Category: AHL

The Barracuda rally from a two-goal deficit to defeat the Stockton Heat in Overtime

Published on by rxsluggerLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

photo by San Jose Barracuda: Barracuda skate to victory over Stockton Heat 1-6-16

SAN JOSE–The San Jose Barracuda rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat the Stockton Heat 4-3 at the SAP Center Wednesday night in San Jose. With the win, the Barracuda’s record improves to 15-10-2-3 good for 35 points and third place in the Pacific Division. Stockton drops to 12-14-0-3 for the season. They currently reside in 7th place. The Barracuda did not play well until the third period. They could not take advantage of several Stockton penalties until late in the game. Trailing 3-2 with under a minute left to play, the Barracuda finally scored on the power play much to the delight of the fans.

The first period did not go well for the Barracuda. The Heat took a 1-0 with 4:24 played when Morgan Klimchuk scored his second goal of the year putting the puck past Al Stalock for the score. Kenny Agostino and former Shark Freddie Hamilton assisted on the play.San Jose had three power play opportunities, but Stockton played very well on the PK and kept the Barracuda at bay. Chris Tierney had a breakaway on the power play at the 12:39 mark but Heat goalie mad a huge stop to deny Tierney.  San Jose went on a power play when Hunter Smith went off for high sticking. The power play didn’t last long as the ‘Cuda’s Joakim Ryan went to the box for slashing. The teams had to play four on four for forty-four seconds before Stockton would have the man advantage. The Heat’s Kenny Agostino scored his seventh goal of the year as he beat Stalock with 49 seconds left in the first period. The assist went to Drew Shore.  The Heat outshot the Barracuda 12-11. Stockton in charge 2-0 after twenty minutes of play.

The second period belonged to Stockton. Each team scored a goal, but the Heat continued to play well. They killed off another penalty and outshot the Barracuda 14-6. San Jose has not been able to take advantage of four Stockton penalties so far, and Stalock has been less than stellar in goal. John McCarthy scored San Jose’s lone goal while Derek Grant notched his fifteenth of the year for Stockton in the period. The Heat leads 3-1 after two periods of play.

The Barracuda played very well in the third period.  They cut the deficit to one when Chris Tierney scored his first goal of the year as a member of the San Jose Barracuda. Jeremy Langlois and Julius Bergman picked up assists on the play. Al Stalock also played very well. He made two big stops to thwart the heat. San Jose tied the game with just thirty-five seconds left to play. The refs called Heat defenseman, Brett Kulak, for a high-stick infraction with just 1:50 left. San Jose pulled Stalock at the one minute mark and had six on four advantage when Barclay Goodrow beat Poulin to tie the game at three.

In overtime, the Barracuda’s Nikolai Goldobin scored the winning goal with just 1:51 left to play in the game. Jeremy Langlois had a breakaway, but Poulin stopped the shot. However, the rebound went to Goldobin, and he didn’t miss.San Jose wins 4-3 in overtime.

Barracuda Shoot Down Stars 5-1

Published on by M WalshLeave a comment

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE-The San Jose Barracuda defeated the visiting Texas Stars by a score of 5-1 Sunday. The game featured Nikolay Goldobin’s first AHL hat trick, and a fine performance from goaltender Al Stalock. Stalock made 21 saves on 22 shots. Jeremy Langlois and Ryan Carpenter each scored a goal, and Gus Young had three assists.

Both teams had played the night before, the Barracuda in Bakersfield and the Stars in Stockton. Even the recent arrivals, Stalock and Tierney, played Saturday with the Sharks. The Barracuda won their Saturday game 5-4 in a shootout. The Stars lost theirs 7-6, also in a shootout. Both teams had reason to be a little weary Sunday, but it did not show. Sunday’s game was fast and entertaining.

The first penalty of the game went to the Barracuda’s Jesse Mycham. The Barracuda killed it off with alacrity.

8:40 into the game, Nikolay Goldobin scored to put the Barracuda up by one. Chris Tierney sent the puck up from behind the goal line, where Goldobin’s arrival was well-timed. With a quick lift, he put the puck over the Texas goaltender’s glove. Assists went to Tierney and Gus Young.

