BakersfieldCondors.com

Whoever said hockey couldn’t work in a warm weather climate hasn’t been to the Golden Empire lately.

The Bakersfield Condors have helped to show that hockey can thrive in sunny California, flying in the face of both natural environment and inherent skepticism. Bakersfield has enthusiastically supported the game at the grassroots level for over 60 years and recently, the community’s efforts in the professional ranks have paid dividends for players and fans alike to this day.

The Origins of Bakersfield Hockey

Sixty-five years ago, ice hockey emerged amidst the farmland of Bakersfield like an oasis in the desert. Over the next 50 years, teams would materialize and vanish with mirage-like frequency.

On December 21, 1940, the Bakersfield Oilers became the area’s first local team to take the ice in the form of a club squad playing the University of Southern California varsity team. The Oilers competed in the California Ice Hockey Association against fellow Golden State teams such as the Loyola Lions, Los Angeles Athletic Club, Santa Rosa Bullets and the San Diego Rowers.

The 1943 hockey season, much like the rest of the American sporting landscape, was interrupted by the United States involvement in World War II. Bakersfield wouldn’t see hockey again for another 17 years.

In 1960, pro hockey re-surfaced with the Bakersfield Kernels of the Southern California Hockey League. For three years, hockey lovers crowded the old Bakersfield Civic Auditorium to see the Kernels play. Bakersfield held the league reputation for being bad boys, highlighted by goaltender Phil Headley who led the team in penalty minutes. The team disappeared from the hockey landscape during the summer of 1963.

In the early ‘90s, hockey re-emerged in Kern County with the return of the Bakersfield Oilers. The Oilers came onto the scene as part of the semi-pro Pacific Southwest Hockey League. The Bakersfield franchise generated enough interest in the community and those in the industry during the 1994-95 season to persuade the owners to apply for membership in the newly formed West Coast Hockey League.

The new league brought a new perspective as the franchise made its first appearance as the Bakersfield “Fog”. The Fog was one of the WCHL’s “Original Six”, sharing the distinction with the Alaska Gold Kings and the Reno Renegades, as well as current ECHL opponents the Anchorage Aces (now known as the Alaska Aces), Fresno Falcons, and the San Diego Gulls.

Condors Take Flight

1998-99
The inaugural season of Condors hockey was met with great excitement, as not only was there a new name for the franchise, but a new building to play in as well. Large crowds flocked to the newly christened Bakersfield Centennial Garden to cheer on their favorites. They were rewarded early on as Jay Neal scored the first Condors goal in the garden on Opening Night, October 23rd, in a 4-3 shootout win over Idaho. But while the fans were consistent in their attendance and enthusiasm, the play of the team was not.

Head coach Kevin McDonald, who took over the top spot during the summer after Keith Gretzky left town, managed to lead the team to wins at home, but when the club hit the road, it was a different story. The team failed to win a game outside Bakersfield until January, and won just three times on the road all year long.

There were bright spots, including a seven-game unbeaten streak early in the year, the steady play of WCHL All-Star defenseman Glen Mears, and the offensive exploits of Jamie Cooke, Steve Dowhy, Neal and Danny Reja.

Dowhy provided the highlight of the year in the final week of the season, scoring with just a tenth of a second remaining to send a game against the Tacoma Sabercats to a shootout, where the Condors prevailed.

Unfortunately, the end of the year came shortly thereafter, as the defending Taylor Cup Champions and arch-rival San Diego Gulls knocked the team out with a two-game sweep in the best of three 1st Round series in the playoffs.

All in all, year one in Centennial Garden built a good foundation for the franchise, and the team’s efforts were recognized as the West Coast Hockey League honored Bakersfield as the Organization of the Year, and In The Crease magazine named the Condors logo as the best in professional hockey.

1999-2000

The Condors came flying out of the starting gates in their second season. Phillipe Bergeron and Brad Guzda posted back-to-back shutouts to start the year, and the team ran off an 11-game win streak, setting a WCHL record and recording one of the top runs to start a season in any pro hockey league in history. And that was just the beginning.

