subsequently assigned to Stockton prior to the AHL season.
THAT’S ONE WAY TO START
When the final scoreboard read 7-0 last Saturday, everyone at Stockton Arena witnessed a big opening act from the Heat.
However, it was not the biggest win this franchise has earned. In fact, it’s not even the biggest win in the last two years. Last season, the Adirondack Flames defeated the Syracuse Crunch 10-0 in what was the largest margin of victory for Adirondack all season. Ten goals in a game is rare enough, but to do it in shutout fashion is a whole other beast totally.
Maybe it wasn’t 10-0, but the opening night victory last Saturday was still impressive.
CALGARY FLAMES CORNER:
The Flames hosted the St. Louis Blues on Monday but would end up falling 4-3. Mason Raymond, Jiri Hudler and David Jones had goals for the Flames and despite a furious effort late in the third, the team couldn’t find the tying goal to send the game to overtime.
The other notable from the game was Lance Bouma going down to injury. Markus Granlund was recalled to take his place and became the first Heat player recalled to the NHL.
INTERESTING FACT
Jon Gillies 19-save shutout on October 10th’s opening night was the earliest shutout in a season in the last 10 years. In that time span, Calgary’s AHL franchise has seen two shutouts on the second game of the season including Leland Irving’s 19-save shutout on October 8, 2011 against the Lake Erie Monsters and Brent Krahn’s 36-save shutout on October 8, 2005 against the Iowa Stars.
