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

Strong effort throughout leads to victory for Barracuda over Silver Knights 4-1

Photo courtesy of San Jose Barracuda. The Barracuda celebrate a goal against the Silver Knights on January 27th 2023.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

After a slow start San Jose came back against the Silver Knights to grab a victory on the road by a 4-1 score.

The PK unit for the Barracuda had to get going early as just 4:59 into the first William Eklund took a holding penalty.

Thankfully for San Jose they were able to kill the penalty though not long after the kill they had to go on the penalty kill again.

This time Henderson’s PP unit came through as Lukas Cormier scored his sixth goal of the season to make it 1-0.

At the 14:07 mark Luke Johnson and Jermaine Loewen dropped the gloves getting the fans riled up.

Cormier’s goal ended up being the only goal of the first with the shots finishing in favor of San Jose 9-6.

The second period got off to a slow start with both teams exchanging shots on goal.

11:40 into the second though Sheldon Rempal took a holding penalty giving San Jose their second power play of the game.

On the power play Derrick Pouliot ripped a shot from the point that Kyle Criscuolo expertly deflected past Jiri Patera to tie the game up at 1-1.

The teams fought to a tie at the end of the second with the shots still favoring San Jose 20-11.

In the third it wouldn’t take long for Barracuda’s offense to strike as they had a rush going the other way.

On the rush Martin Kaut slung a pass to a waiting Andrew Agozzino who sniped a shot past Patera to make it 2-1 in favor of San Jose.

Later on in the third Kaut found himself on a breakaway but mishandled the puck forcing him to stickhandle wide.

Instead of giving up on the play Kaut turned back towards the net and scored on Patera getting his first goal with the Barracuda.

The Silver Knights pulled their goalie to try to get back into the game but C.J. Suess scored on the empty cage to make it 4-1.

The shots at the end of the game favored San Jose 30-28.

The three stars of the game were: 1st: Andrew Agozzino 2nd: Martin Kaut 3rd: Kyle Criscuolo

San Jose plays tomorrow on the road against the Bakersfield Condors at 7 p.m.

Barracuda push game to a shootout but ultimately lose to the Silver Knights 3-2

Photo courtesy of San Jose Barracuda. C.J. Suess dekes in front of Michael Hutchinson in a game against Henderson on October 23rd 2022.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

The first of back to backs against Henderson did not go San Jose’s way as they lost in a shootout 3-2.

The goaltending matchup in tonights game was between Eetu Makiniemi and Laurent Brossoit.

As far as physicality things picked up quickly as just 3:16 in Jeffrey Viel and Kyle Marino dropped the gloves.

Less than ten minutes later the offense kicked in for Henderson as Colt Conrad intercepted a pass and sniped one past Makiniemi to make it 1-0.

That goal ended up being the only one of the period as the shots finished at 13-10 in favor of the Barracuda.

Less than ten minutes into the second San Jose tied it up as a Henderson defender turned it over behind his own net and Andrew Agozzino capitalized on it.

After the goal San Jose took back-to-back high-sticking penalties though both were killed off by the PK unit.

The shots at the end of the second finished in favor of Henderson at 24-19.

Henderson’s offense got off to a quick start in the third as just 2:53 in Gage Quinney scored on a power play to get his 18th of the season.

Later on in the third Spencer Foo took a penalty for holding putting San Jose on the power play.

The PP unit stuck quickly for the Barracuda as a pretty passing play lead to Agozzino scoring his second goal of the game.

That goal ended up being enough to force it to OT with the shots finishing at the end of the third at 29-26.

In overtime San Jose ended up controlling most of the play registering three shots on goal but were not able to score.

With no goal coming in overtime the shootout ended up being required as San Jose elected to shoot first.

All of San Jose’s shooters missed and Brendan Brisson scored for Henderson to get them the win in the shootout.

The three stars of the were: 1st: Brendan Brisson 2nd: Gage Quinney 3rd: Sakari Manninen

San Jose’s next game will be against Henderson on Friday on the road at 7 p.m.

