“We’re looking forward to getting next season going,” said Condors Head Coach Matt O’Dette. “Unlike last year, we’ll have a good sized nucleus of players returning to the team and it will be a good preparation for the season.”

More information on player signings and promotional nights will be released in the coming weeks. A full schedule of games will be made available in the near future. For the latest-breaking and most up-to-date news on the team, follow the Condors on Twitter @Condors.

BUY CONDORS TICKETS – GET DODGERS AND GOLF
From now until June 15th, show your dad how much you care by giving him the gift of Condors hockey, a trip to see the Dodgers, and a chance to hit the links at one of the areas premier golf courses for FREE today by calling any of the Condors sales representatives at 324-PUCK (7825) or crashing the net by clicking here. For every ticket plan purchased, receive Dodgers tickets and rounds of golf at the wonderful Buena Vista Golf Course for FREE. The Condors front office is open Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

Make sure to follow along with all that’s happening in Condorstown. From community appearances, to player signings and funny videos, stay up to date with what the team is doing away from the ice during the summer months. Click any of the links below to see the latest and as always set your homepage to www.bakersfieldcondors.com the web center of #Condorstown.

5. Good reading? You bet. This wins my award for best article of the day. It also wins the award for scariest article of the day. But I don’t think it goes far enough, because an NFL destroyed by medical lawsuits has a trickle down effect to college football, the NHL, minor league hockey, baseball and basically every other sport under the sun. Because it’s sports. It’s dangerous and specialized. And only a select few can play them at a high level. And permanent damage from it is practically GUARANTEED. And that will never change.

4. In my ESPN.com fantasy playoff challenge for the Condors office, I am in trouble. Premise: you pick players and if they score for you, you get points. After the first round I was in 1st place. I was killing it. Mainly because I had Flyers and Penguins all over my roster. Before the second round we picked again, and what do you know, I’m still in 1st place. However, before the third round you pick again, except you don’t get to pick before the finals, so you’d better choose wisely. I went with all Devils and Coyotes, as @BroadcastHolt pointed out on twitter this morning, and I’m in trouble.

Eventually I think the Devils will prevail in that series, but after watching the Kings/Coyotes game the other night, I think that’s going to be a short series that doesn’t end well for Phoenix.

3. Speaking of the finals… The Wranglers and Everblades have commenced the final series in the ECHL Kelly Cup Playoffs, and the Wranglers took Game One last night, 2-1. Mike Tyson ushered in the start of the finals without punching someone in the face, but ringing an air raid siren (which I have to admit could turn into a cool tradition in Vegas).

Florida was one of the best teams in the league in the second half of the season and should give Vegas a run for their money. Former Condor Matt Marquardt is the second leading Everblades scorer in the post-season, and good for him, he’s a good guy and made some fans quickly here in Condorstown. He had a really inconsistent season, but he is now a part of a pretty balanced Florida attack.

The Wranglers are balanced as well, an although they boast two of the top three playoff scorers, they only have two of the next 19 leading scorers in the league. Bizarre considering they are in the finals and no team has played more games. Florida has nine players in the top 22 in scoring, Vegas has four.

2. Hey man, there’s a beverage here! Not for nothing, but I was appalled this morning when I discovered that not only has broadcast partner Ryan Holt NOT seen The Big Lebowski, but neither has Condors Assistant Coach Kevin Barrett. And yes, I mean to say I was APPALLED. How does a guy like Holt go through college without seeing The Big Lebowski? I thought college was the time that you familiarized yourself with cult flicks and are drawn to movies that include booze like it’s another cast member.

1. Last week I wrote about how the game of hockey always fixes itself. Enter Rangers Head Coach John Tortorella with this beauty.

I think he’s wrong to want it back, but still, he has a point that rolls with my point last week, and that is that whatever the league does to open the game up seems to backfire.

Let me take it one step further in the opposite direction from Tortorella (who notably is a hockey expert, while I’m just a radio guy) I will use this opportunity to promote my thoughts on the red line: get rid of it altogether. Right now it’s being used only for icing. I think the league misses the point on eliminating it. It’s not a three-zone game as long as that stupid line is there – it’s a four zone game, with the neutral zone split in two. I think it should be gone altogether and icing should be determined when you fire the puck all the way down from your own zone. Otherwise you’re penalizing teams for missing the mark slightly on neutral zone passes. Teams that can transition well will be rewarded, because once the puck is taken away at your own line, you can immediately move it up without fear of retribution by simply missing your guy.

