Tag: AHL

Barracuda-Silver Knights game cancelled due to COVID-19 protocols

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Marko Ukalovic

The second game of the two game series between the San Jose Barracuda and the Henderson Golden Nights was cancelled due to COVID-19 protocols during the second intermission on Saturday evening at Orleans Arena.

As reported by San Jose Mercury News reporter Curtis Pashelka, both teams came out of their locker rooms for the start of the third period, but were soon sent back. The Barracuda were scheduled to stay overnight in Las Vegas.

The Silver Knights announced the cancellation was not because of a positive COVID test result from a Henderson player or staff member.

On Friday, the NHL announced it was postponing the San Jose Sharks-Vegas Golden Knights games in Glendale, Ariz. on Monday and Wednesday because four members of the Golden Knights, including three coaches, were being isolated in collection with the league’s COVID protocols. Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo is among the list of NHL players who are unavailable to play or practice.

The Golden Knights’ practice facility has also been closed until further notice.

A spokesman for the Sharks, the Barracuda’s parent club, said the team would not make any additional comment Saturday.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda conclude its pre-season schedule traveling to Tucson to take on the Roadrunners on Monday, February 1 at 4:00 pm PT at Tucson Convention Center Arena.

San Jose Barracuda podcast with Marko Ukalovic: Barracuda look to shut off Knights scoring in tonight’s game in Vegas

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Orleans Arena in Las Vegas site of tonight’s San Jose Barracuda and Henderson Silver Knights second game (@JesseGranger photo) Jesse Granger is a staff writer for the Athletic and covers the Knights

On the San Jose Barracuda podcast with Marko:

#1 The Henderson Silver Knights wasted no time scoring five goals in the second period and the Barracuda were whipped 7-3 at Orleans Arena in Vegas for game one of this two game series.

#2 Barracuda head coach Roy Sommer had to be concerned in that second period about shutting the Silver Knights offense but they found they’re way to the net with no problem.

#3 Sommer had to be concerned about goaltender  Zachary Sawchenko who stopped 25 shots but allowed six goals. Was this a game where Sawchenko was just off or he just wasn’t getting enough protection up front?

#4 Marko the other concern that the Barracuda had was the Silver Knights took just 11 shots to convert the six goals in that short of time the defense had to try and reconfigure the Knights offense.

#5 It’s another try again tonight for the Barracuda who face off at 7:oopm at Orleans. In pre season coach Sommer has the opportunity to take a look at a lot of talent how do you see tonight’s match up?

#6 In other AHL news Marko, the Stockton Heat will now play all of it’s home games in Calgary since they are the Flames minor league affiliate and the Heat want to avoid all Covid-19 border crossing protocols.

Join Marko for the Barracuda podcasts Saturday nights at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Silver Knights dominate Barracuda in 7-3 victory

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One of the few shots that the San Jose Barracuda threw at the Henderson Silver Knights net as the Barracuda lost by four goals at the Orleans Arena in Paradise NV on Fri Jan 29, 2021. It was the first of two games between the two teams. (@barracuda photo)

by Marko Ukalovic

PARADISE, NV—The Henderson Silver Knights scored five goals in the second period en route to a 7-3 victory over the San Jose Barracuda on Friday evening at Orleans Arena.

It was the first pre-season game for the AHL team of the Vegas Golden Nights.

Both teams traded goals in the first period and were tied 1-1 at the end of the opening 20 minutes. Reid Duke scored the first ever franchise goal for the Silver Knights.

San Jose got into penalty trouble in the second period that opened the floodgates for Henderson. Five straight goals by Dylan Sikura, Ben Jones, Zach Hayes, Lucas Elvenes and Danny O’Regan put the game away for the Silver Knights.

The Barracuda scored twice in the third period to cut the lead in half but would get no closer than that. Henderson completed the scoring with a goal at the 19:50 mark to seal the deal.

UP NEXT: The same two teams go right back at it on Saturday 1/30 at 5:00pm at Orleans Arena.

DeSimone’s late heroics lift Barracuda to 4-3 victory over Roadrunners

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Marko Ukalovic

TUCSON, Ariz. — Nick DeSimone scored the game-winning goal with 24 seconds left in the third period as the San Jose Barracuda rallied back from a two-goal deficit to beat the Tucson Roadrunners 4-3 on Wednesday afternoon at Tucson Convention Center Arena.