The Barracuda set the pace for the rest of the period. Several shots on net went right into Deslauriers’ clutches, as the Barracuda did not have enough traffic in front of the Texas goaltender.

With just 2:25 left in the first, the Stars caught San Jose off guard and tied the game. Stalock caught Dickinson’s wrap-around shot with his pads but only by diving across the crease. The puck went under him, changed direction somewhere underneath the goalie, and trickled across the goal line. An assist went to Greg Rallo.

San Jose’s Jeremy Langlois took the lead back when he caught a long pass near the faceoff dot in the Stars’ zone, deked his way around Brennan Evans and then beat the goaltender with a backhand from in close. Assists went to Goldobin and Young.

The Stars took a penalty early in the second period, and Brendan Ranford went to the box for delay of game. The Barracuda power play had some good looks but their best chances were for tip-ins that did not work.

As the penalty ended, the Stars went the other way immediately, then got pushed back, only to get a breakaway chance, followed by more o-zone time. The Barracuda were very much on their heels but Stalock kept the puck out.

As the game reached its midpoint, San Jose pulled themselves together. At 10:35, Tierney beat a Texas defender near the faceoff circle and got a pass to Goldobin for a shot. Desrosiers stopped the first shot but Goldobin picked up his rebound and put it around the goaltender to give the Barracuda a 3-1 lead.

The Stars took another penalty, this time to Travis Morin for tripping. San Jose’s power play was less dangerous-looking than it had been, but it was not a liability. After the penalty expired, the Barracuda continued to keep Texas at bay, limiting their shots mostly to the outside and getting the puck out quickly.

By the end of the second period, the score was 3-1 Barracuda, the shot count was 17-14 Barracuda.

San Jose jumped right back in to start the third period. They skated in three on two to extend the lead. Ryan Carpenter carried the puck to the hash marks and passed it to Barclay Goodrow. Goodrow’s shot came back out for Carpenter to pick up and put in the net. Assists went to Goodrow and Trevor Parkes.

A few minutes later, Goldobin escaped the neutral zone and darted unfettered to the Texas net where he wrapped the puck around the goalie and in goal for a hat trick. The goal was unassisted.

The Texas team had a power play opportunity at 9:49 when Alex Gallant went to the box for interference. It was a much better power play than their first and they held the zone relentlessly. They still failed to gain any ground on the four goal deficit.

Final score: 5-1 San Jose. The win puts the Barracuda in the playoff picture for the moment. They are in third place out of seven teams in the Pacific Division.

The Barracuda next play on Wednesday against the Stockton Heat.

——————————————-

There was plenty of roster activity from the Sharks on Sunday. As the Sharks started a four day break in their schedule, they sent forward Chris Tierney and goaltender Alex Stalock to play with the Barracuda. Matt Tennyson was sent down a couple of days earlier, and officially Stalock’s and Tennyson’s assignments are for “conditioning” purposes. This limits the stay to 14 days. Historically, these assignments were used to bring players back from injury, but there is no strict language in the rules saying that a conditioning assignment cannot be used to keep a player tuned up when he is not playing much with the NHL club. It is likely that both Tennyson and Stalock will be back with the Sharks soon.

The San Jose Barracuda skate past the Texas Stars, win 5-1

Published on by rxsluggerLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

photo of Barracuda goalie Alex Stalock by the SJ Barracuda

The San Jose Barracuda continue to play win as they defeated the Texas Stars Sunday night at the SAP Center by a score of 5-1.

Al Stalock was in goal for the Barracuda as he was sent down to get some work in before being called back up to the Sharks. Stalock hasn’t played much all season and the Sharks want him to get in game shape in order to rest Martin Jones. Also, in the Barracuda lineup was Chris Tierney. The Sharks also want Tierney to get some playing time.

Tierney was put on a line with 20-year old Nikolai Goldobin and did they ever click. Goldobin recorded his first-ever AHL hat trick and Tierney assisted him on two of the goals.

The following is from the Barracuda recap of the game.

