Game Day: Wichita at Missouri, December 5th

Wichita, KS (Dec. 5th) - Wichita begins a seven-game road swing tonight in Independence, MO against the Missouri Mavericks. Get ready for the game with our Game Day Capsule, presented by Wichita Brewing Company.

TONIGHT'S MATCH-UPWichita at Missouri - 7:05 p.m., Silverstein Eye Centers Arena, Independence, MO

WICHITAHOME: 5-6-0-1AWAY: 1-6-0-0OVERALL: 6-12-0-1

TEAM LEADERSGoals: Gauthier, 5Assists: Sakaris, 8Points: Sakaris, 12+/-: Sakaris, Huff, Milan, +2PIM: Milan, 39

MISSOURIHOME: 7-0-0-0AWAY: 11-2-0-1OVERALL: 18-2-0-1

TEAM LEADERSGoals: Root, 13Assists: Root, 14Points: Root, 27+/-: Root, +13PIM: Holmstrom, 29

SEASON-SERIESOct. 23 INTRUST 3-0, LOct. 24 Silverstein 2-1, LNov. 7 Silverstein 1-0, LNov. 8 INTRUST 2-1, LNov. 13 INTRUST 7-2, LNov. 14 INTRUST 3-2, L (SO)Nov. 21 INTRUST 5-2, LDec. 5 Silverstein 7:05 p.m.Dec. 31 Siverstein 7:05 p.m.Jan. 12 INTRUST 7:05 p.m.Jan. 29 Silverstein 7:05 p.m.Jan. 30 Silverstein 7:05 p.m.Mar. 4 Silverstein 7:05 p.m.Mar. 19 INTRUST 7:05 p.m.Mar. 20 INTRUST 5:05 p.m.

Wichita is 0-6-0-1 vs. Missouri

HEAD-TO-HEAD - This is the eighth meeting of the season between the Thunder and the Mavericks. All-time, Wichita is 35-28-4 against Missouri and 15-13-3 on the road in the series.

TODAY - Wichita begins a seven-game road trip tonight in Independence, MO against arch-rival Missouri. The Mavericks lead the Independence Cup Series, winning all seven meetings so far with one of those coming in a shootout. The Thunder are coming off a two-game set against Tulsa, losing on Friday 2-0 and falling at home by the final of 4-2. Missouri is in the middle of a 13-game winning streak after defeating the Evansville IceMen on Wednesday night by the final of 3-0.

GO TIME - Danick Gauthier was the Thunder's best offensive player this past week. The Brossard, PQ native has five goals in the last four games, two of which were on the power play and finished with two multi-goal outings. He finished with 29 last season and leads the team in that department through 16 games this year.

HELPING HAND - Mason Baptista has three assists in his last four games and nine points (4g, 5a) so far this season.

SOLID SHANTZ - David Shantz had another solid week, stopping 47 of 50 shots he faced. Shantz currently is tied for 19th in save percentage (.914) and 21st in goals-against average (2.54).

ROAD TRIPPIN' - Wichita has scored 38 goals this year, 28 of which have come on home-ice. Wichita will hit the road for the next seven to start December and try to improve in the scoring department away from home, only finding the net 10 times in seven games. The Thunder will not return home until December 20th against Cincinnati.

CLIMATE CHANGE - Wichita begins the month of December with some new faces in the line-up. This past week, the Thunder acquired Dean Chelios and Landon Oslanski from Alaska and signed Slovakian defenseman, Martin Nemcik.

THUNDERBOLTS...Peter Sakaris and Danick Gauthier lead the team in shots with 48...Wichita's penalty kill is ranked ninth at home (86%) and 12th overall (83.5%)...Wichita is 2-for-10 in its last three games on the power play...Ian Lowe reached 100 ECHL points this past weekend and needs six more to hit the 200-point plateau for his career...Wichita is 4-0-0-1 when leading after two...Wichita is 4-3-0-1 in one-goal games...

MISSOURI NOTES - Missouri has the league's best winning percentage (.881)...Jesse Root leads the league with 13 goals while Tyler Barnes is second with 12...Root leads the league with 27 points while Barnes is second with 25...Parker Milner leads the league in GAA (1.40) while Josh Robinson is third with a 1.62 GAA...Milner also has the best save percentage in the ECHL (.944)...

AROUND THE ECHL - There are eight other games tonight in the ECHL. Reading heads to Manchester. Norfolk goes to Greenville. Atlanta plays at Orlando. Kalamazoo travels to Elmira. South Carolina heads to Wheeling. Utah visits Allen. Florida plays at Idaho. Colorado goes up to Alaska.

UP NEXT - Wichita remains on the road this upcoming Tuesday for its first trip of the season north to the Black Hills to take on Rapid City.

Individual tickets for all games are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased at the INTRUST Arena Box office, by calling 855-755-SEAT or go online at www.selectaseat.com.

Season tickets are on sale now. Don't delay! Call the Wichita Thunder office and visit with a season ticket rep today to learn more. Stay up-to-date on all the news during the season by visiting www.wichitathunder.com.

Follow along with us on our social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter (@wichita_thunder), Snapchat (wichthunder), Instagram (Wichita_Thunder) and LinkedIn, presented by Wichita Brewing Company.

About the ECHL

The ECHL began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states and has grown into a coast-to-coast league with 28 teams in 20 states and one Canadian province for its 27th season in 2014-15. There have been 541 players who have started their career in the ECHL have gone on to play in the National Hockey League, including 29 who made their NHL debuts in the 2013-14 season. The ECHL had affiliations with 26 of the 30 NHL teams in 2013-14, marking the 17th consecutive season that the league had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL. Further information on the ECHL is available on its website at ECHL.com, as well as on Twitter and Facebook.

-Thunder-