Category: San Jose Barracuda

Bounce back game for Barracuda as they blank Roadrunners 6-0

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Photo credit to San Jose Barracuda Twitter. The Barracuda celebrate a goal at Rondondo Tower Apartments in Tucson on Sun Nov 20, 2022

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

In the second of back to backs the Barracuda bounced back from their last game against the Roadrunners with a win by the score 6-0.

The first period between the two teams was a slow burn with no goals to speak of. Though three tripping penalties were given out two the Barracuda one to the Roadrunners.

The shots in the period finished at 12-8 in favor of the Barracuda.

In comparison to the first the second was a lot different with the offense coming alive for San Jose.

It began with Danil Guschin getting his third goal of the season and Brandon Coe assisting on the goal.

Not too long after the first goal William Eklund tacked on to the lead with his fourth goal of the season. Assisting on the goal was both Andrew Agozzino and Montana Onyebuchi.

After a brief break in the offense a shorthanded opportunity presented itself for Artemi Kniazev and he capitalized on it. With Tristen Robins and Ryan Merkley getting the assists.

With the lead up to 3-0 Thomas Bordeleau saw fit to add on to it with his fifth goal of the season. Robins and Eklund both got assists on the goal.

The shots at the the end of the second period also favored San Jose at 16-7.

Bordeleau entering the third period was not done as at the 6:17 mark he got his second goal of the game on the power play. The assists going to both Kniazev and Scott Reedy.

Much later in the period Bordeleau would complete the hat trick at the 16:47 mark. Eklund tacked on another assist along with Onyebuchi.

Six would end up being enough as Tucson was shutout by Eetu Makiniemi who made 28 saves on the night.

The shots in total finished in favor of the Barracuda at 40-28.

The Barracuda power play would also go 1/4 while the Roadrunners power play went 0/6.

The Barracuda’s next game will be against the Ontario Reign on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m at the Toyota Center in Ontario

Barracuda drop road game against Roadrunners 6-3

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(Photo credit San Jose Barracuda) Montana Onyebuchi (79) throws down with Tucson Roadrunner Ryan McGregor (16) in the first period in Tucson.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

On the road the San Jose Barracuda did battle with the Tucson Roadrunners and came out on the losing end by a final of 6-3.

The first period took a minute for either team to find a goal but at the 10:33 mark William Eklund got his third goal of the season on the power play. Jasper Weatherby and Ryan Merkley both got apples on the goal as well.

The Eklund goal seemed to awaken something in the offense for the Barracuda as less than a minute later Scott Reedy during a power play potted his fourth of the season. Thomas Bordeleau and Danil Guschin contributed with assists on the goal.

Seeing an opportunity to add on to the lead Andrew Agozzino put the biscuit in the basket for this third goal of the season. Montana Onyebuchi contributed the lone assist.

Looking for a response in an otherwise dominant Barracuda period Adam Cracknell did just that scoring his fourth goal of the season. Bringing the game back to a 3-1 score Nathan Smith and Michael Carcone got the assists.

At the end of the second period the shots were 11-5 in favor of the Tucson.

Similar to the first period the second also took a minute to find a goal but that silence would be broken by Carcone making the score 3-2. Jan Jenik and Jean Sebastien Dea both got assists on the power play goal.

The power play continued to click for the Roadrunners as Milos Kelemen scored his fourth goal of the season. The assists going to Ben McCartney and Laurent Dauphin.

That would be all of the scoring in the first period with the shots finishing in favor of Tucson at 8-6.

In the third period the collapse began at the 12:29 mark with Keleman getting his second goal of the game. Victor Soderstrom and Carcone both got assists on the goal.

Adding on to the momentum for the Tucson Nathan Smith scored his third goal of the season. Connor Timmins and Vladislav Kolyachonok both contributed to the goal.

In desperation the Barracuda pulled their goalie to try to bring the game back to even.

It would not work though as Keleman would get the hat trick on the empty net. Sebastian Dea would get the lone assist on the goal.