Kevin MacDonald’s team chalked up 34 wins, finished second in the Southern Division, and earned home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

The players racked up awards throughout the year, with center Paul Willett leading the way. He won Player of the Week awards twice, was a starter in the All Star Game, and was named the WCHL Most Valuable Player after becoming the first Condor to break the 100 points scored barrier, tallying 107. Right wing Jamie Cooke was the Player of the Month for February and Philippe Bergeron earned Goaltender of the Week honors twice, and was named to the WCHL All-Rookie team along with defenseman Paul McInnes.

Dan Currie scored 19 power play goals to set a franchise record, and trailed only Willett in game-winners. And Briane Thompson was a second team all-star, and finished 3rd among blueliners in both assists and total points.

The support for the team in year one was good, and in year two was even better, as attendance in Centennial Garden increased to an average of just under 6,000 fans per game. The faithful were witness to a special wedding on February 18th, as Gabrielle Alexander and Rey Rodriguez said “I do” at center ice during intermission. The very next night was the team’s first sellout as 9,129 fans, the largest crowd to ever see a hockey game in Bakersfield, packed the arena to watch the Condors shut out Idaho, 3-0.

In the postseason, the Condors did manage the first playoff win in team history, a 3-2 victory over Phoenix to knot the best three-of-five series at one game apiece, but the Mustangs won the next two to wrap it up on their way to a Taylor Cup Title under the direction of a head coach by the name of Marty Raymond.

Though it wasn’t the ending they hoped for, the Condors were on the right track on the ice. And off the ice, they were making a big impact in the local community and the hockey world, evidenced by the team winning league awards for Best Commericals and Best Game Presentation, and General Manager Matthew Riley being named WCHL Executive of the Year.

2000-01
The third season started in thrilling fashion, as the Condors erased a two-goal Fresno lead and beat the Falcons in a shootout, 3-2, on opening night. It was a scene to be repeated numerous times throughout the year, as the squad played a team-record 19 shootouts, winning nine of them.

But wins after that were hard to come by, as offensive droughts doomed head coach Kevin McDonald’s team to a 26-36-10 record, and the team finished second-to-last in goals scored in the nine-team WCHL. One particularly painful night was March 30th, when the Condors were crushed by the Colorado Gold Kings, 11-0, the worst loss in franchise history.

Despite the team’s overall difficulties putting the puck in the net, Paul Willett racked up 98 points on 33 goals and 65 assists, and finished fourth in the league in scoring. Teammate Jamie Cooke notched 33 goals of his own and chipped in with 42 assists, and his 75 points was 16th in the scoring race. Both were honored with Player of the Week awards during the season.

The squad received a boost in February when the team brought in former NHL goaltender Andre Racicot, who provided one of the highlights of the year by fulfilling an organizational promise. He shut out the San Diego Gulls on March 10th, which was promoted as Guaranteed Win Night, and earned himself the Goaltender of the Week award for his efforts.

While the team’s play may have suffered, the efforts in the community did not. On April 4th, the organization rallied to raise over $20,000 in a jersey auction in support of Mikella McAuley, a Bakersfield girl diagnosed with leukemia.

The team once again made the playoffs, but like in 1998-99, was swept out quickly by the Gulls, three games to none, finishing off the season, and MacDonald’s career at the helm.

2001-02
While Opening Night always brings a certain energy to it, this year would be a little different. The organization paid a stirring tribute to those who lost their lives on 9-11, which held special significance for Condors owner Jonathan Fleisig, who lost close friends in the attacks on the twin towers. Everybody in the community came together in a show of support for the nation, and those who were gone but not forgotten.

With that as a backdrop, the Paul Kelly Era began for the Condors, as the team hoped a new voice behind the bench could change the team’s fortunes. Goaltending would be the backbone of his first team, as once again the team had difficulties lighting the lamp. Luciano Caraviggio and Scott Hay would prove to be an effective tandem between the pipes, combining for five shutouts and six Goaltender of the Week awards. Hay turned in four of the blankings, setting a team record, and his 2.93 goals against average was the best in team history.