Then next they can apply regular icing rules to penalty killing, which wouldn’t seem all that cruel if you just had to escape your zone with it. When you’re shorthanded, why do you get different rules? In a way, that never made sense to me. You’re shorthanded. It’s a penalty. You are being penalized. But you can ice it? Especially after making the no-line-change rule after icings, doesn’t it seem silly that the PK can send it whenever they want? It’s like being sent to your room grounded but your parents let you stay up later and watch movies in bed. Well you ARE stuck in your room for the night, so here’s the TV?? No, that’s not how it works.

Kevin Bartl is the VP of Communications and part of the Condors broadcast team, entering his 10th season in #Condorstown. His opinions are clearly not reflective of the Condors organization. His blog comes out every Tuesday, or whenever he gets around to it. For not-always-hockey-related thoughts, follow him on twitter @KevinBartl.

TUESDAY MAY 15:
Condors account manager Izzy Corrales, star of two FrontOffice Forums on Condors.TV (check it out here), will take Baby Cal to Rio Bravo Elementary school from 9-10 a.m. The school is located at 6521 Enos Lane. Izzy will participate in the school’s Celebrity Reader Day and Cal will try not to distract the students too much!

Condors broadcaster Kevin Bartl hits the airwaves for his weekly appearance on KERN Radio 1180 AM’s Scott Cox Show at 5 p.m. Tune in and hear if Bartl has any insight or behind the scenes news from the team or the front office.

Condors broadcaster Ryan Holt and Baby Cal will appear at Suburu Elementary from 8-9 a.m. as part of their Community Reader Day. The school is located at 7315 Harris Road. Ryan will read a story to the class while Baby Cal will entertain the students.

THURSDAY MAY 17:

The Amgen Tour of California Bike Race rolls through Bakersfield for the Stage 5 Individual Time Trial. Bartl and Holt will each be at the race to let the riders know that “This Is #Condorstown!” You can watch the race later in the day on the NBC Sports Network.

Director of Group Sales Brad Urbani and Vice President of Ticket Sales and Service Jose Rivera will set up the Slapshot booth for the Downtown Business Association’s Third Thursday event at Mill Creek Park from 5:30-8:30 p.m. The park is located between 19th and 21st streets just east of R street. Colonel Claw’d will attend the event as well to entertain and help the kids fire slapshots in on the goalie.

SATURDAY MAY 19:
Baby Cal and Condors staff will head to the Taft Relay for Life from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. held at Taft Union High School. The school is located at 788 Wildcat Way in Taft. The Condors have partnered with numerous Relay for Life’s across Kern County and are excited to see all the walkers raising money for the American Cancer Society.

Condors Assistant Coach Kevin Barrett and Corporate Account Manager Josh Huber will attend the 19th Annual Sharyn Woods Pro-Am Golf Tournament and Gala from 6-9 p.m. at Seven Oaks Country Club to benefit Links for Life, a local breast cancer resource center. The club is located at 2000 Grand Lakes Avenue. Kevin and Josh will represent the Condors at the event which supports a cause that the Condors donated $31,000 to as part of the 2012 Condors Fighting Cancer Hockey-Thon in March.

INVITE THE CONDORS TO YOUR NEXT EVENT

Make sure to follow along with all that’s happening in Condorstown. From community appearances, to player signings and funny videos, stay up to date with what the team is doing away from the ice during the summer months. Click any of the links below to see the latest and as always set your homepage to www.bakersfieldcondors.com, the web center of #Condorstown.

Comments: Are the Condors looking to get an affiliation for the upcoming season?

Reply: We will definitely be investigating that over the summer. Every year we assess our prospects when it comes to affiliations, and there are usually only a handful of NHL clubs out there that are available. While there are pluses and minuses when it comes to an affiliation, the bottom line is if we can find one that is the right fit, we’ll take it.

