San Jose Barracuda podcast with Marko Ukalovic: San Jose and Henderson battle Wed night at Tech CU Arena

San Jose Barracuda forward Tyler Bird (96) battles past the Bakersfield Condors defense at Mechanics Bank Arena on Sat Mar 11, 2023 (San Jose Barracuda photo)

On the Barracuda podcast with Marko:

#1 The Bakersfield Condors blitzed the San Jose Barracuda with five unanswered goals including a hat trick from Seth Griffith in a 6-2 crushing victory on Saturday evening at Mechanics Bank Arena.

#2 The Condors Seth Griffith picked up a hat trick against the Barracuda and Barracuda head coach John McCarthy had to try to set up a plan to stop him on defense.

#3 San Jose had its two-game winning streak snapped. Bakersfield went back up five points on San Jose for seventh place and the final playoff spot in the Pacific Division.

#4 San Jose had its two-game winning streak snapped. Bakersfield went back up five points on San Jose for seventh place and the final playoff spot in the Pacific Division.

#5 San Jose returns home to host the Henderson Silver Knights on Wednesday at 10:30am at Tech CU Arena.

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

Viel’s first career hat trick powers Barracuda in 4-0 shutout win over Condors

San Jose goalie Aaron had an easy night between the pipes in his team’s 4-0 win over the Bakersfield Condors on Friday MAR 10, 2022. (San Jose Barracuda)

by Marko Ukalovic

Jeffery Viel picked a great time to record his first ever career hat trick.

Viel’s three goals, a natural hat trick, helped the San Jose Barracuda dominate the Bakersfield Condors in a 4-0 shutout victory on Friday night at Mechanics Bank Arena.

With the win, San Jose inched closer to Bakersfield for the seventh place and final playoff spot in the Pacific Division to just three points with its third win in four games. Bakersfield had its two-game winning streak snapped.

San Jose (24-27-1-4-53 points) drew first blood early in the first period with an even strength goal. Jacob Peterson sent a cross rink pass over to Artemi Kniazev who buried the puck into an open net for his fourth goal of the season at the 5:49 mark.

The Barracuda doubled its lead on the power play in the second half of the opening frame. Peterson picked up his second assist of the game when he found Viel in front of the crease with another rink wide pass that Viel tapped home into an open net for his 12th goal of the season at the 12:12 mark.

Viel has scored in three consecutive games and has an eight-game scoring streak.

San Jose had the iced tilted in its favor for the majority of the first period as they outshot Bakersfield 14-2.

Bakersfield (26-26-2-2-56 points) went to the sin bin three times, including Dino Kambeitz’s four-minute minor for high sticking, in the opening 20 minutes.

Viel scored his second goal of the game when he finished off a pretty tic-tac-toe play set up by Ozzy Wiesblatt and Patrick Sieloff inside the Condor’s zone. Viel beat Condor’s goalie Olivier Rodrigue with a wrist shot for his 13th goal of the season, a single career best, at the 7:05 mark of the second period.

Viel finished off the hat trick just over four minutes later with the ‘Cuda on the man advantage. Brandon Coe found Viel with a backdoor pass as Viel tapped home the puck into the open net and 14th goal of the season at the 11:15 mark.

‘Cuda goalie Aaron Dell (10-11-2) stopped all 23 shots he faced to earn his second shutout of the season, his 10th of his career, and third straight win. Rodrigue (10-12-1) made 21 saves on 25 shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 2-for-6 on the power play. Bakersfield was 0-for-3.

San Jose shutout Bakersfield on the road for the first time in franchise history.

The Three Stars of the Game were: 1) Viel 2) Peterson 3) Kniazev

UP NEXT: San Jose and Bakersfield conclude their two-game series on Saturday 3/11 at 7:00pm at Mechanics Bank Arena.

Close games ends with Barracuda on the losing side against the Condors 5-4

Photo courtesy of San Jose Barracuda. Danil Gushchin battles with a Condors player for the puck on December 27th 2022.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

San Jose and Bakersfield battled it out and had a back-and-forth game that ended in favor of the Condors by a 5-4 final.