The offense was bolstered by Jason Firth, Paul Willett and Jeff Goldie, who chalked up 75, 64 and 60 points, respectively. Goldie finished second in the WCHL in power play goals, and Firth was third in the league in assists. In addition to setting teammates up, Firth showed the penchant for the spectacular, including scoring a goal from the seat of his pants after being tripped up on a play.

Bakersfield was never been afraid to mix it up, and Sasha Lakovic was always involved physically. On December 14th, in a tribute game for the Bakersfield Kernels, a team that played back in the 60’s, he showcased his ability to throw punches, and then let the San Diego Gulls know exactly what he thought of them from the bench.

Nevertheless, the team was scuffling as the campaign drew to a close, but then suddenly got hot at the right time. Coinciding with the hiring of Marty Raymond as Associate Coach, the team ripped off nine wins in 11 games headed into the finale, which would provide a storybook ending to the regular season.

Ken Baker, with the team most of the season and working on a book about his battle with a brain tumor that derailed his hockey career a decade earlier, suited up for his first professional start in goal. He stopped 30 shots and the team rallied from 5-2 down to send the contest with Idaho to a shootout. Baker thwarted the Steelheads’ top scorer to start the one-on-one battles, and the Condors scored four times to register the emotional, 6-5 win.

Fresh off that dramatic win, the team faced the San Diego Gulls in the first round of the playoffs for the third time in four years. After dropping the first two games of the best-of-five series in San Diego, the Condors bounced back with a thrilling, 5-4 overtime victory thanks to Willett.

The team had a chance to square the series at two and force the fifth and deciding game back down south, but fell 3-2 in a game marred by controversy. In what came to be known as “Goal-Gate”, twice during the contest the Condors scored, only to have the goals disallowed by the officials. Less than a week later, the league issued an unprecedented apology, acknowledging one of the disallowed goals (“the goal that was a goal, then wasn’t”), should’ve counted, but it was obviously too little too late, as another season had already come to a close.

The late charge and emotional playoff series left the team and fans drained, but also with much to be proud of. Mirroring that success, the team was awarded the Quality of Life Award from the United Way of Kern County, as well as the WCHL’s Best Community Development and Best Game Presentation awards, and there was reason for optimism heading into the offseason.

2002-03
With the memory of the previous year’s controversial ending still on their minds, the Condors began their 5th Anniversary season with a bang. Paul Kelly’s team hosted the WCHL’s reigning champs, the Fresno Falcons, and shut them out 4-0. The stars that night were Kevin St. Pierre, who recorded the shutout, and Paul Willett, who scored twice. Those two would shine all season long.

St. Pierre proved opening night was no fluke, leading the league in wins, goals against average and save percentage. As if that wasn’t enough, he recorded three more shutouts, won the Goaltender of the Week award eight times, and was selected First Team All-WCHL, Outstanding Goaltender and League MVP.

Willett posted team highs in points and assists, led the entire league in scoring and tied for the lead in helpers, was also selected First Team All-WCHL, and notched his 1,000th career point in March.

There were plenty of others who flashed brilliance throughout the year, resulting in honors and milestones including:

Collectively, the Condors ran off a franchise-record seven game road win streak to start the year, and piled up a nine-game win streak in November. The pace slowed in December when St Pierre missed time due to injury, but also led to an historic moment in team history as the calendar turned to 2003.

On January 11th, Danielle Dube became the first woman ever to suit up for the Bakersfield Condors. She started in goal that night, and with more than 6,500 pairs of eyes focused on her, beat the Anchorage Aces, 6-4. Dube stopped 16 shots to record the victory, and forever etched her name in Condors lore.

St. Pierre returned just a few days later, and kept the momentum going with a 5-0 whitewashing of first-place Idaho.

As the months rolled by, the team was headed toward the postseason full of confidence, but on March 22nd, disaster struck. In a 5-1 win over Anchorage, defenseman Christoffer Norgren suffered a cracked vertebrae in his neck after being driven headfirst into the end boards. Later in the contest, Rosebush reacted angrily to a knee-on-knee hit, and suffered a broken finger. Both players were lost for the year, severely damaging the team’s hopes.