In the first period, Kevin Hancock opened up the scoring at 6:17 mark as Ryan McGregor and former Bakersfield Condor’ Cameron Hebig picked up the assists. Less than a minute later, Blake Speers doubled Tucson’s lead to 2-0.

The Barracuda were outshot 13-to-12 in the opening 20 minutes.

In the middle frame, sophomore forward Joachim Blichfeld found paydirt at 11:28, cutting Tucson’s lead in half.

The Barracuda outshot Tucson 15-7 in the second for a two period total of 27-20.

In the third period, rookie forward Brandon Coe would even the score with his first professional goal at 3:53 as Karlis Cukste picked up the only assist. Blichfeld scored his second of the game at 15:02, netting his team-leading third goal of the preseason, giving the Barracuda a 3-2 lead.

With 1:24 left to go, Lane Pederson leveled the score at 3-3 on the power-play. But exactly one minute later, DeSimone’s late goal magic gave the Barracuda its lead back, and the eventual 4-3 win.

Josef Korenar (1-1-0-1) made 22 saves on 25 shots to collect his first victory of exhibition play. Ivan Prosvetov suffered the loss, allowing four goals on 36 shots.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda are back in action on Friday, 1/29 in Las Vegas, as they square off with the newest member of the AHL, the Henderson Silver Knights, at 7 pm PT.

San Jose Barracuda podcast with Marko Ukalovic: Reign get OT shootout victory 3-2 against Barracuda Friday

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The San Jose Barracuda forward Jayden Halbgewachs (89) takes the puck up ice as he’s pursued by the Ontario Reign’s forward Nick Halloran (32) on Fri Jan 22, 2021 at Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo CA (photo from sjbarracuda.com)

On the SJ Barracuda podcast with Marko:

#1 Marko, the Barracuda lost a razor edge close game in Ontario on Friday night 3-2 in a overtime shootout. The Barracuda came out at 15 seconds at the start of the game and getting on scoreboard.

#2 Marko, Talk about Kurtis Gabriel over two games he scored 36 seconds into Thursday night’s game against San Diego and Friday night against Ontario 15 seconds if the two thoughts here is his two quick goals out of opportunity or out of design by Barracuda head coaches Roy Sommer.

#3 With the score tied at 1-1 the Reign’s Blaine Byron scored his first goal of the season after intercepting a pass in the neutral zone and took the puck to the slot and shot the puck in the attacking zone past the Barracuda’s goalie Josef Korenar at 0:51 of the second period.

#4 The Barracuda’s Ryan Merkley passed to Jayden Halbgewachs who was at the door step of the goal and scored to tie the game up at 6:24 2-2.

#5 The pre season continues as the Barracuda will face the Tucson Roadrunners at Tucson Convention Center on Wed Jan 27th a 4:00pm face off. Marko the Roadrunners have always given the Barracuda headaches how do you expect the outcome of a game like this?

Join Marko Saturday nights for a look at the SJ Barracuda podcasts at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

 

Reign edge Barracuda in 3-2 shootout win

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Final score image from @ontarioreign 

by Marko Ukalovic

EL SEGUNDO, Calif—The Ontario Reign scored on all three shootout attempts to upend the San Jose Barracuda on Friday afternoon at the Toyota Sports Performance Center.

Kurtis Gabriel didn’t wait long to score is second goal of the pre-season. It took only 15 ticks into the game for him to get San Jose on the board. Gabriel redirected a Zach Gallant shot from atop the circle past Reign goaltender Jean-Francois Berube.

The Reign would manage to even the score on the power-play as 2020 second overall pick Quinton Byfield took advantage of a fortuitous bounce on a partially blocked shot below the right circle, and slid it into the open net for his second goal of the season at the at the13:35, mark..

The Barracuda outshot Ontario 11-7 in the opening 20 minutes.

In the second, with 51 seconds remaining in the frame, Ontario took its first lead as Blaine Byron intercepted a neutral-zone pass, cut to the slot as he entered the attacking zone, and beat ‘Cuda goalie Josef Korenar with a quick snipe for his first goal of the pre-season. 

Antti Suomela had a chance earlier in the period on a two-on-one rush but his shot from the far circle was turned aside by Berube. After two periods, the shots read 19 for each team.