Goaltender Alex Stalock (1-0-0) made his first AHL start since April 20, 2013 and made 21 saves for the Barracuda in the win.  Nikolay Goldobin (3-1-4), Jeremy Langlois (1-0-1), and Ryan Carpenter (1-0-1) scored for the Barracuda with Gus Young (0-3-3), Chris Tierney (0-2-2), Barclay Goodrow (0-1-1), and Trevor Parkes (0-1-1) adding assists.  Goaltender Philippe Desrosiers (0-1-0) made 19 saves for the Stars in his AHL debut with Jason Dickinson (1-0-1) scoring their lone goal.

The Barracuda came out hungry getting multiple high quality scoring chances throughout the first period.  Nikolay Goldobin (7th) got the scoring started after receiving a beautiful pass from Chris Tierney and put a quick one time snap shot into the back of the net at 7:37.

Jason Dickinson (7th) tied the game up for the Stars on a back door rebound that slid under Alex Stalock as he went from right to left on the save attempt at 17:35.

The Barracuda regained the lead 62 seconds later on a power move by Jeremy Langlois (7th) who came from the right of the net, broke through the top of the crease and put the backhand past goaltender Philippe Desrosiers.  The Barracuda led 2-1 heading into the first intermission with shots at 11 to 7 in favor of San Jose.

The fast-paced play continued in the second period.  Halfway through the period, Stalock made a great save keeping the one-goal lead for the Barracuda by stopping the puck between his skate blade and the post.  Goldobin (8th) lit the lamp for the second time at 10:35 on rebound on a pass from the corner that increased the Barracuda lead 3-1.  Shots were 7 to 6 in favor of Texas heading into the second intermission.

San Jose extended their lead 1:35 into the third period after a shot from Barclay Goodrow rang off the post and out where the attacking Ryan Carpenter (5th) slapped home the rebound.  At 7:39, Goldobin (9th) buried a breakaway to complete his first career AHL hat trick making it 5-1.  Shots were 8 to 7 in favor of the Stars in the third period as Alex Stalock stood his ground in the victory.

Notes: Three Stars: 3rd star: Alex Stalock (21 Saves, W) 2nd star: Chris Tierney (0-2-2, +4) 1st star: Nikolay Goldobin (3-1-4, +4)….Final shots were 24-22 in favor of San Jose… Philippe Desrosiers (0-1-0) made 19 saves on 24 shots for Texas….Alex Stalock (1-0-0) made 21 saves on 22 shots for San Jose in his first AHL start since April 20, 2013 at Syracuse…San Jose went 0-for-3 on the power play while Texas went 0-for-2… Scott Timmins (inj), Daniel Doremus (inj), Frazer McLaren, (inj), Petter Emanuelsson (inj), Julius Bergman (inj) and Mark Cundari did not dress for the Barracuda… before the game goaltender Alex Stalock was sent to the Barracuda on a conditioning assignment from the SJ Sharks and picked up his 79th AHL win… center Chris Tierney made his Barracuda debut as he was loaned by the Sharks earlier in the day and grabbed two assists….defenseman Mark Cundari returned from the Spengler Cup and did not dress for San Jose….goaltender Troy Grosenick was recalled by the SJ Sharks…Matt Tennyson skated in his 3rd game for the Barracuda on a conditioning assignment from the Sharks… Head coach Roy Sommer picked up win #631, trailing only Fred “Bun” Cook (636 wins) for the most wins in AHL history…Ryan Carpenter (3-0-3) now has scored a goal in three straight games…Gus Young finished with three assists and a +4 rating… Joakim Ryan also finished +4…San Jose moved to 8-7-0-1 at the SAP Center this season…San Jose won three straight games for the first time this season.

Coming up….

Barracuda beat Condors in a shootout

Published on by Eric HeLeave a comment

By: Eric He

photo credit: sjbarracuda.com San Jose Barracuda CCM/AHL Player of the Week Barry Goodrow and SJ Barracuda get win over Bakersfield on Saturday night

Jeremy Langlois recorded the lone goal in the seventh round of the shootout as the San Jose Barracuda defeated the Bakersfield Condors 5-4 on the road on Saturday night.