The game kicked off with the Condors leading in shots by 4-0 putting the pressure on San Jose.

At the 7:51 mark Patrick Sieloff took a holding penalty putting Bakersfield on the power play.

On said power play Seth Griffith was given a pass across the slot that he tapped in scoring his 11th goal of the season.

The Condors held on to that lead as the first period ended 1-0 with the shots favoring Bakersfield 14-6.

In the second period Luke Johnson kicked things early for San Jose as he recieved a pass from Jeffrey Viel that he finessed into the net tying the game up.

6:22 into the second period Barracuda was given a chance to take a lead as their power play unit hit the ice.

Quite the opposite ended up happening as Aaron Dell misplayed the puck leading to a two-on-one that Dino Kambeitz scored on shorthanded.

With the game now 2-1 Martin Kaut came in on a rush and fired one off of Calvin Pickard that produced a big rebound. William Eklund picked up the rebound off the shot and deposited it into the cage tying the game back up.

Not long after tying it Max Gildon got a pass from Tyler Benson that Gildon ripped past Aaron Dell taking the lead right back.

At the end of the third the Condors finished up 3-2 with the shots tied at 22.

Less than five minutes into the third period Devin Shore deflected in a beautiful cross ice pass from Jason Demers now giving Bakersfield a 4-2 lead.

Not even three minutes later Raphael Lavoie scored his 10th goal of the season making it now a 5-2 before even the ten minute mark of the third period.

The scoring frenzy continued however as right off of a face-off Jeffrey Viel put a shot on net and Adam Raska corralled the rebound to score his first goal of the season.

Raska was not done though as seconds after the last goal Raska got in on the forecheck, stole the puck, and took it to the net were he scored once again to make it 5-4.

San Jose later in the period did pull Dell but could not get the equalizer and thus fell 5-4.

The shots finished in favor of the Barracuda at 36-28.

The three stars of the game were: 1st: Raphael Lavoie 2nd: Devin Shore 3rd: Max Gildon

San Jose’s next game will be back on home ice on Friday at 7 p.m. against the Abbotsford Canucks.

Barracuda drop sixth straight as Condors get victory 5-1

Photo courtesy of San Jose Barracuda Twitter. Barracuda Captain Andrew Agozzino skates up the ice.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

SAN JOSE- Despite coming back home to kick off a four game home stand San Jose came out flat losing to the visiting Condors 5-1.

The scoring took a minute to get going on either side but finally 14:26 into the the first Carter Savoie broke the ice scoring his fourth of the year on the power play. Raphael Lavoie and Yannis Kaldis both got assists on the goal.

Looking to capitalize on the momentum Seth Griffith scored his seventh of the season less than a minute later. Ty Tullio got the lone assist on the goal.

In the dying moments of the first with less than three seconds on the clock Michael Kesselring scored his ninth goal of the season. Both Noah Philip and Jason Demers assisted on the goal making it 3-0.

The shots at the end of the first favored Bakersfield 10-9.

Unlike the first the scoring in the second came much quicker as just 46 seconds in on the power play Thomas Bordeleau scored his 14th goal of the season. Artemi Kniazev and Andrew Agozzino assisted on the goal.

With their lead shrunk to just two goals the Condor’s responded as Seth Griffith scored his second of the game and ninth on the year. The lone assist on the goal went to Luke Esposito.

Then 13:25 into the second on the power play Bakersfield got another one as Raphael Lavoie scored his fourth goal of the season making it 5-1. Yanni Kaldis and Brad Malone got the assists on the goal.

The shots at the end of the second favored San Jose 22-18.

In the third period there was no scoring as the game finished 5-1 in favor of the Condors. There were plenty of penalties in the period as in total between the two teams 12 penalties were taken.

Both Graham McPhee on the Condors and Darren Brady on the Barracuda were given ten minute misconducts in the period.

On the night the Condors power play went 2/5 while the Barracuda’s power play went 1/6.