On the night starting goalie for San Jose Aaron Dell would finish the night with a 5.22 GAA and 0.853 SV%

The Barracuda’s next game will be against Tucson again at Tucson Arena Sunday at 3 pm PST

Johnson’s overtime winner gives Barracuda 2-1 win over Eagles

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The San Jose Barracuda celebrate their win over the Colorado Eagles at Tech CU Arena on Saturday Nov 12, 2022. (San Jose Barracuda

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — Luke Johnson scored the game winning goal 40 seconds into overtime to give the San Jose Barracuda a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Eagles on Saturday at Tech CU Arena.

San Jose has won two games in a row. Colorado had its three-game winning streak snapped.

Colorado (6-5-1-0) drew first blood just past the halfway mark of the first period. Charles Hudon picked up a rolling puck in front of the crease and roofed a shot top shelf past ‘Cuda goalie Aaron Dell for his sixth goal of the season at the 11:04 mark. Jean-Luc Foudy and Alex Galchenyuk received assists.

San Jose (6-4-0-1) answered back almost three minutes later. Ozzy Wiseblatt fed a cross ice pass over to Japser Weatherby who buried a one-timer past Eagles’ goalie Justus Annunen for his first goal of the season at the 13:58 mark.

Both teams played a tight defensive battle for the final 40 minutes of regulation as neither goalie allowed a goal sending the game to overtime.

In overtime, CJ Suess led a three-on-two counterattack up the ice. Derrick Pouliot found Johnson in between the faceoff circles and Johnson blasted a shot past Annunen for the game winner, his third goal of the season.

Dell stopped 35 of the 36 shots he faced to earn the victory. Annunen made 21 saves on 23 shots in the losing cause.

GAME NOTES: San Jose 0-for-2 on the power play. Colorado went 0-for-5.

The Three Stars of the Game were: 1) Johnson 2) Dell 3) Weatherby

UP NEXT: San Jose and Colorado conclude their two-games series on Sunday 11/13 at 3:00pm at Tech CU Arena.

Barracuda snap losing skid with 4-3 shootout win over Reign

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San Jose Barracuda forward Ozzy Wiseblatt celebrates his first goal in a ‘Cuda uniform against the Ontario Reign at Tech CU Arena on Thursday NOV 10, 2022. (San Jose Barracuda)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — Ozzy Wiseblatt picked as good a time as ever to score his first professional goal.

Wiseblatt’s goal in the third period gave the San Jose Barracuda their first lead of the game as the eventually defeated the Ontario Reign 4-3 in a shootout victory on Thursday evening at Tech CU Arena.

San Jose snapped its five-game winless draught after starting the season 4-0. Ontario has lost two games in a row after winning their previous six.

Wisebatt, the San Jose Sharks 2020 first round pick (31st overall), made his debut with the ‘Cuda after being called up from the Wichita Thunder of the ECHL, where he began the season. Brandon Coe set up Wiseblatt with a quick backhand pass from behind the net and Wiseblatt buried a wrist shot top shelf past Reign goalie Phoenix Copley for his first goal professional goal at the 6:10 mark of the third period.

“I just want to showcase what I can do. I think most importantly I wanted to win the game. I’m thrilled that it happened. I’m pretty happy,” Wiseblatt said.

The goal gave San Jose (5-4-0-1) its first lead of the contest after falling behind two goals to their Socal rival early in the second period.

After a scoreless first period, Ontario (7-2-0-1) jumped out to a 1-0 lead 38 seconds to start the middle frame. Lias Andersson scored his fifth goal of the season from the right wing that beat ‘Cuda goalie Strauss Mann. Jacob Moverare and T.J. Tynan registered assists.

Tyler Madden doubled the lead for the leaders of the Pacific Division at the 3:02 mark. Taylor Ward and Akil Thomas recorded assists on Madden’s second goal of the season.

Jeffery Viel, known as an agitator on the ice, singlehandedly led the comeback for San Jose as he scored the next two goals. His first one came more than halfway through the second period. Viel, who camped himself in front of Copley, redirected a shot from the point by Santeri Hatakka for his first goal of the season at the 12:55 mark.