Aaron Dell and Laurent Brossoit both were perfect through six rounds, denying the first 13 shooters before Langlois came through.

With the game tied a 4-4 heading into overtime after a scoreless third period, San Jose notched several quality opportunities in the extra session but could not convert.

The second period consisted of nothing but offense, with each team recording three goals. Micheal Haley, Barclay Goodrow, and Ryan Carpenter scored for the Barracuda while Joe LaLeggia, Marc-Oliver Roy, and Matthew Ford notched goals for the Condors and the second period ended with the score tied 4-4.

Bakersfield got on the board first with Matthew Ford finishing after stealing a clear attempt by Dell, but Michael Haley responded for San Jose by scoring on a rebound, his third connective game with a goal.

The Barracuda are now 13-10-2-3. They return home on Sunday to take on the Texas Stars at 5pm.

The San Jose Barracuda rebound from loss on Monday to beat the Charlotte Checkers

Published on by rxsluggerLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

photo credit: sjmercurynews.com SJ Barracuda logo

The San Jose Barracuda defeated the Charlotte Checkers 3-2 in a shootout Wednesday afternoon at the SAP center.  Head coach Roy Sommer’s team evened the season series with the Checkers at two apiece. The Barracuda fell to the Checkers Monday as the played a lackluster game. San Jose played a much better game.

The Barracuda and the Checkers played a lively first period. The Barracuda held their own as they killed off two penalties early in the period. Goalie Aaron Dell made a terrific stop on a two on one rush by the Checkers while the “Cuda was on a power play. The contest remained scoreless until the 16:18 mark when the Checkers’ Sergei Tolchinsky beat Dell for the first score of the game. Danny Biega and Brock McGinn assisted. The Barracuda tied the game with just twelve seconds left when Michael Haley put the puck past Daniel Altshuller for the tally. Julius Bergman assisted on the play.  The Barracuda outshot the Checkers 13-12. Score tied at one after one period.

There was no scoring in the second period. Bith teams continued the levely play as they skated up and down the ice. The Checkers continued to lead in the shots on goal category 23-22. The Barracuda’s Michael Haley and the Checkers’ Mike Cornell sat out five minutes of the period as they were flagged for fighting. Both the Barracuda and the Checkers had one power play opportunity but neither team could convert.

San Jose scored their second goal of the game with 15:01 left to play in the game. Forward Ryan Carpenter poked the puck into the nets during a huge scrum in front of Checkers’  goalie Daniel Altshuller. Ther Checkers tied the ame with just 5:25 left as Jake Chelios beat Dell for the score. Neither team could score and the game ended in a tie and headed for Overtime.

The  Barracuda had their chances in the five-minute overtime period. The Checkers were called for three penalties but San Jose did not score. The game will be settled by a shootout. Bryan Lerg beat Altshuiller to secure the win for  San Jose by a final score of 3-2.

Game Notes- With the win,  San Jose’s record improves to 12-10-2-3 and they have won three of the last four games. Charlotte drops to 17-12-1-0.

San Jose’s Ryan Carpenter and goalie Aaron Dell were awarded first and third stars respectively after the game. Charlotte’s Sergei Tolchinsky won the second star. Aaron Dell stopped 31 shots for the Barracuda. Charlotte’s Altshuller recoireded 32 saves in a losing effort.

 

The Charlotte Checkers skate by the San Jose Barracuda

Published on by rxsluggerLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

photo credit by the San Jose Barracuda-Charlotte Checkers promo page

SAN JOSE–The San Jose Barracuda, hoping to win their second game in a row, fell to the Charlotte Checkers 4-1 Monday afternoon at the SAP Center. The Barracuda beat the Stockton Thunder 5-1 Sunday but they appeared to run out of gas in a lackluster performance against Charlotte. Neither team scored in the first period. The Checkers outshot the ‘Cuda 12- 6. San Jose scored at the 6:28 mark of the second period. Michael Haley tallied his sixth goal of the year to get things going for San Jose. The Checkers outshot San Jose 11-4 and had 23-10 edge after two periods of play.