The shots in total favored San Jose at 37-28.

The three stars of the game were: 1st: Olivier Rodrigue 2nd: Seth Griffith 3rd: Raphael Lavoie

San Jose’s next game will be at home on Friday at 7 p.m. against the Coachella Valley Firebirds.

San Jose Barracuda podcast with Marko Ukalovic: Barrcuda host Condors Tuesday night at Tech CU Arena

The Abbottsford Canucks Will Lockwood (7) scores a second period goal against San Jose Barracuda defenseman Artemi Kniazev (25) in Abbottsford on Wed Dec 21, 2022 (San Jose Barracuda photo)

On the Barracuda podcast with Marko:

#1 The San Jose Barracuda (13-15-0-1) had leads in the first period on Wednesday against the Abbottsford Canucks (16-9-1-1) in Abbottsford but the defense went soft and gave up four unanswered goals in the 6-3 loss.

#2 Andrew Agozzino would score the Barrcuda’s first first period goal in 14 games for the 1-0 lead. The Canucks Phil Di Giuseppe answered back with a goal to tie the game up at 1-1. The Cuda’s Max Vernoneau put San Jose back in the lead scoring on a rebound shot.

#3 In second period action: Justin Dowling’s goal at 14:42 in the second period gave San Jose a two goal lead 3-1. At 1:07 after Dowling’s goal the Canucks Will Lockwood scored on Barracuda goaltender Eteu Makiniemi to cut the lead to one 3-2.

#4 With the Barracuda up by two goals the Canucks would strike back scoring three third period goals by Jake Rathbone, Chase Wouters, and Linus Karlsson for the 6-3 win.

#5 The Barracuda return back to San Jose for a Tuesday match with Bakersfield Condors a 5pm face off at Tech CU Arena. After this past road trip how much will playing back at home matter facing the Condors Tuesday.

Join Marko Ukalovic for the Barracuda podcasts Mondays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Late goal propels Barracuda over Condors 2-1

Photo Courtesy of San Jose Barracuda Twitter. Eetu Makiniemi prepares himself before a game.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

In a low scoring game on the road the Barracuda found a way to pull off a win over the Condors by a final of 2-1.

Bakersfield got off to a great start at home as just 21 seconds in Luke Esposito scored getting his second goal of the season. Graham Mcphee and Olivier Rodrigue got the assists on the play.

Due to it being teddy bear toss night the goal lead to quite the delay as they had to clean the ice of teddy bears. Not only did they have to clean up the teddy bears but they also had to clean the ice as the fuzz messed up the ice.

Finally after the long delay they got back to play with the Condors already up.

Not long after the break Jeffrey Viel both got a penalty and dropped the gloves with a Condor player. The Barracuda were able to kill off the penalty.

Later in the period San Jose got an extra man opportunity of their own ending up in a five-on-three situation.

With the power play on fire the Barracuda extended their goal streak with Danil Gushchin sniping a shot from the point past the blocker of Rodrigue. The assists on the play went to both Thomas Bordeleau and Artemi Kniazev.

That would be all of the scoring in the period with the shots finishing heavily in favor of the Barracuda at 19-5.

The second period got kicked off with a penalty assessed to Andrew Agozzino for cross-checking giving Bakersfield another power play. San Jose killed this PP off as well keeping there penalty kill perfect on the night.

Overall it was a quiet period with no goals however the Barracuda did have four shots ring off the post.

The shots at the end of the second continued to favor San Jose at 36-17.

The third period was carefully played with each team trying not to make a mistake.

On the second night of back to backs San Jose towards the end of the third period began to look a little tired.

Despite the tiredness that may have begun to set in at the 1:53 mark C.J. Suess caught a wrist shot from the point dropped it in front of him and tucked it in past Rodrigue. On top of Suess snapping a long goal streak Jalen Smereck got an assist on the play in his debut with San Jose along with Kniazev getting an assist as well.

The Condors tried to make a comeback by pulling their goalie but it was not enough as San Jose held on for the win.