San Jose Barracuda podcast with Marko Ukalovic: Barracuda open three game road trip on Wednesday in Henderson

The San Jose Barracuda had lots to be excited about on Fri Jan 20, 2023 at Tech CU Arena matching a season high six goals against the visiting San Diego Gulls (photo by the San Jose Barracuda)

On the San Jose Barracuda podcast with Marko:

#1 The San Jose Barracuda (17-21-0-1) had a tremendous game last Friday shutting out the San Diego Gulls (11-28-0-0) 6-0 at Tech CU Arena in San Jose. The Barracuda got two goals from Kyle Criscuolo in his first game with San Jose.

#2 The Barracuda also got great goaltending Eetu Makiniemi stopping 20 San Diego shots for San Jose’s fourth shutout this season.

#3 The Barracuda’s six goals matched a season high and it was a performance that Barracuda head coach John McCarthy would hope to be a break out for the offense the rest of this season.

#4 San Diego has been a struggling team with some 17 games below .500 and allowing the six goals. Was this a matter of the Barracuda catching fire and showing that they do have a superior offense or they just met an opponent that’s having trouble with their defense.

#5 The Barracuda return to action Wednesday night to face the Henderson Silver Knights for the first of three road games. The Barracuda host the Abbottsford Canucks when they return to San Jose Feb 3.

Join Marko for the San Jose Barracuda podcasts heard Mondays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Barracuda snap losing streak with shootout win over Henderson Silver Knights 4-3

Photo courtesy of San Jose Barracuda Twitter. The Barracuda celebrate a goal in front of their home fans.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

SAN JOSE- After going on a eight game losing streak the Barracuda finally snapped it with a victory in a shootout over their rival the Silver Knights by a final of 4-3.

In front of the home crowd the Barracuda got on the board quickly as just 3:43 in Luke Johnson scored his sixth goal of the season to make it 1-0. Ozzy Wiesblatt and Max Veronneau assisted on the goal.

Not too much later in the first period Jeffrey Viel followed that up with a goal his fifth on the year assisted by Brandon Coe and Darren Brady.

That ended up being all the scoring in the period as the shots in period favored San Jose at 10-9.

The second period took a little longer to find any scoring but 9:32 in Gage Quinney scored his 12th goal of the season making the score 2-1. Sheldon Rempal and Byron Froese assisted on the goal.

12:23 into the period Viel took a boarding penalty that would be a major giving Henderson a five minute power play.

A couple minutes into the power play Quinney scored his second of the game to tie the game at two with the goal being assisted by Froese and Jonas Rondbjerg.

With still some time left on the major Henderson scored again this time Ivan Morozov got his third of the season to give the Silver Knights the lead. Both Connor Corcoran and Connor Ford assisted on the goal.

Less than a minute after the power play goal though San Jose answered this time Jasper Weatherby tallied his third goal of the season to tie things right back up. Nick Cicek and Brandon Coe assisted on the goal.

Heading into the third now all tied up the shots now favored Henderson at 21-18.

The third period ended up being a close affair with neither team being able to get the go ahead goal. There were also no penalties called in the period forcing extra hockey.

The shots at the end of the third still favored the Silver Knights at 31-25.

In overtime both starting goalies were not particularly busy as Aaron Dell and Laurent Brossoit only had to turn aside a few shots each.

However with both goalies playing perfect this meant it was time for a shootout.

For Henderson both Quinney and Brendan Brisson had attempts in the shootout and were turned aside by Dell.

San Jose however picked both Danil Gushchin and Luke Johnson to shoot and both of them scored to give the Barracuda the victory.

The shots at the end of the game favored Henderson 35-29.

The three stars of the game were: 1st: Luke Johnson 2nd: Gage Quinney 3rd: Brandon Coe.

The Barracuda will be heading out on the road for their next game on Friday against the Ontario Reign which will be played at 7 p.m.

Barracuda on the road blanked by Henderson Silver Knights 5-0

Photo courtesy of San Jose Barracuda Twitter. Brandon Coe gets warmed up before their game against the Silver Knights.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

On the road the Barracuda failed to find a goal getting blanked by the Henderson Silver Knights by a dominating 5-0 score.

The game got off to a quick start for the Silver Knights as just 3:06 into the first period Byron Froese got his fourth goal of the season. Both Gage Quinney and Sheldon Rempal got assists on the play.

Then not to long after Montana Onyebuchi would be assessed with a unsportsmanlike penalty and a ten minute misconduct.

