Tag: San Jose Barracuda

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

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

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

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

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

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

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

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

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

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

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

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

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

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

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.

NHL, Sharks, Suspend All Games Due to COVID-19 Concerns

Published on by M WalshLeave a comment

The Capital One Arena, home of the Washington Capitals NHL hockey club, sits empty Thursday, March 12, 2020, in Washington. The NHL is following the NBA’s lead and suspending its season amid the coronavirus outbreak, the league announced Thursday (photo from usnews.com)

By Mary Walsh

On Thursday the NHL announced a pause in the season. They released a statement that read, in part:

In light of ongoing developments resulting from the coronavirus, and after consulting with medical experts and convening a conference call of the Board of Governors, the National Hockey League is announcing today that it will pause the 2019-20 season beginning with tonight’s games.

The move came on the heels of the NBA’s decision to suspend their season after one of their players tested positive for the new virus. Other leagues and events in the US are being suspended or cancelled daily due to concerns over the virus.

The San Jose Sharks had previously announced that March games would be played without fans and only limited media access, consistent with Santa Clara County’s March 9 ban large gatherings of people. After today’s NHL announcement, the Sharks released the following press release about the status of games and tickets:

The National Hockey League has announced today that the 2019-20 NHL regular season will be paused for the safety of its players, employees, and fans in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sharks Sports & Entertainment is fully supportive of the NHL’s decision.

With NHL games now being placed on hold as opposed to played without fans, ticket holders are asked to hang on to their tickets until additional information from the NHL becomes available.

As new developments arise, we will communicate with our fans and partners. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

The AHL has also suspended play, which puts the San Jose Barracuda and Stockton Heat and their fans in the same state of limbo as the Sharks.

The NHL expressed the hope that the season could resume at an appropriate time. There are 189 regular season games remaining, as well as the Stanley Cup playoffs. For the complete statement, go to the NHL website.

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

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

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

 

Barracuda use four-goal second period to bury the Heat 7-4

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

sjbarracuda photo

by Marko Ukalovic

STOCKTON, Calif- Better late than never has never applied more to the San Jose Barracuda when it comes to the Stockton Heat. The ‘Cuda used a four-goal second period outburst to take control of the game to defeat their NorCal rival 7-4 on Tuesday evening at Stockton Arena.

San Jose finally snapped their nine-game losing streak against Stockton this season, while extendeing their point streak to six games. San Jose is now 1-7-1-1 against Stockton. The Heat currently sit in third place in the Pacific Division with 68 points.

Stockton (30-17-4-4) drew first blood 46 seconds into the first period. Heat captain Byron Froese fired a shot on net that ‘Cuda goalie Josef Korenar saved but couldn’t control the rebound. Buddy Robinson crashed in and cleaned up the rebound for his 17th goal of the season. He is second in goals for the Heat.

San Jose (21-27-5-2) scored the eqaulizer just under five minutes later. Maxim Letunov led a rush up the ice. He fed a pass over to Danil Yurtaykin who then found Lukas Radil and the Czech forward completed a tic-tac-toe goal with a wrist shot that beat Heat goalie Jon Gillies for his fifth of the season at the 5:30 mark. It snapped an eight-game goal-less draught.

Stockton regained the lead on the power play late in the opening frame. The Heat only needed nine seconds to light the lamp when Martin Pospisil jammed home a loose puck that Korenar struggled to keep from going past the goaline. Glen Gawdin and and Adam Ruzicka were credited with assists on Pospisil’s third goal of the season at the 19:18 mark.

San Jose tied it up for a second time early in the second period in what began a span of three-unanswered goals for the ‘Cuda. Keaton Middleton received a pass from Sasha Chmelevski and skated into the Heat zone. The ‘Cuda defenseman snapped home a wrist shot past Gillies on the shortside for his fourth goal of the season at the 2:03 mark. Radil picked up the secondary assist.

The Barracuda gained their first lead of the night when Danil Yurtaykin fired a shot past Gillies just over two minutes later. The rookie forward scored his second goal of the season at the 4:35 mark. It was his first goal since November 13, 2019, ending a 29 game skid.

Before the Heat could even blink after Yutaykin’s goal, Tristan Langan set up Ivan Chekhovich who buried a wrist shot past Gillies for his fourth goal of the season at the 5:10 mark. For Langan his helper was his first point in the AHL.

That ended the evening for Gillies who was replaced by backup netminder Artyom Zagidulin. Gillies finished the night giving up four goals on 12 shots in 25:10 of action.

Stockton stopped the bleeding over two minutes later when Rob Hamilton sent in a shot on the net where Robinson, was once again at the right place at the right time, tapped home another rebound for second goal of the game and 18th of the season to cut the lead to one-goal at the 7:24 mark.

San Jose regained a two-goal lead when Jeffery Viel led a rush up the ice. He fed a pass over to Anthony Greco who found a trailing Jonny Brodzinski with a drop pass. Brodzinski fired a wrist shot past Zagiudukin, who was screened on the play by his own defenseman, for his 14th goal of the season for the red-hot foward at the 12:09 mark.

The Heat pressed back just 31 second later as they closed out the scoring in a wild middle frame. Korenar failed to clear the puck from his crease as his attempt went right on the stick of Froese and he scored into an empty net for his 19th goal of the season. Alexander Yelesin and Hamilton were credited with assists.

The Barracuda dominated the second period as they out shot the Heat by a 2-to-1 margin 14-7.

San Jose wrapped up the game with two goals in a span of 13 seconds late in the third period. First Yurtaykin fed a pass over to Radil who skated down the left wing and buried a wrist shot to the far side past Zagidulin for his second goal of the night and sixth of the season at the 16:09 mark.

Then Jayden Halbgewachs scored his team leading 19th goal at the 16:22 mark to ice the game for the Barracuda. Chmelevski and Middleton picked up the helpers on the play.

Korenar played an outstanding game making 22 saves on 26 shots to earn his 12th win of the season. Zagidulin stopped 16 of the 19 shots in suffering the loss.

GAME NOTES: San Jose went 0-for-3 on the power play. Stockton was 1-for-3. The Heat came into the game with the league number one power play at 25.5%.

Six different skaters scored goals for the ‘Cuda.

Radil’s two goals were his first multi-goal game of his career.

Yutaykin with his 1G, 2A finished with his first ever three-point game in his career.

Ruzicka now has one goal and three assists in four games against San Jose this season.

The announced attendance was 1,639.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda continue their three-game roadtrip when the travel down to San Diego to take on the Gulls on Friday 3/13 at 7:00pm at Pachenga Arena.