Early in the third period, Viel intercepted a clearing attempt by Moverare inside the Reign zone. Viel skated in on Copley and deposited a backhander into the back of the net for his second goal of the game.

“I’m glad I scored some goals. I’m trying to get my offense back a little bit. (I’m getting) a little more playing time down here so I guess it feels good,” Viel said.

San Jose had its first big test of adversity of the young season when Adam Raska was given a five-minute major penalty when he hit Quinton Byfield up high with a hit from behind that injured Byfield who was slow to get up off of the ice before skating back to the bench under his own power.

“Aversity is a great teacher,” said ‘Cuda assistant coach Louis Mass on his team’s big penalty kill. “It’s something that glues teams together when you can go through those moments. It’s something where if you get into those situations in the future, you feel like you’re a little more resilient and you can handle that.”

While killing off the major penalty Luke Johnson was sent off for a delay of game penalty as he shot the puck into the stands, giving Ontario a 5-on-3 advantage with 3:39 remaining on Raska’s penalty.

Mann, who was just recalled from Wichita the day before, and the number one penalty killing unit in the AHL, held down the fort killing both penalties as Mann made two big saves during the kill.

The Reign didn’t go down quietly as Ward scored the equalizer from between the faceoff circles with 56 seconds left in the third period with a rebound shot that he roofed over Mann for his third goal of the season.

Mann stopped 32 of the 35 shots he faced in regulation and overtime and then stopped two out of the three shots in the shootout to earn his first win of his professional career. Copley made 18 saves on 21 shots (and was one for three in the shootout) in the losing effort.

“It’s good to get back home and get settled. I know it’s been tough here the past couple of weeks. There’s a great group of guys and it was really nice to have them support me, and they played great in front of me too. I couldn’t have done it without them either,” Mann said.

GAME NOTES: Both teams finished 0-for-4 on the power play.

The Three Stars of the Game were: 1) Viel 2) Ward 3) Wiseblatt

UP NEXT: San Jose continues its homestand when they host the Colorado Eagles for a two-game weekend series on Saturday 11/12 at 6:00pm at Tech CU Arena.

Wolf blanks Barracuda in Calgary by a final of 4-0

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Photo courtesy of San Jose Barracuda Twitter. Patrick McGrath gets ready in Calgary to play against the Wranglers

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

The Barracuda in the second of back to backs were blanked by Dustin Wolf and the Wranglers defense by a final of 4-0 on Tuesday night.

Compared to the last game against the Wranglers the Barracuda got off to a solid start getting some solid chances on Wolf.

Despite the chances the Wranglers struck first with a goal by Emilio Petterson on the breakaway the first shot of the game for Calgary. The assists going to Yan Kuznetsov and Connor Zary.

The goal gave the Wranglers a lead but the Barracuda continued to get chances but just couldn’t solve Wolf.

The shots by the end of the first period favored the Barracuda 17-3 even despite the fact that San Jose did not have a power play in the period.

The second period play was the complete inverse of the first period with the Wranglers instead taking the momentum. Eetu Makiniemi instead had to be the goalie making the saves and keeping his team in the game.

Again though similar to the first period the Wranglers scored first this time Rory Kerins got the goal. The assists went to Nicolas Meloche and Walker Duehr.

Matthew Phillips would follow up with his ninth goal of the year assisted by Jakob Pelletier and Ilya Solovyov.

There also was a fight in the second as Luke Johnson and Ben Jones dropped the gloves just six seconds into the second period.

That would be all of the scoring for the period as the shots finished after two periods 21-15 still in favor of the Barracuda.

The third period was pretty quiet as there was no penalties and only one goal. It came from Meloche 10:01 into the period with assists going to Mitch McLain and Radim Zohorna.

It would however be an extremely high shooting period as the total shots in the period between the two teams was 25-24 in favor of the Wranglers.

The Barracuda finished the game with no power play opportunities while the Wranglers had three and scored on none of them.

Next game for the Barracuda will be against the Ontario Reign on Nov. 10th at 7 p.m. at Tech Cu arena.