On that same penalty Henderson would widen the margin to 2-0 with Mason Primeau getting his third goal of the season. The assists ended up going to both Brendan Brisson and Lukas Cormier.

At the 10:40 mark then Adam Raska decided to drop the gloves with Kyle Marino to try and get the Barracuda going.

It did not end up working and as a matter of fact the Silver Knights actually scored again this time Pavel Dorofeyev with his fifth of the season. Brisson and Ivan Morozov got assists on the play.

By the end of the first the shots actually favored San Jose at 15-11.

Heading into the second the Barracuda were looking for a response but rather the Silver and gold had something else in store. As just 27 seconds into the period Ivan Morozov scored his second of the season to increase the lead to 4-0.

On the goal both Dorofeyev and Brisson got assists.

Then not less than 20 seconds after the first goal of the period Froese got his second goal of the night to make it 5-0. Both Quinney and Lukas Cormier got assists on the goal.

After that goal the Barracuda would pull Eetu Makiniemi who had a rough night between the pipes.

With Aaron Dell in net the scoring stopped for the rest of the period.

The shots by the end of the second still favored San Jose at 24-23.

The third period would be a continued show of no offense for the Barracuda as they were only able to muster seven shots in the period.

They also were held off the scoresheet as Laurent Brossoit got a 31 save shutout.

With no goals from the Silver Knights either it was a pretty quiet final period.

The shots at the end of the game though did still favor San Jose at 31-30.

The Barracuda’s next game will be on the road against the Colorado Eagles on Friday at 6 p.m.

Barracuda beat rival Silver Knights on the road 5-2

Credit to San Jose Barracuda Twitter. Patrick McGrath skates away after finishing a fight with a Henderson player.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

On the road in Henderson the San Jose Barracuda (9-7-0-1) came out on top with a solid third period performance winning 5-2 over the Henderson Silver Knights (5-14-0-0) .

It was a battle between starter Laurent Brossoit for Henderson and Eetu Makiniemi for San Jose.

The PK unit for San Jose would have to be ready quickly in this game as just 1:36 into the first Billy Constantinou took a penalty for hooking.

Thankfully for the Barracuda the penalty unit came through with a solid kill and kept the score even.

At the 8:06 mark though with both teams at even strength Henderson found the back of the net with Jonas Rondbjerg getting his fifth goal of the season. It was a perfect rebound goal that he was able to tuck in with assists going to Bryon Froese and Pavel Dorofeyev.

Less than a minute later though Montana Onyebuchi responded with a slap shot from the right point that beat Brossoit to tie things up at one. Both Andrew Agozzino and Patrick Sieloff got the assists on Onyebuchi’s first goal of the season.

Besides the scoring there was also two fights between the rivals in the first period with McGrath and Onyebuchi both dropping the gloves.

That would end up being all the scoring for the first period with the shots finishing in favor of San Jose at 10-9.

At the 10:14 mark of the second period Tristen Robins on the power play ripped one in past a screened Brossoit to get his seventh goal of the season. The assists went to both Ryan Merkley and Andrew Agozzino.

Not to long after the power play goal by the black-and-blue Henderson responded with oner of their own as Byron Froese scored his third goal of the season. Daniil Miromanov and Sakari Manninen got the assists on the play that tied the game at two.

At the end of the second period the shots now favored Henderson 22-18.

The beginning of the third was a pretty methodical start with both teams trying not to give up that all important third goal.

At the 15:43 mark Thomas Bordeleau decided to play hero and tucked in a rebound out front to give the Barracuda a huge lead late in the third period. William Eklund and Onyebuchi got assists on the play with Montana’s assists giving him a Gordie Howe hat trick.

The Barracuda however were not done with just a one goal lead as Merkley sprang Agozzino on a breakaway with a beautiful pass. Agozzino tucked that pass home five hole and gave San Jose now a two goal lead with assists from Merkley and Scott Reedy.

The Silver Knights after those two goals were forced to pull their goalie but Jeffrey Viel scored on the empty cage to solidify the game at 5-2. Both Jasper Weatherby and C.J. Suess got the assists on the goal.

The shots at the end of the game still favored Henderson at 35-27. While the Barracuda’s power play went 1/3 and the Silver Knight’s power play went 1/5.