In the third at 6:24, Ryan Merkley found Jayden Halbgewachs on the doorstep, for the equalizer for his second goal of the pre-season.

With under five minutes to play, the Barracuda nearly regained their lead on a similar play, this time Thomas Gregoire set up Gallant for a glorious close-range opportunity, but it wouldn’t go and the score would remain level.

Halfway through the three-on-three overtime, Ontario rushed up the ice on a two-on-one but Korenar came up large with a game-saving stop. Neither team would generate much in the way of offense in the remaining two and a half minutes.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda are back in preseason action on Wednesday 1/27 at 4:00 p.m. as they take on the Tucson Roadrunners at the Tucson Convention Center in Tucson, Arizona.

Barracuda rebound with convincing 4-1 win over Gulls

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The San Jose Barracuda’s defenceman Karlis Cukste (77) and the San Diego Gulls forward Andrew Potvralski (22) try and engage the puck at FivePoint Arena in Irvine on Thu Jan 21, 2021 in pre season action (sjbarracuda.com photo)

by Marko Ukalovic

IRVINE, Calif-The San Jose Barracuda jumped out to a quick start and never looked back as they scored four unanswered goals to beat the San Diego Gulls 4-1 in their second pre-season game on Thursday evening at FivePoint Arena.

San Jose split the two-game series with their SoCal division rival.

San Jose got on the attack early as a Gulls offensive zone turnover resulted in an odd-man rush for the Barracuda. Lean Bergmann set up Kurtis Gabriel in front of the net and Gabriel beat Gulls goalie Anthony Stolarz for the game’s opening goal just 32 seconds into the contest.

“I think they came out with a lot of speed early,” said Gulls head coach Kevin Dineen. “We certainly, after our last game, were feeling pretty good about ourselves. It was a good lesson for our players in knowing that this is a pretty good league. There are some good players out there. They came very hard at us and I felt like we got caught off guard. Those are the kind of things you’re glad happens in training camp, that these lessons are learned. You’re playing against good players and you need to be prepared every single night.”

The Barracuda extended their lead with a couple of power-play goals. The first was scored by Jayden Halbgewachs, who evaded a Gulls defender in front to send a forehand shot past Stolarz at the 4:50 mark of the opening frame.

Later on in the period, San Jose struck again on the man advantage as Antti Suomela one timed a shot by Stolarz, pushing the Barracuda lead to 3-0 with 4:42 remaining in the first.

San Jose struck again in the second period, with Kyle Topping snapping a wrist shot past Stolarz at the 11:18 mark of the middle frame, extending the Barracuda lead to four goals.

“We’re a development league and part of the development process is not always a smooth road,” said Dineen. “There are going to be bumps along the way, whether they are personal or as a team. I was happy with stretches of our game tonight, but at other times there are some hard lessons to be learned. That certainly played out tonight.” 

Late in the third period, Sam Carrick put the Gulls on the board. Shortly after San Diego finished killing a minor penalty, Jack Kopacka poked a loose puck towards Sam Carrick at center ice. Carrick rushed ahead on a breakaway and beat ‘Cuda rookie goaltender Samuel Harvey with a wrist shot over the glove, cutting San Jose’s lead to 4-1, the eventual final score. Carrick has collected 4 points (3G, 1A) in two preseason games.

In total, the San Jose would put 43 shots on Stolarz including 19 in the opening 20 minutes. While San Diego had its moments of heavy pressure at both the end of the second and third, the Gulls would beat Harvey just once on 34 shots.

Harvey (1-0) earned his first pro win in his pro debut, playing perfect hockey through the first 57 minutes and 38 seconds. Stolarz who celebrated his 27th birthday on Tuesday, took the loss in his season debut, allowing four goals in total.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda are back in preseason action on Friday at 3:00p.m. as they take on the Ontario Reign at the Toyota Performance Center in El Segundo, Ca.

Barracuda fall to Gulls 5-1 in pre-season opener

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San Jose Barracuda goaltender Josef Kornear (32) looks behind him as the San Diego Gulls forward Alex Dostie (10) battles for the puck at FivePoint Arena in Irvine on Tue Jan 19, 2021 (@sjbarracuda photo)

by Marko Ukalovic

IRVINE, Calif-It had been over 10 months since the San Jose Barracuda were in a hockey rink.