When the dust cleared from the regular season, the Condors had set 30 individual and team records, including most wins with 41, and most points with 91. They produced a Coach of the Year selection for Paul Kelly, and finished firmly in third place in the WCHL.

Of course, after such a spectacular campaign, who should be waiting in the playoffs but their nemesis, the San Diego Gulls, in a best-of-five series. It looked like this year might be different, as the Condors grabbed Game One in overtime on Jason Jackman’s game-winner. But the Gulls and injuries combined to stifle the team’s high-powered offense, and the Condors scored just four goals in the next four games.

Despite their efforts to change the momentum, including David Bell’s run-in with Gulls’ goalie Trevor Koenig and subsequent fight, the Condors were knocked out of the postseason, and were left to wonder how a sweet season ended on another sour note.

2003-04
A new year brought new hopes, and in the case of 2003-04, a new league as well. The Condors, along with the WCHL’s other five teams, applied and were accepted into the ECHL, the top Double-A league in professional hockey. Getting in turned out to be the easy part. Achieving success proved to be much more difficult.

Nearly 10,000 fans showed up at Bakersfield Centennial Garden opening weekend, but the Condors offense didn’t, resulting in shutout losses to Fresno and San Diego. The team finally scored when Quinn Fair lit the lamp in Game 3 at Las Vegas, but again failed to notch a win. Finally, on October 24th, the team registered its first ECHL victory, and it couldn’t have been sweeter as it came at the hands of the rival Gulls.

Much of the season was a frustrating struggle, but one of the bright spots was Andrew Ianiero. An All-Star the year before with Dayton, AI chalked up a 10-game point streak and an 8-game assist streak during the year. He was selected to the All-Star game again, where he recorded an assist, and finished the season second on the team in points and assists, trailing only Kevin Riehl in both categories.

Notable for quite a different reason was Jon Mirasty, who set a team record with 358 penalty minutes for the year. Rare was the night when “Smiling Nasty Mirasty” didn’t drop the gloves and square off with an opponent.

In February, with the team in the midst of a 7-game losing streak, and 19 points out of a playoff spot, associate coach Marty Raymond replaced Kelly as the head coach. While the change didn’t affect the team’s record appreciably the rest of this season, the move would certainly pay dividends for years to come.

Perhaps what summed up the season as a whole was January 10th, when Riehl was honored in a promotional event. That night, he became the first, and thankfully the last, Condors player to ever be memorialized as a Rubber Duck giveaway!

2004-05
Yutaka Fukufuji

Having gotten a taste of the ECHL the year before, and with the handing over of the reigns to Marty Raymond, the Condors were ready for a better year in 2004-05. But to ensure improvement, the team needed an infusion of talent, and they went out and got it.

The team busted out of the gates by winning its first six games, with an emotional night mixed in. On November 6th, the Condors retired Steve Dowhy’s #74, Glen Mears #26 and Paul Willett’s #16. The trio played a combined 960 games for the Bakersfield franchise across two different teams and two different leagues. Dowhy finished his career as the franchise leader in goals and total points, Willett finished first in assists and second in total points, and Mears finished first in assists and total points by a defenseman.

After a shootout loss, the Condors went 7-1-1 in the next nine games, and held onto first place in the West Division of the National Conference. Included in that run was the Teddy Bear Toss on November 27th, when over 8,200 fans packed the building and launched more than 7,100 stuff animals on the ice, a record total for the charity event.

The pace slowed down in December, but when the new year began, the Condors ran off another big streak, going 7-0-1 in their next eight outside of Bakersfield, and 10-1-1 overall, capped by a 2-0 blanking of Fresno on January 24th at Centennial Garden. And before the campaign ended, late in February and on into March, the club put together a 6-0-1 mark, outscoring the opposition 33-15.

When all was said and done for the regular season, the Condors had earned their first-ever berth in the ECHL playoffs, and Marty Raymond was runner-up for ECHL Coach of the Year. The team matched up in a best-of-five series against the division-winner and old WCHL Rival, the Alaska Aces, who were led by league MVP Scott Gomez, playing for his hometown team thanks to the NHL lockout.

