Barracuda let Roadrunners escape with a 3-1 win

Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Alexandra Evans

SAN JOSE—The San Jose Barracuda put up a solid defensive fight through Friday night’s match against the Tucson Roadrunners, who managed to notch two goals in the final two minutes of the game and earn a 3-1 win.

Both teams played sound defensively in the first period until the final two minutes when Roadrunners’ Michael Bunting approached the net, prompting Cuda goaltender Antoine Bibeau to move out of the net to stop what looked like a play. With Bibeau out of the way, Bunting put the puck right in the net at the 18:08 mark to give Tucson the lead.

In the second period, Rudolfs Balcers scored a power play goal at the 3:08 mark. Despite putting up an additional 16 shots (for 29 total), including some promising attempts from Danny O’Regan on a five-on-three run, the Cuda failed to make it past Hunter Miska, but managed to stop the Roadrunners from scoring again…until the end of third period.

Both teams held one another scoreless for the first 18 minutes of the third, when all of a sudden, Mike Sislo copped a rebound goal with a minute and a half remaining, followed by another from Bunting 23 seconds later to make the final score 3-1.

“It happened so quick,” Bibeau said of Tucson’s final two goals. Despite each “blink of an eye” (so to speak), he saw the puck far better than he had during Wednesday’s 6-0 shutout loss.

Bibeau, who came off of his fifth consecutive win on Sunday evening in Bakersfield, agreed that the team’s defense was very sound throughout the entire match. The team’s inability to score impacted the game, but did not reflect their effort as a whole.

The Roadrunners are ranked #1 in the Pacific Division of the AHL, and some may wonder if it takes even more momentum and strength to stand up to such a team. Not necessarily, according to Bibeau. He explained that there was not much the Cuda needed to change as far as effort, as, coming off of the 6-0 shutout loss, effort was more important to them than whether or not they defeated the Roadrunners (whose sound playing styles he acknowledged, and the fact that they stimulated strong competition that evening).

Edging on their next two matches against Tucson on Tuesday and Wednesday (in the desert), Bibeau said that taking time to relax on the team’s off days will serve them well, and that they will play the next two games with a mindset no different than one which they would have against a lower-ranked team.

Roster update: Danny O’Regan was reassigned to the Barracuda from the Sharks this afternoon, and Bryan Moore was recalled from the Allen Americans. Additionally, the club signed Emerson Clark of the ECHL’s Jacksonville Icemen to a professional tryout agreement.

Portland State Defeats Stanford 87-78 in Final Round of PK80

Photo: @StanfordMBB

By Alexandra Evans

PORTLAND, OR—The Stanford Cardinal took on Portland State for the final round of the Phil Knight Invitational on Sunday evening, falling by nine points after having kept a lead over the Vikings the entire first half by as much as 14 points.

Stanford first took the lead 7-4 after freshman Isaac White made a three-pointer from the corner. Robert Cartwright then made a triple of his own to keep the Cardinal ahead 10-8. The lead persisted, courtesy of the point-maker himself, Reid Travis, with contribution from Daejon Davis who made his first career three-pointer. From there, Travis took off like a rocket. Over the course of 8 minutes, he scored 19 points to bring the Cardinal to a 44-35 lead at the half.

When the second 20 minutes commenced, the Vikings caught up to the Cardinal, trailing by only five points (49-44) in the first three minutes. Five minutes later, Portland State’s Jamie Orme tied the score 55-55.

The Vikings first claimed the lead after Michael Mayhew made a three-pointer to make the score 58-57. They then exceeded the Cardinal by six points, then three again, then by 10 (72-62), courtesy of Holland Woods (who gave the Vikings 13 points in the second half).

Portland State, at one point, exceeded Stanford by 17 points, who just barely caught up to  bring their lag to nine points, taking an 87-78 defeat.

On Friday, the second round of PK80, Stanford was defeated by Ohio State 79-71, and by the University of Florida on Thanksgiving Day, to whom they fell 108-87.

The Cardinal will return to the Bay Area to face the Montana Grizzlies on Wednesday, November 29 at 7:00 p.m.

