HISTORY OF THE THUNDER

On a cold, crisp day in January 2005, Dan Chapman walked into a near-empty office located on Main Street in downtown Stockton with just one desk and an office chair, and the Stockton Hockey Franchise Group officially set up shop.

What began with just a desk light now has turned into a spotlight large enough to cover the Central Valley sports scene.

February came and the team would begin selling season tickets for the first time. On February 5, 2005, over 600 season tickets were sold to fans that lined up early in the morning to be the first to purchase tickets for Stockton's new team.

Throughout the year, the Thunder front office was a whirlwind of activity as new front office staff members were hired and the ground work was laid for the team's inaugural season.

The ECHL's Stockton Hockey Franchise Group was born when owner Michael Reinsdorf purchased the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies, only two seasons after the team won the ECHL's Kelly Cup Championship. Reinsdorf relocated the team to Stockton where a brand-new, state-of-the-art arena was being built.

During the summer, while construction crews worked around the clock on the arena and temperatures continuously reached over 100 degrees, the team continued to sell tickets at a fast pace to fans throughout the Central Valley.    

On May 11, fans were introduced for the first time to Head Coach Chris Cichocki at an afternoon press conference at Valley Brew Family Restaurant. Two weeks later, on May 23, the hockey team taking the Central Valley by storm had a name that fit - the Thunder. The name was submitted by 11-year old Michelle Costa of Tracy.

After two impressive seasons in Atlantic City, it was clear there was only one man appropriate to announce as the Thunder's first player signing: goaltender Jake Moreland (pictured, right). Moreland's signing personified the first player on the Thunder roster in the image of what Chris Cichocki's team was to be in 2005-06: unrelenting, aggressive, and capable of the highlight play or save.

The 2005-06 season began with a wave of fan support, as a throng of Thunder fans trekked south to Fresno's Save Mart Center on October 22, witnessing a Stockton comeback that fell painfully short in a 4-3 setback to the Fresno Falcons, marking the Thunder's ECHL debut.

Two weeks later, Stockton got another landmark: its first win in team history. The Thunder silenced a boisterous crowd of 13,001 at San Diego's iPayOne Center, knocking off the Gulls by a 4-3 overtime score, as Stephen Slonina repetitively jammed at a rebound located at the top of the crease and etched a date for the history books.

Through all the buildup and hype that surrounded the much heralded opening of the new arena, the night of December 10, 2005 not only went down as a historical night for Stockton hockey, but for the changing lifestyle of San Joaquin Valley residents. The new arena promised to be the start of many new entertainment options for Stockton residents in the months to come.

Fans came in droves for the red-letter game as the Thunder matched-up against the Phoenix RoadRunners. A sellout crowd of 10,117 witnessed a 4-0 Thunder blanking over Phoenix, which included Moreland's shutout of 22 saves to post the first shutout in Thunder history. Mike Lalonde christened the new arena by scoring the game's first goal on a first-period power play tally, while Slonina shined with a two-goal game, including a third-period breakaway goal to put away Phoenix.

The Thunder even got involved with the Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy, sending forward Maris Ziedins to the hockey championship tournament as a member of Team Latvia. Ziedins scored a goal during the tournament, notching a mark for Stockton in the world's most important international winter sports competition.

Riding tweaks to the roster and the multiplying fan base, the Thunder finished the 2005-06 season unbeaten in 13 of their final 20 games, with Moreland setting a club record for most saves in one season (1,412), overcoming a recurring hip injury that nearly sidelined him for the season in February.

But by far the most exciting things in Stockton were happening in the stands. Each game, more and more fans were taking residence in ThunderLand. During the final home game of the season, the Thunder fans dethroned the Florida Everblades, who had been the league attendance kings for the past five seasons. The Thunder drew 30,562 fans to Stockton Arena in the final four regular season games, averaging over 7,000 per game to knock off the Everblades and capture the ECHL's attendance title with a total of 228,364 fans for all 36 home games during 2005-06.

The Thunder season ended on a high note when the team won its final game of the season with a 4-2 victory over San Diego. Over 9,000 fans cheered the team on that night. Most fans stayed well after the final buzzer sounded to see awards given to Joel Irwin (Leading Scorer), Dean Stork (Inaugural Team Captain) and Jake Moreland (MVP).