Conor James

The Aces took the first two in Anchorage, but the Condors came right back at home, capturing Game 3, 3-2, and had a chance to even the series in Game 4. The tight affair turned controversial in the second period, when Ashlee Langdone’s hard check on Gomez sent him awkwardly into the Alaska bench doorway. Gomez was diagnosed with a pelvic fracture and didn’t reappear in the series, but the incident fired up the Aces, who rallied from 3-1 down in the third to send the game to overtime on a goal with four seconds left. But just 25 seconds into the extra session, Alaska’s goaltender made a mistake, and the Condors capitalized when Brad Mehalko knocked home the game-winner.

But the team couldn’t sustain the momentum back in Alaska for the winner-take-all Game 5, falling 6-2, bringing the season to a close, and the career of Paul Rosebush to an end. Having spent all six full seasons of his pro career in Bakersfield, and having captained the Condors the past two years, he decided it was time to hang his skates up.

Despite the personal accomplishments, the team didn’t stray far from .500 for a good portion of the year, and early in the second half stood at just 19-18-5. But starting with a win in Idaho on February 11th, the Condors put all the pieces together. The team won 21 of its last 30 games, including 13 of 16 at home, and soared to a second place finish in the Pacific Division, setting up a first-round playoff series with the third place Long Beach Ice Dogs.

Sean Venedam The best-of-seven series opened on home ice, and the Condors were ready, locking down the Long Beach offense and scoring enough for a 3-1 win. But in Game 2, the Ice Dogs found the back of the net five times, and took a split back home to Long Beach.

Game 3 saw the Condors again take control of the series, running away with a 6-3 victory, with Kevin Kotyluk supplying the first and last goals for Bakersfield. They had a golden chance to take a stranglehold of the series in Game 4, but lost in overtime, 5-4. With the 2-3-2 format for the best of seven series, Game 5 was crucial, as they didn’t want to head home with their backs to the wall. From start to finish they controlled the action, and skated off with a 4-1 win, and a 3-2 series edge.

On their first chance to chance to wrap up the series, the Condors fell apart in Game 6, dropping a 6-2 decision. That meant Game 7 would be win and move on, or go home for the summer.

The Condors fell behind 3-2 after two periods of play, and an air of concern lingered in the arena. But after tying the game at three, and then having a go-ahead goal disallowed, Joel Irving took matters onto his own stick, scoring the goal that put the Condors ahead to stay in the 4-3 win.

After 798 games as a franchise, finally the team had a playoff series win to celebrate. They had done it the hard way, but they had finally done it, and it was time to move on to the second round for the first time ever.

The Condors faced off against the Pacific Division and National Conference champion Fresno Falcons in Round 2, and like the battle with Long Beach, this series would also go the distance.

Bakersfield hadn’t beaten Fresno in Save Mart Center in three tries during the regular season, and didn’t break that trend to start the Division Finals, yielding three power-play goals in each game and dropping 5-3 and 4-2 decisions to the Falcons.

Returning back down the 99 for the next trio of games, the Condors showed they wouldn’t go away, scoring three power-play goals of their own in a 4-2 Game 3 win, to pull within a game of tying the series up. But the joy of that victory evaporated the next night, when Fresno scored in overtime to take a 3-2 win and a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.

Backed into a corner, the Marty Raymond coached Condors came out scratching and clawing in Game 5, and despite being shorthanded 13 times, managed to limit the Falcons to just a pair of goals, and scored four of their own to tighten the series to 3 games to 2.

The series shifted back to Fresno, where the Falcons had been dominant, winning 24 of 36 games during the regular season, and all four of their playoff contests. But the Condors were not to be denied. Through three periods the team were tied, meaning overtime for the second time in three games. And this time in the extra session, it was Bakersfield finding a way, as Brad Mehalko came up with another overtime game-winner to extend the series.