Charlotte owned the third period. They scored four unanswered goals to put the game away. They scored a power-play goal with 3:36 played to tie the score. Justin Shugg tallied his fifth of the year. Assists went to Jake Chelios and Brock McGinn. They scored again to take a 2-1 lead. The Checkers’ David Wohlberg score a short-handed goal that seemed to take the fight out of the Barracuda. Patrick Brown picked up the assist. Ethan Werek scored his first of the year at the 9:24 mark to give Charlotte a 3-1 advantage. T.J. Hensick and Justin Shugg assisted on the play. Charlotte’s fourth goal of the period came with a little more than two minutes left in the game. Zach Boychuk put the puck into an empty net. Charlotte wins 4-1.

Game Notes – Aaron Dell started in goal for San Jose. Dell entered the game with a record of 4-5-2. He GAA (goals against average) was a respectable 2.68 and he had a .910 save percentage. Daniel Altshuller was in goal for Charlotte. Altshuller’s record before the start of the game was 3-0-0 with a sparkling 1.97 GAA and an impressive .933 save percentage. With the loss, San Jose’s record drops to 11-10-2-3 while Charlotte’s improves to 17-11-1-0. The two teams meet again Wednesday afternoon at the SAP Center at 1:15 pm.

.

Barracuda Cool Off Heat in 5-1 Win

Published on by M WalshLeave a comment

By Mary Walsh

photo credit: San Jose Barracuda

SAN JOSE– The San Jose Barracuda trounced the Stockton Heat to the tune of 5-1 on Sunday. It was the Barracuda’s first game back from the holiday break, while the Heat were playing their second in two days. It may not have been a must-win for San Jose, but it certainly was a should-win. Barracuda goaltender Troy Grosenick made 31 saves on 32 shots. Barclay Goodrow scored two goals, Trevor Parkes, Petter Emanuelsson and Bryan Lerg scored the other three. Ryan Carpenter had two assists in the game. The lone Stockton goal was scored by Derek Grant.

Troy Grosenick in net for San Jose, Joni Ortio in net for Stockton. San Jose wore home whites and Stockton was in their red and black uniforms. Despite starting the game by chasing down Turner Elson in their own zone, the Barracuda quickly established themselves in the offensive zone and kept pressure on for several shifts.

The Heat pushed San Jose back in the third minute of play, though most of their progress was facilitated by Barracuda errors. Turnovers and ill-conceived passes almost combined to give Stockton the lead, but Troy Grosenick stopped the puck and allowed San Jose to regroup.

McNally had a very good shitft early in the first period. He stole the puck, intercepted passes, took a couple of shots, kept the puck in when it looked on its way out.

The Barracuda took the lead 7:49 into the first period. Nikolay Goldobin caught puck near boards behind goal line, shot it at Ortio’s pads, and had it come back to him. He shot it again, and Jeremy Langlois caught that rebound. Langlois shot it and Trevor Parkes deflected it in.

San Jose padded their lead less than two minutes later when Ryan Carpenter caught puck behind net and passed it to Gus Young at the point. Young shot it and Petter Emanuelsson caught the rebound and threw it past Ortio.

The Barracuda took the first penalty of the game at 12:06, Nikita Jevpalovs went to the box for high-sticking, but his teammates killed the penalty off.

With 5:54 left in the period, San Jose got a power play as Stockton’s Garet Hunt went to the box for slashing. The Heat penalty kill was as effective as the Barracuda one. After the power play ended, Stockton came on with renewed vigor. The Barracuda could not seem to get in passing lanes as the Heat came through the neutral zone, and San Jose found themselves trapped for a long spell, defending their zone. Grosenick had a couple of close calls but he kept the Heat off the board.

With 1:09 left in the period, the Barracuda’s Bryan Lerg went to the box for slashing. San Jose started the penalty kill with a short-handed rush, and when the play returned to the Barracuda zone, Grosenick made a good save through traffic, snuffing some energy from the Heat.

At the end of the first, the score was 2-0 Barracuda, and the shots were 14-10 Barracuda.

