Vladimir Fadeev’s hat trick goal 27 seconds into sudden-death overtime lifted the Oceanside Shock to a 5-4 victory over the Stockton Thunder on Sunday night at Frontwave Arena in front of a crowd of 3,340 fans. The first win in Shock history (1-2-0, 2 points) was of a dramatic comeback variety, as Fadeev scored twice in the third period—once on the power play and once short-handed—to forge a 4-4 tie after Stockton (0-0-1, 1 point) took the lead twice in the final frame.
Fadeev’s game-winner came out of the right corner in the opening half-minute of 3-on-3 sudden-death overtime. Team captain Matt O’Dea won the puck out of a Thunder double-team and nestled it over to Fadeev, who got on his forehand and whistled a wrist shot over the shoulder of the Thunder goaltender William Augustine, with the puck rattling the inside of the right post and back of the crossbar before touching twine to give the Shock their first win ever.
Oceanside battled fatigue and injury to post a win in their third game in three nights, the only team in the Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) asked to take on such a task in the season’s opening weekend. Missing three players due to injury, head coach Craig Carlyle signed two new forwards before the opening faceoff, welcoming Jeramy Razaeepour and Sean Reynolds to the team. Reynolds contributed an assist, and both he and Razaeepour made several strong plays on both ends of the ice.
The Shock came out of the locker room with a fierceness and determination to start the game, and controlled the ice for almost the entirety of the first period. Oceanside out-shot Stockton 16-9 and had multiple strong chances turned away by Augustine (48/53 saves). However, one mistake late in the period allowed Stockton to find their first goal in franchise history on the power play. Ethan Yang was whistled for holding with 4:25 remaining in the period, and the Thunder went on the power play. A minute into the man advantage, Daniil Nikiforov found himself with space to operate in the slot, and wristed a shot over O’Shaughnessy (31/34 saves) at 16:43 for a 1-0 Stockton lead, which held into the intermission break.
Second periods had bedeviled Oceanside in their first two games, but the Shock put together their best 20 minutes of the young season in the middle stanza on Sunday night. The turnaround started with a bit of good fortune. Stockton thought a heavy hit near the bench could be called a penalty, and as the Thunder players looked to the officials, Oceanside’s Akhmed Malsagov took the loose puck behind the red line and whipped it at the Stockton net, where Augustine was surprised to see the puck whistle past him and into the net at 3:06 for a 1-1 tie. Five minutes later, Oceanside took the lead on a strong cycle down low in the Stockton zone. Sam Bailey and Sean Reynolds kept the puck alive for Yang, who came out of the right corner and spun, shooting the puck off the inside of Augustine’s right pad and into the net for his second goal of the season, at 8:09. The Thunder found their way to a 2-2 tie in the final minute of the period on Nolan Mix’s first goal of the season at 19:02, but the Thunder took a minor penalty for holding with 14 seconds left in the period, foreshadowing a third period filled with special teams.
The Thunder discipline unraveled in the final period, as Stockton took five more minor penalties, giving the Shock 11:46 of available power play time. Amazingly, Stockton’s penalty kill unit seemed up to the task. First, the Thunder killed 1:09 of Oceanside two-man advantage, then Mix sprung Ilnur Madiarov on a 2-v-1 short-handed rush, with Madiarov firing home the goal at 2:39 to give Stockton a 3-2 lead. The lone Oceanside penalty of the period came at the 7:15 mark when Ben Buium was sent to the box for holding, but it was the Shock’s turn to strike short-handed for the first time in franchise history. Fadeev stole a puck at center ice, skated between two defenders and slid the puck flat on the ice past Augustine’s left sake at 8:17 to knot the game at 3-3. Oceanside continued to build pressure in the Thunder zone, but when Mix spotted Payton Jones alone on the right side of the ice, he lifted a pass over the entire team and sent Jones in on a breakaway, which he finished with a right-to-left move and wrist shot at 11:21 for a 4-3 Stockton lead. Back came the Shock on their eighth and final power play chance of the night, earned with 2:29 to go on a Wolesky holding minor. Matt O’Dea sent the puck in deep when Akhmed Malsagov took a swing, the puck rebounding to Fadeev’s stick for a simple finish at the right post and a pounding celebration into the glass at 17:51 of the third.
Oceanside and Stockton will meet 17 times this season, with the next two coming back-to-back in a home-road sortie next weekend. The two teams will gather at Adventist Health Arena in Stockton on Saturday for the Thunder’s opening night, before returning to Frontwave Arena for “Stick it to Cancer Night” on Sunday, October 18th, a 5pm faceoff. Tickets are available by visiting frontwavearena.com.