Kevin St. Jacques With the Game 6 thriller behind them, the Condors became the first team ever in the ECHL to play two 7-game series in the postseason. During Game 7, Condors forward Scott Borders broke his leg when his skates caught in the choppy ice in Fresno. It was a painful blow for Borders and the team, as he had scored six goals in the postseason. The loss of the team’s second-leading goal scorer in the playoffs proved to be too much, and recent history failed to repeat itself, as the Falcons prevailed, 4-2.

Still, there was much to be proud of, as in addition to the playoff series win, the Condors broke 38 team records, including 20 in the postseason, set the mark for largest total attendance with more than 240,000 fans coming to see regular season and playoff games, while also raising over $400,000 for charity.

2006-07
Having finally advanced past the first round of the playoffs the previous year, expectations were high as the Condors began 2006-07. While certainly not guaranteeing a championship, players and coaches had visions of the Kelly Cup dancing in their heads from the start of the season.

Within the first two weeks, the team had a chance to measure themselves against the best of the ECHL, when they went to Alaska to take on the defending champion Aces. In the first contest up in Anchorage, the Condors fell behind 5-2 in the second period, but then showed what type of team they were going to be, scoring five straight goals to come away with a 7-5 victory in Sullivan Arena.

Josh Liebenow’s game-winner in that contest was just the start of what would be a career year for him. After notching just two goals in 28 games with Bakersfield the year before, he exploded for 28, including 7 game-winners to lead the team. Combined with his outstanding penalty killing and willingness to sacrifice his body for the team, he quickly became one of the most popular players on the ice.

On November 18th, the team nipped the Idaho Steelheads, 3-2, giving Marty Raymond his 93rd victory as head coach, making him the winningest coach in team history. A week later, the team capped a streak of seven wins in 11 games with a 6-3 crushing of the Aces. With 8,743 fans on hand, the fourth largest crowd in team history, captain Sean Venedam got it started with the first goal on a special night at The Nest and the team never looked back.

Venedam and Kevin St. Jacques took center stage a couple of days later, when the Condors sent the Long Beach Ice Dogs home with their tails between their legs. Both scored two goals and assisted on two others as the Condors scored double-digits for the first time in team history in a 10-2 romp.

A good team always has some strong veterans, and this one would be no different. Venedam and St Jacques both came to Bakersfield with a championship pedigree. St Jacques was a part of three Taylor Cup-winning teams in the WCHL, with San Diego in 1996-97 and 1997-98, as well as Phoenix in 1999-2000 under the direction of Raymond, while Venedam notched two titles with Greenville of the ECHL in 2001-02 and Fort Wayne in the UHL in 2002-03. Both knew how to score, with Venedam going on to lead the team in points, and St Jacques finishing third. With years of experience between the two of them, the Condors had players that not only knew how to win on the ice, but had a locker room presence and the respect of their teammates off it as well.

By the same token, young legs and enthusiasm also have their place on a top squad, and shortly after the season started a rookie by the name of Todd Griffith got a chance to show what he could do, namely put the puck in the net. Griffith scored in each of the first four games he played, and went on to light the lamp 26 times in only 46 games, setting the Condors rookie record for goals in the process. He registered a pair of markers on five separate occasions, and notched his first professional hat trick in a 6-4 win over Victoria.

Just as important, the Condors were keeping the puck out of their own net, mainly due to the efforts of goaltender Jamie Hodson. Having stepped away from the game midway through the previous season, Hodson decided to give it another shot with Bakersfield, and both sides were rewarded as he racked up 29 wins, a 2.66 goals against average, and a .917 save percentage. He ran off a six-game win streak and two five-game win streaks, and recorded back-to-back shutouts in March, the first Condors netminder ever to do so.

Still, the team was sitting at just 16-10-3 when 2006 ended, but perhaps sparked by the trade of Joel Irving, came out roaring in 2007, winning their first four games in January. St. Jacques was brilliant, recording back-to-back five point nights against Victoria and Utah.

After a loss to Stockton, the Condors went on a 4-0-1 run that started and finished with victories over the Fresno Falcons, including a stellar outing by backup goaltender Danny Taylor, who stopped 33 shots in regulation and overtime before blanking the Falcons in the shootout to secure a 2-1 win.