The ‘Cuda were dominated by their Pacific Division rival the San Diego Gulls 5-1 in both team’s pre-seasoner opener on Monday evening at FivePoint Arena.

San Diego wasted no time getting on the scoreboard. Just over five minutes into the action, with the Gulls already on the game’s first power play, Andrew Agozzino converted a backdoor pass from Trevor Zegras, to give San Diego an early 1-0 advantage.

San Jose responded quickly, evening the score at one just 1:37 later as a shot from the point by Joakim Blichfeld snuck through traffic and past Gulls netminder Lukas Dostal.

With just over a minute remaining in the game’s opening period, San Diego retook the lead after a long shift in the offensive zone. Andrew Poturalski collected a bouncing puck along the wall just in front of the San Jose bench, curled towards the middle of the ice and fired a low shot off of his linemate, Benoit-Olivier Groulx and past Josef Korenar. Chase De Leo also collected an assist on the go-ahead goal as the Gulls took a 2-1 lead into first intermission.

Sam Carrick doubled the Gulls lead just two minutes into the second period as he capitalized on a San Jose turnover. As the Barracuda attempted to break out of their own zone, San Jose forward Vlad Kotkov was intercepted by Carrick, who one-timed the errant pass by Korenar to give the Gulls a 3-1 lead at the 2:11 mark of the middle frame.

Another power-play opportunity halfway through the second period, allowed the Gulls to quickly convert once again and extend the lead. Once again, Zegras found Agozzino uncovered on the backdoor but this time the veteran winger made an extra pass to Carrick, who slammed home his second goal of the game, putting San Diego ahead 4-1 with 10:39 left in the second period.

The Gulls capped the offensive onslaught just two minutes later as Jack Kopacka raced down left wing and caught Korenar by surprise, firing a quick wrist shot just under the crossbar, extending the Gulls advantage to four.

The teams traded chances in the third period with neither side finding the back of the net.

Dostal, appearing in his first game as a member of the Gulls, made 28 saves to earn the win.

UP NEXT: San Jose concludes its tow-game series with San Diego on Thursday 1/21 at 6:00pm at FivePoint Arena.

Headline Sports podcast with Marko Ukalovic: As AHL season canceled NHL will have call ups concern

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AHL and NHL images from bellyupsports.com

On Headline Sports with Marko:

#1 With the cancellation of the AHL season does that set the backdrop for the NHL to cancel it’s season?

#2 AHL president David Andrews said on Monday after further review that continuing the season would not be feasible.

#3 Translation of the AHL cancellation most likely the league is bleeding money on staff, personnel, and paying players while the season has been suspended and the AHL couldn’t withstand the hit anymore.

#4 Also how much of a concern should the NHL have as they contemplate their return and how practical is it that they would come back?

#5 Also how would the NHL handle not having a crop of players to call up if they do come back and have injuries during a second half of a NHL season and there is no AHL to make call ups from?

Join Marko Ukalovic each Wednesday night for Headline Sports podcast at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Jose Barracuda podcast with Marko Ukalovic: How Covid 19 ordinance will keep Cuda games real quite

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sjbarracuda photo: Stat graphic from Tuesday night’s game in Stockton between the San Jose Barracuda and Stockton Heat

On the Barracuda podcast with Marko:

#1 Santa Clara County announced on Monday due to Covid 19 Virus that no more crowds of over 1000 people may assemble for any type of meetings or events which would effect the San Jose Barracuda who has their games in SAP Center. Although the Barracuda play in a 17,000 seat capacity building they usually draw no more than 3500 fans but the place will further be empty by the new ordinance from the county.

#2 The Barracuda (21-27-5-2) got a huge win over the Stockton Heat (30-17-4-4) at Stockton Arena, the win was the first against the Heat this season and the Cuda picked up their six consecutive game where they have scored a point.

#3 Barracuda goaltender Josef Korenar stopped 22 out of 26 shots in goal but the Barracuda provided enough offense to get Korenar the win.

#4 The Barracuda’s Lukas Radil had himself an evening scoring his first two goals and four point game of his career.

#5 It’s onto San Diego for a Friday night face off with the Gulls Marko sets this game up for us.

Join Marko for the Barracuda podcasts each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com