HOLTY’S BLOG: IN THE CLOUDS
Avid readers of the blog, and there are at least a handful, will know that there wasn’t a blog last week. Without too much detail, the period of time between coming home from San Jose and the weekend was not fun for myself nor a good chunk of the Condors team and personnel.
Thankfully, there were no positive COVID-19 tests, but there was no chance a blog was getting penned.
So let’s make this week’s edition count. And as I’ll remind you, it’s my blog (thanks to Grapevine MSP!) and I’ll do what I want…
Now for the blog!
How good is Ryan McLeod? We refer to that line as the Benny and the Jets line with Benson and Marody receiving AHL Player(s) of the Month Awards for March, but if there was a pilot on that line, it’s McLeod.
Remarkably, he has no power play points. Meaning, his 5on5 play and penalty killing have been spectacular to land him atop the league in +/- at +17. Jay Woodcroft talked at the beginning of the season about McLeod being a complete player and having next level defensive awareness, but that they wanted to see the offensive side of his game grow.
He’s always had elite speed, but this season in particular, he’s harnessing that speed into tremendous possession and forcing the play on the opposition. With steady improvement in the faceoff circle, he’s a bright spot moving forward for the organization.
The AHL Facebook Watch Friday Night Game of the Week comes to Condorstown tomorrow at 6 p.m. You can watch the game for free on the Condors Facebook page.
Not a bad matchup to pick either with the division leading Silver Knights coming to a place where the Condors are 9-2-1 on the year, including a shutout of the Knights in February.
Speaking of home records, the top four teams in the division have combined to go 36-8-4 at home this season with three of the teams (Henderson being the exception) having losing road records. Lack of fans? Less travel time? Holty reading too much into it?
Two jerseys are up in the Condors team store raffle this weekend. You can win Kevin Gravel’s jersey on Friday night and Ryan Stanton’s on Saturday. Click here to purchase your tickets. They’re just $10!
Speaking of Gravel, his St. Cloud State Huskies are in the Frozen Four, starting tonight. Probably Holty Jinxing them, but since my pick to win it all was knocked off by the Huskies, I’ll take them moving forward.
Stanton was also the commissioner of team’s Masters Draft this week. I’m sure we’ll report on the winners in Colorado next week. Congrats to Seth Griffith as well who recently aced the Par 3 6th out at Buena Vista GC.
Speaking of Colorado, we are headed there on Monday for two games on Tuesday and Wednesday. Looking forward to getting to The Ranch. Plenty of good memories there.
It does compact the schedule though for the Condors who will now fly into LA on Thursday and stay there waiting for a Friday game in El Segundo before returning for a Saturday night in Condorstown (with fans?!? – maybe!).
Four games in five nights haven’t been seen since the ECHL days, but flexibility in 2021 is key!
This weekend is the one-year anniversary of Colby Cave’s passing. Saturday, the Oilers will host a celebration of life at 10 a.m. PT on their channels. Proceeds from upcoming 50/50 raffles will benefit the Colby Cave Memorial Fund (you can donate here). Miss you Cave Man.
Until next time Condorstown…
Ryan Holt aka Holty is the Voice of the Condors in his 10th season. Will he spend all day Sunday watching the Masters? Yes. Follow him on Twitter (@CondorsHolty) for more nonsense or shoot him an e-mail to RHolt@BakersfieldCondors.com with questions, comments, or blog ideas.