A minor blip in the form of a regulation and shootout loss to the Salmon Kings was quickly forgotten as the team rattled off five more wins in a row, with help from the combination of Alexandre Bolduc and Tyler Scott, who teamed up on late goals to beat Toledo in regulation and Stockton in overtime.

The Condors closed February with a pair of wins over the Phoenix RoadRunners, and now sat at 32-13-8, well on their way to a playoff berth, and with a division title a real possibility. But a monster road trip loomed, a four-city, nine-game, 16-day affair that would begin with three games in Alaska.

The team trailed late in the third period in each of the first two games in Anchorage, but rallied to tie them up and send them to shootouts where the Aces prevailed. Though disappointed, the team knew if it kept applying the pressure, it would eventually break through. Game 3 followed the same script, as Alaska led 3-2 in the third before Kevin Truelson redirected a cross-ice feed to even the contest at 3. But in overtime, Brett Lutes wrote a different ending, scoring on a rebound to give the Condors the victory.

Next up was a series in Utah, and more games going past regulation. The Condors squeaked by the Grizzlies 2-1 in a shootout the first night, then it was Griffith’s turn in the spotlight two nights later in overtime, when he scored to give Bakersfield the win.

Tired of playing bonus hockey, Hodson took matters into his own hands, stick and pads, blanking the Grizzlies, 4-0, to finish off the three-game set, then whitewashing the RoadRunners, 6-0, setting a team mark for most consecutive shutout minutes. The team then finished off the spectacular 7-0-2 road trip with a 4-3 win over Phoenix and a 4-2 victory over Long Beach.

By the time the Condors returned home,they had tied a team record with seven straight wins, set a new team mark with the 12-game unbeaten streak, and went on to extend the road unbeaten streak to a team best 12 games. They were also in first place in the Pacific Division, neck and neck with the Las Vegas Wranglers.

The team had a St. Patrick’s Day game the night after they returned home, with a jersey auction during and after the game. In a touching scene, a single-jersey record bid of $5,200 claimed Andrew Oke’s jersey. Oke had missed the previous season recovering from a brain tumor, but had been given a clean bill of health entering this campaign. Unfortunately, another tumor surfaced during the year, ending his hockey career prematurely. But never one feel sorry for himself, Oke simply smiled and decided to begin his second career as a pro golfer a little sooner than expected. To that end, his teammates created t-shirts with Oke’s saying, “Let’s Do This,” and with help from the organization and community, raised thousands of dollars in sales of the shirts to help fund his efforts on the golf course.

Oke was the first in what would be an untimely series of injuries and call-ups, as the team lost two more key components of the winning formula on the 16-day trip. Top defenseman Scott Balan hurt his knee in Utah and was lost for the season, and Griffith broke his hand in a fight in Phoenix and was expected out until the playoffs. Both would be sorely missed down the stretch.

With Griffith out, Lutes picked up the slack. Acquired early in the year in a deal with Stockton, Lutes started scoring goals as soon as he got in the lineup, and seemingly hadn’t stopped. He would finish the year with a team-leading and career-high 34 goals, including two hat tricks, both against Fresno. Showing a flair for the dramatic, the second one came in overtime on March 21st, finishing off a wild game the Condors tied with less than a minute left in regulation.

Unfortunately for the team, they would miss out on the divison title as they won just one more time in their final eight games, but it was a big one, a 3-2 win at Fresno on March 30th, the 300th victory in Condors history. When all was said and done, the team had set another record for most points in a season with 94, set the standard for winning percentage overall and on the road, and a slew of other records. As well, the Condors were the number 3 seed in the National Conference, and would match up against Fresno in a best-of-seven first round series.

With the 99 rivals having gone the distance in last year’s playoff showdown, the intensity was already high heading into this year’s rematch. If recent history wasn’t enough, Falcons defenseman Dustin VanBallegooie fanned the flames when he was quoted in the papers as saying, “We did ourselves a favor. Everybody here believes we can beat Bakersfield.”