Barracuda drop first of back to back against Wranglers by final of 8-2

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Photo Courtesy of San Jose Barracuda Twitter. Patrick Sieloff gets warmed up before the game against Calgary.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

The Barracuda took on the Wranglers in Calgary and received a stomping from their offense by a final of 8-2 in the first of back to backs.

The first period started off in a positive way with Tristen Robins scoring his 4th goal of the season at 10:49. The assists coming from both Andrew Agozzino and William Eklund.

That was about all of the positives to be extrapolated for the Barracuda as the rest of the period was pure domination for the Wranglers.

It was started with Matthew Phillips getting a goal at the 12:14 mark of the first period his sixth on the year. Assists coming from Radim Zohorna and Jakob Pelletier.

Following that up less than three minutes later Phillips followed up his own goal with another one again assisted by Zohorna and Pelletier.

Connor Zary saw fit to add on to the lead with another goal his fifth of the year this time with Nicolas Meloche and Cole Schwindt getting the assists.

Down 3-1 the lead only proceeded to get worse as Mitch McLain got his third goal of the season assisted by Jereme Poirier.

By the end of the first period the lead was 4-1 with the shots at 16-7 also in favor of Calgary.

The scoring in the second similar to the first took a minute as the first goal wouldn’t come till the 11:02 mark.

Connor Zary got his second this time with assists coming from Yan Kuznetsov and Schwindt. That goal got Aaron Dell pulled with Eetu Makiniemi drawing in.

Less than a minute later Phillips completed the hat trick with a goal on the power play. The assists coming from Ben Jones and Poirier.

That would be all of the offense in the second period with the shots finishing at 28-21in favor of Calgary.

Down 6-1 Danil Gushchin did not give up for the Barracuda as he would score just 2:37 into the third period. Ryan Merkley and Tristen Robins would get the assists on the goal.

The Wranglers would respond though a little later in the third period with Pelletier scoring from Zohorna and Poirier.

Jeffrey Viel clearly frustrated with the way the game was going got into a fight with Zohorna at the 9:44 mark.

Despite the large lead late in the game McLain added on to the lead with a power play goal. The assists going to Jones and Meloche.

The Barracuda’s next game will be against the Wranglers again in Calgary at 6 p.m. on the 8th.

Roadrunners sweep series over Barracuda with 4-3 shootout win

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Travis Barron brawls with Jesper Weatherby at Tech CU Arena on Saturday OCT 29, 2022. (San Jose Barracuda)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — It was not a good weekend for the San Jose Barracuda.

The Tucson Roadrunners outlasted Team Teal in a 4-3 shootout win on Saturday afternoon at Tech CU Arena.

San Jose has lost three games in a row. Tuscon has won five out its first six games to start the season.

In a game chippy game that featured a full 5-on-5-line brawl in the middle of ice during the opening faceoff, the two Pacific Division rivals had many skirmishes in a game that went back and forth.

Tucson (5-1-0-0) scored the game’s two opening goals a 1:26 apart halfway through the opening 20 minutes. Michael Carcone centered a pass out in front of the crease where Nathan Smith beat ‘Cuda goalie Eetu Makiniemi with a wrist shot for his first goal of the season at the 10:00 mark.

Then Carcone set up Jean-Sebastian Dea in front of the net and Dea jammed in his own rebound for his third goal of the season at the 11:26 mark.

Tucson dominated the play in the first period as the outshot San Jose 16-5.

San Jose (4-2-0-1) began its comeback early in the second period. Daniel Gushchin received the puck from Tristan Robins from his own blue line. Gushchin skated into the Roadrunner’s zone and fired a wrist shot that hit underneath the crossbar and into the back of the net past Roadrunner’s goalie Jon Gillies for his first goal of the season at the 2:13 mark.

Ryan Merkley found Scott Reedy in the slot and last season’s goal leader for the ‘Cuda blasted a one-timer past Gillies for his second goal of the season at the 10:11 of the mark.

The Barracuda scored its third unanswered goal of the period on the power play. A shot from the left slot by Andrew Agozzino was kicked out by Gillies but William Eklund cleaned up the rebound with a backhander for his second goal of the season at the 16:37 mark.