The three stars of the game were 1) Danil Gushchin 2) C.J. Suess 3) Olivier Rodrigue

San Jose’s next game will be at home against the Iowa Wild on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Preseason ends on high note as Barracuda beat condors in OT 3-2

Photo credit to the San Jose Barracuda. San Jose Barracuda Brandon Coe keeps his head up looking for a pass against the Bakersfield Condors at Tech CU Arena in San Jose.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

With the home crowd on their side the San Jose Barracuda (1-1-0-0) were able to skate away with a victory against the Bakersfield Condors (1-0-1-0) 3-2 in overtime at Tech Cu arena.

The powerplay would start out clicking for the Barracuda as Luke Johnson would score on the powerplay assisted by Derrick Pouliot.

That would be all of the scoring in the first, though there would be a couple more powerplay opportunities that the Barracuda were not able to capitalize on.

In the second period we would see the Eetu Makiniemi show as he would stop all 14 shots he would face from the Condors. Astonishingly the Barracuda in the second period would only have one shot on goal in comparison.

To kick off the third period the Condors would find a way to respond off of a rebound from Makiniemi’s pads that would go right to Samuel Dove-McFalls who would tap it in. The assists would go to Tyler Tullio and Yanni Kaldis.

The Barracuda would find a way to respond again on the powerplay from a goal on two on one by Scott Reedy assisted by Andrew Agozzino and C.J. Suess.

Not to long after though the Condors would respond with a powerplay goal of their own off of another rebound this time tucked in by Matt Boudens. The assists would go to Samuel Dove-McFalls and Xavier Bourgault.

The goal would be enough to force the game to overtime as the shots at the end of regulation would be 30-20 in favor of the Condors.

In dramatic fashion on another two on one for the Barracuda Artemi Kniazev assisted by Luke Johnson would tuck it in blocker side past Olivier Rodrigue to win the game. The final score would end up being 3-2 with the Barracuda on top.

The Barracuda’s next game will be against the Iowa Wild in Iowa on Friday Oct. 14th at 5:00 p.m.

Preseason opens for Barracuda on sour note as they lose to Bakersfield 5-1

Photo credit to the San Jose Barracuda. Artemi Kniazev skates the puck up against the Condors.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

On a late night in Bakersfield the San Jose Barracuda took on the Bakersfield Condors and would end up losing 5-1.

The scoring would open early as Matt Bouldens for the Condors would open the scoring only 44 seconds into the game with an assist from Michael Kesselring.

However the Barracuda would find a way to respond in the first period with a goal from Brandon Coe assisted by Mitchell Russell and Danil Gushchin.

For the Barracuda that would be all of the offense they would be able to muster as heading into the second period the Condors took control. This would helped along by a goal from Filip Engaras on the Condors assisted by Alex Peters and Yanni Kaldis.

That would be the only goal of the second period though the shots would favor the Condors 12-9.

In the third period the Condors really hit their stride kicked off by a goal from Tye Felhaber and assisted by Greg Mckegg.

This would added on to on the powerplay by Dino Kambeitz assisted by McKegg and Seth Griffith.

Finally the Condors would put the cap on the night with and empty net short handed goal by Michael Kesserling.

The game would not end without a little extra fireworks though as multiple misconducts would be handed out to both teams in the third period.

The final shot count would end at 34-25 in favor of the Condors.

The Barracuda’s next game will be against the Condors on Oct. 8th at 4:00 p.m. on the Cuda’s home ice.

Condors upend Barracuda 4-1, losing streak reaches 13

The Bakersfield Condors left winger Jimmy Hamblin (11) pushes the San Jose Barracuda’s defenseman Patrick Holway (97) up against the glass at the Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield on Wed Apr 20, 2022 (photo from the San Jose Barracuda)

by Marko Ukalovic

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The number 13 wasn’t a lucky number for the men in teal.

The Bakersfield Condors scored two goals in the third period en route to a 4-1 victory over the San Jose Barracuda on Wednesday night at Mechanics Bank Arena.