Perhaps he was just trying to fire his team up, as the Condors had beaten Fresno in seven of the nine meetings in the regular season. Regardless, it seemed to energize the Falcons, who raced out to a 3-1 third period lead in Game 1. Back came Bakersfield, as Josh Liebenow scored twice in quick succession to tie it up and send the home crowd into a frenzy. It was short-lived, however, as VanBallegooie scored just 21 seconds later, and the Falcons cruised to a 7-3 triumph.

In Game 2 in Fresno, the Condors were buried by an avalanche of their own penalties and power play goals by the Falcons, and found themselves in a deep hole after a 9-3 shellacking.

Down 0-2 and facing a quick exit to what had been a phenomenal season, the Condors needed a quick start in Game 3, and they got it, when David Kudelka scored just 48 seconds into the game. They led 2-0 after one, and 3-1 early in the third, but with Fresno pulling within a goal and time running down, Kudelka, who had scored just three times in the regular season, came up big again, notching an empty-netter with less than a minute left to secure the 4-2 triumph.

The Condors were now back in the series, and could tie it up with a victory in Game 4 in Fresno. Right from the start, St Jacques took control and made sure they did. He scored the first goal of the game less than five minutes in on a power play, then assisted on goals that gave the Condors 2-1 and 3-2 leads. Late in the second period, he scored again, putting the Condors up by 2, and early in the third period, delivered the knockout blow with a slapper for the hat trick. Just for good measure, he assisted on the final goal of the 6-2 win, pummeled Lucas Lawson in a fight and finished with the first ever Condors playoff hat trick, as well as a team record six points in a single playoff game.

Momentum was clearly on the Condors side as they headed into Game 5 in Fresno, and they kept it going before most of the fans had taken their seats, as Andrew Ianiero scored just 17 seconds in. Late in the second period, it was tied 1-1, when the Condors struck twice in quick succession, Scott on the power-play and Ianiero just minutes later on a breakaway. Fresno managed to pull within a goal in the third, but Rejean Beauchemin, who took over in goal for Hodson starting Game 3, made some big saves late to preserve the victory.

So now it was back home for a chance to clinch, and the Condors left no room for doubt. Kudelka scored late in the first period, and they were on their way. Ianiero scored a shorthanded goal late in the second, then Bolduc scored early in the third, and the only question was whether they would shut the Falcons out. Sure enough, Beauchemin didn’t allow a puck to pass, and Reagan Leslie scored the final goal in a 4-0 blanking that sent the Falcons home and sent the Condors on to Round 2 against Alaska.

Looking back on the way they played in the regular season against the Aces, the Condors felt good about their chances. But on the eve of the series, Bolduc was recalled to Manitoba, further depleting a squad without Griffith and Balan. After a 6-0 rout in Game 1, the Condors had a chance to steal Game 2 in Anchorage, but a shorthanded goal late in the second period turned the tide. Trailing 3-1 late in the third, Leslie had a brilliant solo rush to pull them within 3-2, but they couldn’t find the equalizer.

Down 0-2 back home was a familiar scenario, but the lack of offensive firepower doomed the Condors. Game 3 was a heartbreaking 1-0 loss in overtime, and the sweep was completed by the Aces the next night. The end had come way too quickly, especially after the thrill ride of Round 1.

Just as they had reason to be proud of their efforts on the ice, the Condors organization and their fans had plenty to look upon fondly off the ice. The Condors raised an incredible $470,000 in donations during the year, including more than $97,000 in jersey auctions, and over $61,000 for the Links for Life Hockey-Thon.

The team broke the 200,000 mark in attendance for the second straight year, finished fourth in the league in average attendance for the regular season with over 5,800 fans per game, and first in average attendance for the playoffs with 5,700 per game.

As well, the ECHL honored Greg Lowe and Tim Statezni as Ticket Executives of the Year, and Team President Matthew Riley was named the league’s Executive of the Year!

And with the coaching staff and a solid core of players expected back, there was reason for much optimism as the team headed into its 10th Anniversary Season!

History

The Condors - Then and Now

The Origins of Bakersfield Hockey

Condors Take Flight