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Sports reporter Mike Griffith on Bakersfield's hockey team.

NHL veteran Calder returning to Condors

National Hockey League veteran Kyle Calder will be playing the remainder of the  season for the Bakersfield Condors, beginning wiht Friday night's game against Colorado at Rabobank Arena.
It will mark the third straight season Calder, a veteran of 590 National Hockey League games who makes his home in Southern California, has donned a Condors sweater.  
Calder, 33, was signed as a free agent by the Anaheim Ducks in 2009-10 and assigned to the Condors where he played five games before playing 14 with the Ducks and another 40 with the Toronto Marlies in the American Hockey League. He returned to the Condors for the playoffs, scoring 10 points in 10 games.
Last season Calder, a left winger, signed with the Condors and played five games (netting three goals and four assists) before leaving to play in Russia.
This will be Calder’s first game of the year as he is coming off a broken leg suffered in an off-ice accident last summer.
“He’s just looking to get back and prove he can play and potentially get something set up for next year,” Condors coach Matt O’Dette said. “It’s going to take some time for him to get into game shape but there’s not better way to do that than in a game.”
O'Dette said he had been talking to Calder for quite some time and that Condors equipment manager John Doolan played a role in Calder returning.
“He’s got a good relationship with Dools from his time here,” O'Dette said. “We’ll take these breaks when we can get them.”
 The Condors are in last place in the ECHL with a roster full of rookies and O’Dette said the veteran presence of Calder will certainly be a boost.
“He’ll not only help on the ice but in the locker room as well,” O’Dette said. “Our young legs can help rejuvenate his game and his experience and wisdom can rub off on our guys.”
 Calder was a fifth-round draft choice of Chicago in 1997 and played for Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Las Angeles and Anaheim at the NHL level.

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