With the thrills of every Moreland save and strong finish, Cichocki set out to take the Thunder to the next level during the offseason - the right to play hockey in April and beyond.

All but four players who had 05-06 playing experience (Nathan Martz, Mike Lalonde, Steve Slonina and Jeff Lang) were ushered out or simply moved on. In place was new blood - fast, agile skaters who still maintained the playing style of Cichocki's team - the forechecking aggressiveness of a pit-bull.

The Phoenix Coyotes pulled out of an affiliation relationship with the Thunder, leaving Cichocki to search for one team that would match his playing style and raise the bar on player development for the NHL. In late August of 2006, the Edmonton Oilers came calling and signed a one-year pact with the Thunder, serving as a pipeline to rich talent that would carry the team to new heights.

The Thunder got off to a roaring start in 2006-07, going unbeaten in 20 of its first 22 games (15-2-5 record). For their efforts, four Thunder players - Martz, Beau Geisler, Troy Bodie and Devan Dubnyk were chosen to the National Conference All-Star team, including Martz and Geisler's selection to the starting lineup. In the middle of a swift turnaround of the team, Cichocki was honored with his third selection to the All-Star Game as a head coach, tying a league all-time high with Alaska's Davis Payne and Gwinnett's Jeff Pyle.

The fans kept coming as well. Three sellouts and 10 games drew crowds of 8,000 or more at Stockton Arena were fueled by the California fan's unquenchable thirst for hockey and entertainment and the Thunder's way of giving back to the community, starting with "Thunder Goes Pink" weekend in November to celebrate breast cancer awareness.

For the second straight year, "Teddy Bear Toss" night drew in a nearly-packed house, as thousands of stuffed animals rained onto the ice following a Mike Lalonde shorthanded goal against Bakersfield in January and the animals were donated through the United Way of San Joaquin County afterwards.

What was also developing in the midst of the strong start was a springboard to higher levels for Thunder players. Tyler Spurgeon earned a promotion to the AHL with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Bryan Young, who appeared in 17 games with Stockton, shot all the way up to Edmonton within two months, becoming the first former Thunder player to earn a spot with an NHL club.

As the Thunder closed on its first all-time Kelly Cup Playoff berth, the assignment of goal-scorer extraordinaire Brock Radunske and trade deadline acquisitions of defenseman Brian Lee from Gwinnett and Colin Pepperall (free-agent signee) energized the team, winning an all-time club record 11 straight games, climbing the Thunder into the sixth seed of the playoffs.

In a wide-open field with no clear-cut favorite, the Thunder faced the Idaho Steelheads in the National Conference Quarterfinal, whom Stockton had taken 7 of 11 games from in the regular season. Yet, Idaho was loaded with playoff experience from its previous 2004 Kelly Cup championship team, which proved the best-of-seven game series would be no picnic.

Yet, the Thunder feasted on a game 1 comeback, taking a 4-2 win in front of a silenced crowd at Qwest Arena after Tim Sestito (pictured, right) scored one of the biggest goals in Thunder history - a shorthanded goal with four minutes left in regulation to highlight a three-goal third period.

Idaho won the next two in series, including an 88-minute, double-overtime affair in game 3 at Stockton Arena, the longest tilt in Thunder history. But the Thunder bounced back in game 4 with a 3-2 win to knot the series at 2-2. Yet, Idaho had an answer in the form of Lance Galbraith's overtime winner in game 5, setting up Idaho's academic 6-1 win in game six to close the Thunder season. Idaho eventually rode the wave of momentum and captured its second Kelly Cup title in four years.

Yet, a taste of playoff competition has fueled the Thunder for 2007-08 and its continuously growing fan-base - the Thunder led the league in attendance for the second straight season with over 6,700 fans, the first time since the 1990's that any other team besides the EverBlades drew the most fans for two consecutive years.

With the signature blend of high-tempo hockey and fan entertainment, the level of excitement is cranked up to a notch never experienced before, as the ECHL All-Star Game hits Stockton Arena in January 2008.

The spotlight now shines brighter.