California AHL rivals, Reign and Barracuda, face each other for the 4th time this month, Reign takes home the crown with a 3-0 win

Photo: @sjbarracuda

By Alexandra Evans

SAN JOSE—The San Jose Barracuda followed Thanksgiving with another match against their cross-state rival, the Ontario Reign, whom they have now faced four times this month. Tonight, the Reign refused to give up their crown and defeated the Cuda 3-0 over the course of seven minutes (all in the final period).

Roster update: This afternoon, the Cuda welcomed forward Marc-Olivier Roy who closed a professional tryout agreement with the club. Roy, originally selected 56th overall by the Edmonton Oilers in 2013, was acquired from the Fort Wayne Komets of the ECHL and currently has 16 points (five goals and 11 assists).

The first period remained utterly silent, with the exception of strong defensive plays from both teams. Neither team took a penalty, and the board remained numberless. The Cuda picked up a man-advantage (the only one of the match) just over two minutes into the second period when Reign forward Paul LaDue was benched for tripping. Cuda defenseman Jeremy Roy took a shot off the far post which would have been his third goal of the season. The Cuda fired two more shots which were deflected off the post, keeping the game scoreless. At 18:13, both Jon Martin (San Jose) and Stepan Falkovsky (Ontario) were sent to the penalty box for roughing. This resulted in a two-minute four-on-four play, on which neither team gained an advantage offensively.

The Reign turned things around in the third period (which began with the remaining 13 seconds of the four-on-four play) when Stepan Falkovsky appeared from left point and scored at 1:57, giving the Reign the lead. Less than three minutes later, at 4:25, Brett Sutter fired the puck from the slot to make the score 2-0. Wanting in on the action, Justin Auger took a pass from Mike Amadio and found the back of the net (and his way past Cuda goaltender Parker Gahagen) at the seven-minute mark. The Cuda remained scoreless through the remaining 13 minutes of play, taking their third loss to Ontario this month.

Gahagen made his professional debut tonight and, even though he allowed three goals on 27 shots, he fought hard and his determination never wore thin. Ontario’s Cal Petersen, the No. 2 AHL goaltender, stopped all of the San Jose’s 23 shots, got his second career shutout and a second consecutive win over the Cuda.

San Jose, now 7-8, will host Pucks and Paws Night on Sunday afternoon (3pm) as they take on the San Diego Gulls.

In case you were wondering how the Cuda celebrated Turkey Day, check out the photo below from their team dinner in Ontario on Thursday night:

Credit: @sjbarracuda

Rampage Stomp Barracuda 3-1, SJ’s second loss to San Antonio

Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Alexandra Evans

SAN ANTONIO, TX—The Barracuda had a slow start tonight in San Antonio and fell to the Rampage 3-1, their second loss to this team this season.

The starting lineup for San Jose was as follows:

• Offense: John McCarthy, Filip Sandberg, Oliver Archambault (his first appearance with San Jose)
• Defense: Jacob Middleton, Julius Bergman
• Goaltender: Antoine Bibeau

The Cuda played slow to start, picking up two penalties in the first period (Middleton and Bergman were sent to the penalty box within less than two minutes of one another). This gave the Rampage an opportunity to score, which they did at the 13:16 mark in a 5-on-3 play (San Antonio had the two-man advantage).

In the second period, Adam Helewka and Danny O’Regan showcased their dynamic-duo style plays as Helewka provided his seventh assist of the season to O’Regan, who scored the Cuda’s first and only goal of the game (and his fourth of the season) 13 minutes in. Coincidentally, Felix Girard of the Rampage managed to make his way past Bibeau and score exactly 13 seconds later. The second period was, well, penalties galore. Between the two teams, there were a total of nine. The score was 2-1 at the end.

San Jose was still unable to score in the third, despite pulling Bibeau from the net toward the end. Then again, they were on a penalty kill and still short one man. Sure enough, Duncan Siemens notched an empty-netter from across the ice with 27 seconds left in the match.

Bibeau allowed two goals on 22 shots, while Rampage goaltender Ville Husso made a total of 38 saves and helped them cultivate an eight-for-eight.

The Cuda, who set a shots-on-goal record tonight with 39, are now 3-4, and the Rampage’s win tonight put them at 6-1.

Next, the Barracuda will face the Texas Stars at home on October 28, 5:00 p.m. PT.