The Barracuda’s next game will be on the road against the Bakersfield Condors tomorrow at 7 p.m.

Despite slow start Barracuda come back to beat Silver Knights 3-2

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

Photo courtesy of San Jose Barracuda. Ryan Merkley gets ready during warm-ups for the Henderson Silver Knights.

SAN JOSE–In their second game of back to backs against the Henderson Silver Knights the Barracuda found a way to win at Tech Cu Arena in San Jose by a score of 3-2.

It was not exactly the kind of start that the Barracuda would have wanted as only 3:15 into the first period the Silver Knights scored shorthanded. The goal coming from Jones Rondbjerg assisted by Sheldon Rempal.

The slow start continued as Rempal this time got the goal assisted by Gage Quinney and Michael Hutchinson 9:57 into the first period.

Later on in the first period though the Barracuda got a response from Tomas Bordeleau assisted by Artemi Kniazev and Santeri Hatakka. It was a little bit of a lucky bounce off a one timer from the point that bounced right to Bordeleau who tucked it top shelf past Hutchinson.

That ended up being all the scoring for the first as the shots by the end of the period favored Henderson by 13-9.

The second period saw a more quiet start as the main things to note were the Barracuda taking two penalties which Henderson could not convert on.

At the 17:31 mark though of the second period Luke Johnson got a goal assisted by C.J. Suess on a breakaway. Suess helped by stepping up in the neutral zone and forcing a turnover that lead to Johnson finding himself all alone.

Heading into the third period all tied up the Barracuda looked to keep their record perfect.

The Barracuda started off the period in a little bit of a scary way as Andrew Agozzino took a tripping penalty at the 2:27 mark. As has has been the case all year though the penalty kill for the Barracuda continued to be perfect.

Feeling the momentum Suess who got an apple earlier this time found the back of the net top corner past Hutchinson. It came off a beautiful move at center ice by Luke Johnson who then gave it to Max Veronneau who fead it to Suess.

That goal ended up being the game winner with Eetu Makiniemi holding on making in total 34 saves on the night.

It’s been a perfect start for the Barracuda who are now 4-0 and are looking like a completely new team in comparison to last season.

The Barracudas next game will be at home against the Ontario Reign on Oct. 26th at 7:00 p.m.

Barracuda celebrate the christening of their new crib with 4-0 shutout win over Silver Knights

The San Jose Barracuda celebrate winning their home opener at the brand-new Tech CU Arena in San Jose on Saturday OCT 22, 2022. (San Jose Barracuda)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE— The San Jose Barracuda christened their brand-new arena with a 4-0 shutout victory over the Henderson Silver Knights in its home opener on Saturday evening at Tech CU Arena. San Jose has started out 3-0 for the first time in its short franchise history.

Henderson has lost three in a row and four of its first five games to start out the season. 4,015 were in attendance in the brand new 4,200 seat arena to witness the new look Barracuda team that will look to put last season in the rearview mirror with a young group of fresh faces.

Former ‘Cuda captain John McCarthy is the new captain at the helm as the new head coach for San Jose. He replaced Roy Sommer (who left to coach the AHL affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks, the San Diego Gulls), who was with the organization for 26 years, coaching the AHL affiliate the past 24.

McCarthy’s team features 11 new forwards, two new defenseman and three new goalies in a revamped roster that was assembled by ‘Cuda general manager Joe Will this past off season. “Something we talked about before the game tonight was kind of establishing this place as a hard place (for the opposition) to play.

Something like that takes time to establish, but I think tonight was a big first step in showing (teams) that you’re not going to come in here and get two points easily,” McCarthy said.

San Jose drew first blood halfway through the first period. Derrick Pouliot found Tristen Robbins to the left of the crease and Robbins buried a wrist shot past Silver Knights goalie Jiri Patera for his second goal of the season at the 9:50 mark.

The ‘Cuda doubled its lead late in the first period. Captain Andrew Agozzino led a counterattack up the ice and Braden Coe skated in on a breakaway and beat Patera with a low shot to the right for his first goal of the season at the 17:41 mark.