San Jose continued its franchise worse 13-game losing skid with only two games left in the season. They have lost 10 straight on the road to the Condors. Bakersfield has won three out its past four games and clinched fifth place in the Pacific Division with 78 points.

Bakersfield (34-20-5-5) drew first blood almost eight minutes into the first period on the power play. Adam Cracknell finished off a give and go with Seth Griffith when his wrist shot deflected off the skate of Adam Raska for his 19th goal of the season at the 7:50 mark.

The Condors doubled its lead less than five minutes later. Tim Schaller sprung Colton Sceviour on a breakaway with a pass off the boards. Sceviour skated in and lifted a backhander past ‘Cuda goalie Alex Stalock for his fifth goal of the season at the 12:03 mark.

San Jose (20-40-4-2) cut the Condor’s lead in half with a power play goal of their own 45 seconds later. Jake McGrew redirected Artemi Kniazev’s shot from the right point for his 12th goal of the season at the 12:48 mark.

McGrew snapped a 14-game goal less draught.

Bakersfield regained the momentum 64 seconds into the second period with an even strength goal. Dino Kambeitz centered a pass from behind the net and Tyler Benson beat Stalock with a wrist shot to the short side for his third goal of the season.

The Condors put the game away just past the halfway mark of the middle frame. Devin Brosseau finished off a two-on-one odd man rush when he snapped home a wrist shot off of a pass from Griffith for his 11th goal of the season at the 11:36 mark.

San Jose had two power play opportunities in the third period but weren’t able to capitalize on either chance as both teams finished the final frame scoreless.

Daniil Gushchin and Gannon Laroque made their debuts for the ‘Cuda. Gushchin finished tied for the team high with five shots on goal.

Condor’s goalie Stuart Skinner stopped 29 of the 30 shots he faced to earn his 19th victory of the season. Stalock made 22 saves on 26 in suffering his ninth straight loss (0-7-2).

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 1-for-7 on the power play. Bakersfield was 1-for-2.

San Jose finished 3-6-1 against Bakersfield in the season series.

Skinner is 17-2 against the Barracuda in his career.

The Three Stars of the Game were: 1) Brosseau 2) Benson 3) Sceviour

UP NEXT: San Jose travels to Henderson to close out the regular season with two games against the Silver Knights on Friday 4/22 at 7:00pm at Dollar Loan Center.

San Jose Barracuda podcast with Marko Ukalovic: Barracuda begin final road trip on Wednesday night in Bakersfield

The San Jose Barracuda defenseman Anthony Bitetto (2) has control of the puck on Fri Apr 15, 2022 against the Abbottsford Canucks at 4Solar America in San Jose in the last home game of the season for the Barracuda (photo from the San Jose Barracuda)

On the Barracuda podcast with Marko:

#1 The San Jose Barracuda (20-39-4) in their last game of the season grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first period over the Abbotsford Canucks ((35-25-1) at 4Solar America Arena in San Jose but the Barracuda couldn’t hold the lead succumbing to a 4-3 come back loss by the Canucks last Friday.

#2 Early in the game the Barracuda’s Lane Pederson showed off his handiwork by scoring those two goals with a powerplay goal and a shorthanded goal for his eighth and ninth goals of the season.

#3 It’s been a long time coming but Kyle Topping got his second goal after 22 games the goal tied the game up 3-3 and forced overtime.

#4 The Canucks Justin Dowling scored twice in the contest once in the first period and the game winning goal in the overtime stanza. Dowling is on a roll he has scored a goal in each of his last three games.

#5 The Barracuda now head to Bakersfield to face off with the Bakersfield Condors at Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield (33-20-5) this Wed Apr 20th 6:30 pm PDT with a trip to Henderson on the 22nd and 23rd to close out the regular season. The last time the Cuda and Condors met was back on Wed Apr 6th in San Jose in an overtime loss for the Barracuda 3-2.

Marko did the Barracuda podcasts throughout the 2021-22 season at http://www.sportsradioservice.com