San Jose killed off the rest of the penalty to strt the second, and then followed up with another strong push.That was cut off by a penalty to Joakim Ryan for interference at 3:27.

The Heat power play was cut short when Emile Poirer was called for hooking at 4:09. The Barracuda made good use of their short power play when Karl Stollery took a shot from the point, while Goodrow and Carpenter waited at the net. Ortio scrambled to keep the puck out but Goodrow and Carpenter kept after it. Bryan Lerg arrived late as the puck came away from the scramble. He took the shot to give the home team a 3-0 lead. Assists went to Stollery and Carpenter.

Near the half way mark, a Stockton shot rang off the post in an unusual manner, triggering a video review that came to naught. The review did give the Barracuda a little time to rest up for a penalty kill, as McNally had just gone to the box for high-sticking.

With 8:27 remaining in the second, Barlcay Goodrow skated in to the Stockton zone and put a puck right under Ortio for a 4-0 lead. Stockton changed goalies after that, putting Kent Simpson in net.

Gallant and Ryan Lomberg exchanged blows after a questionable hit, and both went for five minutes. Kenny Agostini served the two minutes for Lomberg’s charging penalty.

The Barracuda power play was ineffective and almost as soon as it ended, Petter Emanuelsson went to the box for interference. The Stockton power play opened with a quick short-handed chance for San Jose. Grosenick’s shutout ended with that penalty, as the Heat took the puck round the outside of the Barracuda zone, ending with a near-the-goal-line shot from Derek Grant over Grosenick’s shoulder. Assists went to Jakub Nakladal and Morgan Klimchuk.

Another fight ensued, this time between Turner Elson and Julius Bergman. They joined Gallant and Lomberg in the box.

With almost three minutes remaining in the second, Mitchell Heard went to the box for cross-checking, giving the Barracuda another power play that they did not score on.

At the end of the second, the score was 4-1 and the shots 29-20 Barracuda.

The Barracuda did not have a shot through the first three minutes of the third period. Barclay Goodrow took one of their first shots of the period and scored his second goal of the game. Stockton goaltender Simpson tried to cover the puck in front of the blue paint, by falling forward onto it. The puck escaped him and Goodrow had a clear view of an open net. An assist went to Bergman.

The middle ten minutes of the period were relatively uneventful, save another Lomberg fight, this one with Greger Hanson. Another Heat power play came during the last six minutes, when Trevor Parkes went to the box for tripping. San Jose was pretty efficient at getting the pucks out without giving Stockton much time to shoot.

The Barracuda had yet another power play opportunity during the final two minutes, as Turner Elson went to the box for slashing.

Final score: 5-1 San Jose. Final shot count was 35-32 San Jose.

The Barracuda next play on Monday at 1:15 PST, against the visiting Charlotte Checkers.

Barracuda Surge Back to Beat Heat

Published on by bentleonard18Leave a comment

By: Ben Leonard

photo credit: San Jose Barracuda; Barracuda get one goal win over Stockton Heat 5-4

SAN JOSE–Frustration was beginning to mount in San Jose. The Barracuda had dropped three straight, and looked like they were going to extend that streak after finding themselves down 3-0 early. It was the same old, same old for the ‘Cuda, struggling on penalty kills — until out of nowhere, five straight goals gave the Barracuda a stunning 5-4 win over the Stockton Heat.

Fresh off a stint with the NHL’s San Jose Sharks, right winger Barclay Goodrow had a goal and two assists to help propel the Barracuda to the victory.

The Barracuda had struggled mightily on the penalty kill coming into Sunday, succeeding on just 76% of penalty kills, 30th in the AHL, and even worse at the SAP Center (70.6%). And it was more of the same in the early going, allowing a power play goal to Freddie Hamilton, his seventh of the season, after ten minutes to let Stockton take a 1-0 lead. Just four minutes later, Emile Porier added on another goal, beating Troy Grosenick top shelf after getting an extra step away from his defender, giving Stockton the 2-0 lead.