One positive from the 2011-12 season is that Head Coach Matt O’Dette was still able to move players up to the American Hockey League without an affiliation, sending Matt Keetley, Robby Dee, Scott Greenham and Alex Hudson to various AHL clubs. Proving you are able to put players in the AHL is a great recruiting tool, and shows potential players that even if we’re not affiliated, they don’t have to worry about being off the AHL radar if they come here. It also can help build relationships between the teams at the next level and Condorstown, perhaps opening doors to an affiliation down the road.

Note: Just after posting this we received another mailbag from “Ron”, who wanted us to point out that Las Vegas, who is currently in the finals, and Alaska, who had the best record in the entire league, were both independent… meaning, they had no affiliation. Two of the three times the Condors have reached the second round of the playoffs, they did so without an affiliation, so whether we bring an affiliation to Condorstown or not, we feel confident in being able to give the fans a good team to get behind.

-The Mailbag Guy

CONDORSTOWN, Calif. – The Bakersfield Condors already offered a great deal for mom earlier this month and wanted to make sure that dad didn’t feel left out! Beginning today, when you purchase a 2012-13 Condors ticket plan, you will receive free Los Angeles Dodgers tickets and free rounds of golf, perfect for dad to enjoy during the summer months. The offer is valid today through June 15th, with Father’s Day fast approaching on June 17th.

Those buying Condors tickets will receive the correspondingnumber of Dodgers’ tickets and rounds of golf depending on how many ticket plans they purchase. So, for instance, if you purchased four (4) ticket plans, starting around $7 a month, you would receive four tickets to the Dodgers game of your choosing on or before July 4, 2012, and would include four (4) free rounds of golf at the wonderful Buena Vista Golf Course, good through the end of 2012. In fact, the Dodgers play the Chicago White Sox on Father’s Day. Why not buy dad a Condors ticket plan and take him to Dodger Stadium for FREE?

“This is the ultimate Father’s Day package,” said Condors Team President Matthew Riley. “As a dad myself, I know that in the off-season, baseball and hacking yet another golf ball into a hazard are two of my favorite activities. With the Dodgers having a successful season and the weather always perfect for golf, we wanted to give back to all of our Condorstown dads out there with a great deal.”

Show your dad how much you care by giving him the gift of Condors hockey, a trip to see the Dodgers, and a chance to hit the links at one of the areas premier golf courses today by calling any of the Condors sales representatives at 324-PUCK (7825) or crashing the net by clicking here. The Condors front office is open Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

Make sure to follow along with all that’s happening in Condorstown. From community appearances, to player signings and funny videos, stay up to date with what the team is doing away from the ice during the summer months. Click any of the links below to see the latest and as always set your homepage to www.bakersfieldcondors.com, the web center of #Condorstown.

‘Like’ the team on Facebook by visiting www.facebook.com/BakersfieldCondors

For the latest breaking news and to follow the staff and players, head to Twitter and tweet @Condors. Use the always popular hashtag #Condorstown to make sure you get your tweets across!

Condors.TV has highlights, funny videos, and interviews with players, coaches, and staff throughout the off season. Check it out!

Go to Pinterest to view pictures from different events and have fun “pinning” pictures on our boards. Have a pic? Send it our way. Click here.

Like, Follow, Tweet, Pin …. Get SOCIAL WITH THE CONDORS!

“What’s going on Condorstown?!

This summer I will be home here in Anchorage, Alaska and I will be rehabbing my shoulder (which I hurt at the end of the season and had surgery on), training for next season, and working the odd job here and there which includes working on a boat for a bit.

I also plan on visiting and training in Grand Forks, ND (where I went to school) and Philadelphia as well. As far as activities I will be doing, I enjoy hiking, biking, and golfing. I love the great outdoors, especially up here in Alaska.

I also enjoy spending time with my family. I’m the oldest of five (3 brothers and 1 sister). I’m going to try skydiving this summer and I’m taking a belated “senior trip” with a few guys from college to Florida.

Feel free to follow me this summer on twitter. My account is @trupper19.

Enjoy the summer everyone!” – Evan

Burgdoerfer embraced the leadership position as an alternate captain, often played injured, and proved his reliability on the blue line in all situations to new head coach Matt O’Dette. He led the team’s defensive corps in shots with 120 despite playing in just 60 of the team’s 72 games after missing time at the beginning of the season due to a hand injury. Overall, the second year pro finished with five goals and 11 assists for 16 points.