San Jose’s lead was short-lived as Tucson evened the game 39 seconds later. Dea set up Carcone in between the faceoff circles and one-timed a wrist shot into an open net for his third goal of the season at the 17:16 mark.

Both teams hunkered down in the third period and overtime to send the game to the shootout.

In the shootout, Adam Cracknell scored the only goal for the game winner.

Gillies made 38 saves on 41 shots and stopped all three attempts in the shootout to earn the victory. Makiniemi made 29 saves on 32 shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 1-for-5 on the power play. Tucson was 0-for-4.

The Three Stars of the Game were: 1) Cracknell 2) Agozzino 3) Ben McCartney

UP NEXT: San Jose travels north of the border for a two-games series with Calgary Wranglers on Sunday 11/6 at 5:00pm at Stampede Corral.

Despite slow start Barracuda come back to beat Silver Knights 3-2

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By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

Photo courtesy of San Jose Barracuda. Ryan Merkley gets ready during warm-ups for the Henderson Silver Knights.

SAN JOSE–In their second game of back to backs against the Henderson Silver Knights the Barracuda found a way to win at Tech Cu Arena in San Jose by a score of 3-2.

It was not exactly the kind of start that the Barracuda would have wanted as only 3:15 into the first period the Silver Knights scored shorthanded. The goal coming from Jones Rondbjerg assisted by Sheldon Rempal.

The slow start continued as Rempal this time got the goal assisted by Gage Quinney and Michael Hutchinson 9:57 into the first period.

Later on in the first period though the Barracuda got a response from Tomas Bordeleau assisted by Artemi Kniazev and Santeri Hatakka. It was a little bit of a lucky bounce off a one timer from the point that bounced right to Bordeleau who tucked it top shelf past Hutchinson.

That ended up being all the scoring for the first as the shots by the end of the period favored Henderson by 13-9.

The second period saw a more quiet start as the main things to note were the Barracuda taking two penalties which Henderson could not convert on.

At the 17:31 mark though of the second period Luke Johnson got a goal assisted by C.J. Suess on a breakaway. Suess helped by stepping up in the neutral zone and forcing a turnover that lead to Johnson finding himself all alone.

Heading into the third period all tied up the Barracuda looked to keep their record perfect.

The Barracuda started off the period in a little bit of a scary way as Andrew Agozzino took a tripping penalty at the 2:27 mark. As has has been the case all year though the penalty kill for the Barracuda continued to be perfect.

Feeling the momentum Suess who got an apple earlier this time found the back of the net top corner past Hutchinson. It came off a beautiful move at center ice by Luke Johnson who then gave it to Max Veronneau who fead it to Suess.

That goal ended up being the game winner with Eetu Makiniemi holding on making in total 34 saves on the night.

It’s been a perfect start for the Barracuda who are now 4-0 and are looking like a completely new team in comparison to last season.

The Barracudas next game will be at home against the Ontario Reign on Oct. 26th at 7:00 p.m.

Barracuda celebrate the christening of their new crib with 4-0 shutout win over Silver Knights

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The San Jose Barracuda celebrate winning their home opener at the brand-new Tech CU Arena in San Jose on Saturday OCT 22, 2022. (San Jose Barracuda)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE— The San Jose Barracuda christened their brand-new arena with a 4-0 shutout victory over the Henderson Silver Knights in its home opener on Saturday evening at Tech CU Arena. San Jose has started out 3-0 for the first time in its short franchise history.

Henderson has lost three in a row and four of its first five games to start out the season. 4,015 were in attendance in the brand new 4,200 seat arena to witness the new look Barracuda team that will look to put last season in the rearview mirror with a young group of fresh faces.

Former ‘Cuda captain John McCarthy is the new captain at the helm as the new head coach for San Jose. He replaced Roy Sommer (who left to coach the AHL affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks, the San Diego Gulls), who was with the organization for 26 years, coaching the AHL affiliate the past 24.

McCarthy’s team features 11 new forwards, two new defenseman and three new goalies in a revamped roster that was assembled by ‘Cuda general manager Joe Will this past off season. “Something we talked about before the game tonight was kind of establishing this place as a hard place (for the opposition) to play.