It was the first game of the season for Coe, who did not play in the team’s first two games against Iowa, and he was ready for his opportunity. “For me personally, I was ready to bang some bods (bodies). I like to get into the competition. It was good, it was fun. We like that chippy game, we can play like that all day,” Coe said.

The Barracuda outshot the Silver Knights 13-9 as they dictated the pace of the play in the opening 20 minutes. Henderson thought they had a goal at the 6:04 mark of the second when Gage Quinney looked to have slid a puck into the net past ‘Cuda goalie Aaron Dell.

However, after video review the goal was waved off by referee Jordan Watt. San Jose scored it third unanswered goal late in the second period. A shot from the point by Pouliot was redirected by Coe for his second goal of the game at the 15:34 mark.

The Barracuda scored the only goal in the third period. On a delayed penalty, Thomas Bordeleau sniped home a puck into an open net for his second goal of the season at the 14:02 mark. Jeffery Viel and Patrick Sieloff were credited with assists.

Dell stopped all 34 shots to earn his first shutout of the season and ninth of his AHL career. Patera made 27 saves on 31 shots in the losing effort. “I felt good,” Dell said regarding his performance. “We tightened it up a little bit since the last weekend. We started off a little bit loose, turn the puck over. But as the game went on, we learned (from our mistakes).

I think it was a great game for us, learning wise that way.” GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 0-for-2 on the power play. Henderson was 0-for-4. The Three Stars of the Game were: 1) Dell 2) Coe 3) Pouliot UP NEXT: San Jose and Henderson conclude its two-game series on Sunday 10/23 at 3:00pm at Tech CU Arena.

Barracuda end horrible season with 15-game losing streak in 5-2 loss to Silver Knights

San Jose Barracuda forward Danil Gushchin (75) like the rest of the Barracuda were caught in the headlights of the Henderson Silver Knights at Dollar Loan Center in Henderson in the final game of the season for the Barracuda (photo from the San Jose Barracuda)

by Marko Ukalovic

The season is finally, mercifully over for the San Jose Barracuda.

In a season where the team was handcuffed by its roster, the ‘Cuda lost their regular season finale 5-2 to the Henderson Silver Knights on Saturday evening at Dollar Loan Center.

San Jose finished the season on a franchise worst 15-game losing streak (0-13-2) in where head coach Roy Sommer and his coaching staff had trouble many nights being able to have a full lineup out on the ice. Henderson has won five games in a row and will face off against the Ontario Reign in the Pacific Division Playoffs.

Henderson (34-28-4-1) drew first blood early in the first period scoring the only goal in the opening 20 minutes. Colt Conrad set up Connor Corcoran who snapped home a wrist shot past ‘Cuda goalie Alex Stalock for his fourth goal of the season at the 1:59 mark.

The Silver Knights doubled its lead early in the second period with an even strength goal. Jermaine Loewen finished off a two-on-one odd man rush with a wrist shot from point blank range for his sixth goal of the season at the 1:13 mark.

San Jose (20-42-4-2) cut the lead in half with a power play goal at the 7:04 mark. Kyle Topping’s wrist shot hit off a Silver Knights defender and past Silver Knight’s goalie Isaiah Saville for his first goal of the game and third of the year.

Henderson regained its two-goal lead just over two minutes later on the power play. Jonas Rondbjerg cleaned a rebound near the crease for his 14th goal of the season and second in two games against San Jose at the 9:08 mark.

The Barracuda once again made it a one-goal game with Topping’s second power play goal of the game late in the middle frame. A fortuitous bounce found its way onto Topping’s stick and he wired a wrist shot past Saville for his fourth goal of the season at the 17:55 mark.

Henderson put the game away with two goals late in the third period. Jack Dugan scored an empty net goal with Stalock pulled for an extra attacker, his sixth goal of the season at the 18:14 mark. Then Connor Ford scored his first goal of the season on the Silver Knight’s second power play goal at the 18:59 mark.

Saville (6-1) finished the game stopping 19 of the 21 shots he faced to earn his sixth straight victory. Stalock (4-10-2) made 16 saves on 20 shots and ended his season with 10 straight losses.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 2-for-5 on the power play. Henderson finished 2-for-8.

San Jose is still winless against Henderson in Las Vegas/Henderson.

The Three Stars of the Game were: 1) Ben Jones 2) Corcoran 3) Ford.