ECHL Bakersfield Condors

Weekend Brings Conclusion to Condors Campaign

April 5, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL)
Bakersfield Condors News Release


Last Week

Wednesday, March 31 Attendance: 3,710

Idaho scored the first goal of the game on the power play late in the first period, but after that was shut down by Condors G Joe Watkins. Todd Alexander's equalizer late in the second made the score 1-1, and Bakersfield added two more in the third period to take the 3-1 victory. Watkins stopped 28 shots in earning his second-consecutive victory, both over Kelly Cup Playoff-bound teams. Jean-Francois Piche and Quinn Fair also scored for the Condors.

Friday, April 2 Attendance: 5,191

San Diego touched up Bakersfield for the first five goals of the game, skating to a 5-2 win over the Condors on Friday at Centennial Garden. Their first four goals came against Condors starter Shane Bendera, who was pulled after stopping 12 shots. The goalie swap seemed to wake up the Condors who, over the 35 minutes Joe Watkins played, outscored the Gulls 2-1, allowing only 10 shots the rest of the way. Jimmy Drolet and Todd Alexander scored for the Condors, who were also penalized for 71 minutes in the contest.

Saturday, April 3 Attendance: 6,380

In the season finale, Vegas erupted for three second period tallies and cruised to a 4-1 win over the Condors on Saturday. After the Wranglers made it 4-0, Valdemar Pelikovsky scored the final goal of the Bakersfield season to bring a final 4-1 score. The game was also the last for Paul Willett, who called it a career at the end of this season - his 14th in the professional ranks.

Where We Finished

The Condors wrapped up their ECHL debut with a 25-38-9 record, finishing in 5th place in the Pacific Division.

Notes from the Nest

· Todd Alexander had a three-game goal streak snapped on Saturday night. He finished the year with 7g-5a in his final 12 games of the season after scoring 5g-8a-13pts in his first 41 games of the season.

· Three Condors finished tied for the team lead in goals. Paul Rosebush, Jason Ralph and Johan Astrom all put up 26 markers on the season. Rosebush had nine goals in his last 12 games to jump to the front, meanwhile Astrom and Rosebush combined for just four goals in their last 11 games.

· Wednesday's win over Idaho was the first time all season the Condors have won a game that was tied heading into the third period (1-5-6). They finished with two wins when trailing after two periods (2-32-2).

· Bakersfield had a season-high 52 shots on goal on Saturday night. They put 100 shots on goal in their last two games against Las Vegas.

· Andrew Ianiero had his 10-game points streak snapped on Friday night. Both he and Kevin Riehl had 10-game scoring streaks this season.

· Jon Mirasty equaled the Condors career record for major penalties with 32 this season alone, getting his 32nd in a Friday night fight. He also set the single-season mark with 358 penalty minutes this year and cracked the top 10 in all-time Bakersfield career PIM, and ranks 6th in Condors history.

· Speaking of penalty minutes, Paul Willett came up just one minor penalty shy of breaking Glen Mears' career Bakersfield record for PIM, 830 to 829.

League Leaders (among all 31 teams)
Name Category Rank
Team 29.54 shots allowed/game 10th 24.0 PIM/game 6th
Jon Mirasty 327 penalty minutes 3rd (1st among rookies) 31 major penalties 1st (1st among rookies)

Condors team leaders

Goals
Astrom 26
Ralph 26
Rosebush 26

Assists
Riehl 39
Ianiero 38
Ralph 29

Points
Riehl 58
Ianiero 56
Ralph 55

PIM
Mirasty 358
Ralph 158
Rosebush 156

Plus/Minus
Ianiero +13
Pelikovsky +8
Willett +4

Check out the Bakersfield Condors Statistics



ECHL Stories from April 5, 2004


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