Condors Fall in Shootout Loss at Long Beach
March 26, 2006 - ECHL (ECHL)
Bakersfield Condors News Release
LONG BEACH, Calif., - The Bakersfield Condors dug out of a 3-1 first period to take a 5-4 lead in the third, but Justin Aikins of the Long Beach Ice Dogs tied the game with 1:12 remaining in regulation. From there, Ice Dogs netminder Olivier Michaud stopped all four Condor shots in the shootout to hand Bakersfield a 6-5 loss in front of 3,697 fans at the Long Beach Arena.
Keith McWilliams opened the game with his first goal of the season on a wrist shot from the slot. Jason Weaver and Mike Vellinga assisted just 2:02 into the game as Long Beach took the early 1-0 lead.
On Bakersfield's first power play of the evening, Joel Irving fired a shot from the left wing circle. Long Beach goaltender Olivier Michaud made the initial save, but Kevin St. Jacques batted the rebound across the goal line to tie the game at 1-1.
The Ice Dogs answered back seconds later as Cory Urquhart dug the puck along the ice inside the near post. Steeve Villeneuve connected on the initial pass as Long Beach regained the lead at 2-1.
Mac Faulkner sped with the puck along the right wing all he way to the corner boards. Faulkner saucered a pass to center, where Weaver connected on a one-touch backhander to give the Ice Dogs a two goal lead at 3-1 with 10:01 remaining in the first period.
Dave Bonk opened up a strong second period by bouncing puck over Long Beach goaltender Olivier Michaud. Steve Howard created the scoring chance from the point and Mathieu Brunelle tapped a shot off of Michaud for Bonk's chance just 1:15 into the second period.
The Condors struck again for their second power play goal of the night when Kevin Truelson fired a shot from the point off of a faceoff. Alexandre Bolduc redirected the shot past Michaud to tie the game at 3-3 at the 5:30 mark of the second period.
Dave Bonk intercepted a pass with 16 seconds remaining on an Ice Dogs power play and charged to the net unimpeded from the red line. Bonk deked and beat Michaud for the shorthanded goal to give Bakersfield their first lead of the night, 4-3 with 11:04 remaining in the second.
With 64 seconds left until the second intermission, Justin Aikins flipped a Sean McAslan rebound over the right pad of Munce. Michael Lambert was credited with an assist as Aikins tied the game at 4-4 heading into the third period.
Scott Balan initiated a one-timer on an early third-period power play by tapping a hard pass to Kevin Truelson at the near point. Truelson fired a wrist shot past Michaud to give the Condors a 5-4 lead.
Justin Aikins sent the game to overtime with 1:12 remaining in regulation by flipping the puck outside the near post and inside the crossbar to tie the game at 5-5.
The game remained tied through a wild overtime that included a 36 second Bakersfield power play at the end of the extra frame. In the shootout, Michaud stopped all four Condors attempts he face. The Ice Dogs needed only three shooters, as both Michael Lambert and Justin Aikins converted to give the Condors the 6-5 loss.
Olivier Michaud was credited with the victory with 31 saves on 36 Bakersfield shots. Ryan Munce was credited with the loss despite making 23 stops on 28 attempts.
Other notes: The Condors have scored shorthanded goals in consecutive games. Kevin St. Jacques' goal was his 995th career point, just five shy of his 1000th. The overtime/shootout loss was the Condors' first since a January 14th 2-1 shootout loss at Fresno. The Condors conclude the season series with Long Beach with a 4-1-2 advantage on the year.
For the record: The Condors drop to 34-24-6 on the season and remain at 74 points on the season. Bakersfield trails Long Beach by three points for 2nd place in the Pacific Division with two games in hand.
The Condors continue their road trip Tuesday when they visit the Fresno Falcons. Bakersfield returns home on Wednesday, March 29th to host the Utah Grizzlies on High School & Student ID Night. Students presenting a valid school ID at the Arena box office can receive terrace admission for just $1
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