Roy Sommer’s team was down, frustrated and ready to lash out. So ‘Cuda left winger Frazer McLaren took matters into his own hands, taking out his frustration on Heat right winger Hunter Smith.

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsMcLaren dominated Smith, but both got five-minute fighting majors. The fight didn’t seem to help the ‘Cuda much in terms of momentum, giving up another goal in the second period to Morgan Klimchuck to fall down 3-0, but head coach Roy Sommer thought it started to “get [the Barracuda] going.” Before that, he said that he had “doubts” about his team’s ability to come back.

After that, Michael Haley got it going for San Jose with a shorthanded goal that Sommer thought “put [the Heat] on their heels,” cutting the lead to 3-1. Before you knew it, the ‘Cuda had taken a 4-3 lead, after a power play goal from Goodrow, a goal right after the faceoff from Nikolay Goldobin, and a Gus Young goal on a deflection. The Barracuda had scored four goals in under four minutes, quite a feat. It stunned the Heat, and killed their momentum for the rest of the game.

Petter Emanuelsson added an insurance goal to make it 5-3 late in the third, the difference in the game when Heat winger Austin Carroll added a goal with three minutes left to cut the lead to 5-4, one that would hold.

Cuda left winger Alex Gallant was ejected from the game in the second period after laying a hit to Porier. Sommer thought it was a “good hit” that wasn’t a “hit to the head.” In his eyes, Porier “released the puck and then hit him. If [Porier] popped up, I don’t think they make the call.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outdoor hockey in Sacramento

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment
Heat Sat
The Heat and Condors salute the crowd. Photo credit: Asvitt Photo

by Charlie O. Mallonee

West Sacramento – We now know how to get it to rain in California. Just plan an outdoor professional hockey match and wait for the rain to fall.

The Stockton Heat and the Bakersfield Condors of the American Hockey League (AHL) were scheduled to play an outdoor hockey game at Raley Field in West Sacramento on Friday night. Mother Nature had other plans. The skies opened up and brought much needed rain to the Capital City.

The good news was it rained. The bad news is the rain made it impossible to skate on the outdoor ice without compromising the safety of the players. The game was postponed until Saturday afternoon.

The weather was much more cooperative on Saturday and hockey was played outdoors in front of 9,357 fans. The large attendance would have made the game a success but a close game made the event even better.

The Heat defeated the Condors 3-2 in the outdoor affair.

Bakersfield took the lead on first period goal. Stockton came back and tied the game in the second period on a goal by forward Derek Grant. The teams headed to the final period tied 1-1. The Heat struck for two more goals in the third period. Defenseman Oliver Kylington put one through the 5-hole at 7:26 and forward Drew Shore scored an unassisted goal at the 10:59 mark.

Kyle Platzer scored a late goal for the Condors but it was too little too late. The Heat prevailed and won the game 3 goals to 2.

Many are wondering if this game might have been a market test to see how Sacramento might support professional hockey. There has been speculation that the AHL would like to expand on the West Coast and Sacramento will have a new arena available in October 2016.

Speculation aside, over 9,000 fans witnessed an great show on the ice, outdoors on Saturday night.

Barracuda fall in overtime to Gulls

Published on by Eric HeLeave a comment

By: Eric He

San Jose Barracuda photos: San Diego Gulls skate to a Friday night victory past Barracuda in San Diego

The San Jose Barracuda lost their third straight game on Friday night, falling in 3-2 overtime to the San Diego Gulls on the road.

With the game tied 2-2, Stefan Noesen won the game for the Gulls, finishing off a pass from Brandon Montour on rush less than two minutes into the extra session.

The Barracuda had evened the score in the third period courtesy of Nikolay Goldobin, who found the back of the net midway through the third to tie the game at 2-2.

After a scoreless first period, San Jose jumped on the board first on a goal by Karl Stollery. But San Diego answered with two power play goals to take a 2-1 lead into the third.

Barracuda goaltender Troy Grosenick played well despite the loss, stopping 28 shots in defeat.

San Jose drops to 9-9-2-3 while San Diego advances to 13-10-0-1.

Next up will be a matchup against the Stockton Heat at home on Sunday.