You can follow “Burgy” during the off-season on Twitter @E_Burgy.

No NHL hockey does not mean there isn’t a wealth of other hockey options going on around North America though. I figured that we could delve into the other interesting leagues and championships that you don’t get to hear about too often. Unless of course you listen to a NHL playoff game called by Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick and Pierre McGuire who always give mention to leagues and champions that the majority of their viewers haven’t even heard of.

In the American Hockey League (AHL), one team, the Toronto Marlies (Toronto Maple Leafs), punched their ticket to the Western Conference Finals where they await the winner of the Oklahoma City Barons (Edmonton Oilers) and the San Antonio Rampage (Florida Panthers). I called down to Matt O’Dette today to see how the city of Toronto was celebrating their playoff run. He says that a few people have jumped on the bandwagon, but that it’s definitely a Leafs city. On the eastern side, (yeah, I know, Toronto isn’t in the AHL Eastern Conference? Then again neither is Charlotte, NC) the Norfolk Admirals (Tampa Bay Lightning) and St. John’s IceCaps (Winnipeg Jets) appear headed on a crash course for the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Central Hockey League has already crowned its champion, the Fort Wayne Komets, after they took four of five from the Wichita Thunder. As Bartl already mentioned, it’s almost a sure lock that they’re coming to the ECHL next season. Not only are they a great organization and would be great for the league, but they have 86-year old legend Bob Chase (who Emrick interned for) calling their games. He’s broadcasted Komets games since 1953. Let that sink in.

Of course there’s always the ECHL Kelly Cup Finals. Las Vegas and Florida will get underway next week. It should be entertaining with Florida being the hottest team over the last part of the season and Vegas taking out the defending champions in Alaska.

The Memorial Cup is right around the corner as well. For those that don’t know, it pits the winners of the three major junior hockey leagues along with a host city into one, four-team round robin tournament. The host city is Shawinigan this year. Props to anyone who can tell me where that it is and what their team name is without looking it up. Tweet @BroadcastHolt if you know!

In the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), the Saint John Sea Dogs are up 3-0 on Rimouski. FYI, Rimouski was where Sidney Crosby played. The Dogs won the Memorial Cup last year and are likely headed there again this year. I have to give a mention to my hometown brethren Charlie Coyle who is leading the league in scoring and will be suiting up for the Minnesota Wild next year. I played on a line with his sister Jess when I was in squirts. She still swears she’s a better player. In the OHL, the London Knights have a 3-1 series lead over the Niagara Ice Dogs and in the WHL, the best series going, the Portland Winterhawks and Edmonton Oil Kings are deadlocked at 2-2 heading to game five tonight.

In the American-based junior leagues, the United States Hockey League (USHL), which is the top league or Tier I, the Waterloo Black Hawks and Green Bay Gamblers will meet in a best-of-five championship series. The Gamblers are a bit of a powerhouse here, having been to the final in each of the last three seasons.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the other top junior hockey league in the States, the North American Hockey League (NAHL), which is a Tier II league, who as Doc mentioned during the Rangers-Capitals game last night, crowned their champion earlier this week, the Texas Tornado. Texas, based in the Dallas area, was the host team and got an automatic berth to the six-team final. They ended up winning two straight overtime games and won the entire thing. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or not that a team with a 3-5 post-season record won the cup, but hey that’s why you play the games I suppose. Frisco, where the Tornado is based, was a fun spot to visit many times two seasons ago now when I was in Corpus Christi.

I think that pretty much covers the entire non-NHL hockey landscape around North America. My apologies to the New Jersey Outlaws (Federal Hockey League) and Columbus Cottonmouths (Southern Professional Hockey League) who won titles this year, but were too far in the distant past for me.

Hope you enjoyed the twirl around the hockey world. If you didn’t, at least now you’ll know who Doc and Pierre are talking about when you hear them mention teams over and over for the next few weeks. Enjoy the playoffs!

Until next Thursday #Condorstown…

Ryan Holt recently completed his first season in #Condorstown and celebrated his 24^th birthday on Monday by working for the man. The off-season is killing him and he needs hockey back at Rabobank Arena immediately. Follow him on Twitter @BroadcastHolt or e-mail your thoughts to rholt@bakersfieldcondors.com.