Something like that takes time to establish, but I think tonight was a big first step in showing (teams) that you’re not going to come in here and get two points easily,” McCarthy said.

San Jose drew first blood halfway through the first period. Derrick Pouliot found Tristen Robbins to the left of the crease and Robbins buried a wrist shot past Silver Knights goalie Jiri Patera for his second goal of the season at the 9:50 mark.

The ‘Cuda doubled its lead late in the first period. Captain Andrew Agozzino led a counterattack up the ice and Braden Coe skated in on a breakaway and beat Patera with a low shot to the right for his first goal of the season at the 17:41 mark.

It was the first game of the season for Coe, who did not play in the team’s first two games against Iowa, and he was ready for his opportunity. “For me personally, I was ready to bang some bods (bodies). I like to get into the competition. It was good, it was fun. We like that chippy game, we can play like that all day,” Coe said.

The Barracuda outshot the Silver Knights 13-9 as they dictated the pace of the play in the opening 20 minutes. Henderson thought they had a goal at the 6:04 mark of the second when Gage Quinney looked to have slid a puck into the net past ‘Cuda goalie Aaron Dell.

However, after video review the goal was waved off by referee Jordan Watt. San Jose scored it third unanswered goal late in the second period. A shot from the point by Pouliot was redirected by Coe for his second goal of the game at the 15:34 mark.

The Barracuda scored the only goal in the third period. On a delayed penalty, Thomas Bordeleau sniped home a puck into an open net for his second goal of the season at the 14:02 mark. Jeffery Viel and Patrick Sieloff were credited with assists.

Dell stopped all 34 shots to earn his first shutout of the season and ninth of his AHL career. Patera made 27 saves on 31 shots in the losing effort. “I felt good,” Dell said regarding his performance. “We tightened it up a little bit since the last weekend. We started off a little bit loose, turn the puck over. But as the game went on, we learned (from our mistakes).

I think it was a great game for us, learning wise that way.” GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 0-for-2 on the power play. Henderson was 0-for-4. The Three Stars of the Game were: 1) Dell 2) Coe 3) Pouliot UP NEXT: San Jose and Henderson conclude its two-game series on Sunday 10/23 at 3:00pm at Tech CU Arena.

Strong first period for Barracuda is enough for win over Iowa Wild by score of 3-1.

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Photo courtesy of San Jose Barracuda. Andrew Agozzino skates up the ice against the Iowa Wild on Saturday night.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

Another night in Iowa another win as the Barracuda found a way to win against the Wild by a final score of 3-1.

The game would start with a quick penalty call against the Wild for holding that would be killed off. It would end up being a pattern for the rest of the game as the Barracuda finished the night 0-3 on the power play.

Despite the power play being killed Luke Johnson found the back of the net for the Barracuda. The assists coming from C.J. Suess and Ryan Merkley on a nice shot from far out that went bar down past Iowa goalie Zane McIntyre.

Not less than a minute later William Eklund followed it up with a tap in to a wide open net off a nice feed from Derrick Pouliot. Ryan Merkley got the other assist as the Barracuda quickly found themselves up 2-0.

That would be all the scoring in the first period with the shots ending at a tie of 9-9 between the two teams.

Momentum seemed to swing in the other direction in the second period with the shots moving more in favor of the Wild. With the shots by the end of the period in favor of the Wild by 19-13.

To cap off this momentum swing Nick Swaney scored for Wild with assists from Steven Fogarty and Turner Ottenbriet.

Newly anointed Barracuda captain Andrew Agozzino would respond on a breakaway goal shooting it through the five-hole of McIntyre. Max Veronneau got the assist feeding it up to Agozzino to propel him on the breakaway.

That would do it for scoring as the Barracuda would hold on to that lead of 3-1. Due in large part to goalie Eetu Makiniemi making 28 saves on the night.

The Barracuda’s next game will be against the Henderson Silver Knights on Saturday Oct. 22nd at 6:00 p.m. at Tech Cu arena.