Calder's presence not enough to save struggling Condors
| Friday, Feb 03 2012 11:13 PM
Last Updated Friday, Feb 03 2012 11:14 PM
Maybe the Condors thought Kyle Calder would stride onto the ice at Rabobank Arena on Friday night and all would be saved.
A season of misery would suddenly turn and a fairy-tale run to the playoffs would be ensured by the mere presence of a player with nearly 600 games in the National Hockey League.
Not hardly.
It was the same old Condors -- despite a goal from Calder in the third period -- doing the same old things that have them buried deep in the ECHL cellar.
That's why a team struggling to win games coming into Bakersfield -- the Colorado Eagles -- rolled over the Condors 6-3 before 4,338.
"I don't know if the guys thought that, but to win at this level you need 18 guys going, plain and simple," said Condors coach Matt O'Dette. "You can't have lines taking the night off, you can't have D pairs take the night off, you can't have a goaltender have an off night. You can't have these things happen.
"The forwards gotta bury their chances, the D's gotta defend and the goalie stops the puck. That's the simplicity of hockey. We missed our chances, the D didn't play well and the goaltender didn't play well. There you have it. It was a team effort in the wrong way."
As the second period was coming to an end with Colorado leading 5-1, Bon Jovi's "This Is Our House" blared over the arena speakers but the Condors appeared content to let the guests have the run of the house up to that point.
For the 31st time in 46 games the Condors graciously coughed up the first goal to an opponent, and for good measure they allowed Colorado to score two more before the period ended.
Welcome to Condorstown, Eagles. Carrion served here. Enjoy the feast.
"The first period has been our problem all year, all year," O'Dette said. "You can't give up a goal in the first five minutes. You just can't."
The Eagles, with three of their best players currently in the American Hockey League, had won just three of their last 10 games and were winless in their last four.
Which made it a good time to play the Condors, who had two wins over their last 10 games and are now 10-31-4-1 on the season.
The Condors opened the game with a couple of fights in the first minute, but that apparently took the fight out of them.
Joey Sides scored at 3:44; Adam Chorneyko scored at 6:37 and Ben Chariot made it 3-zip Colorado at 11:18.
Game. Set. Match.
"We come out, get into a couple tilts," O'Dette said. "On home ice you expect to get some life out of that. It should give you life. That's the whole purpose of it. It didn't."
The Condors tried to make a game of it 12:22 into the second period on a Tyler Helfrich goal but Colorado added two more goals (the second on a two-man power-play advantage) and Matt Keetly's night in goal for the Condors ended with the period, having allowed five goals on 26 shots.
O'Dette said the turning point came right before Colorado's fourth goal.
"Momentum is everything in hockey," he said. "We get our first goal, go on a power play with a chance to make it a one-goal game and take a penalty. They score 4-on-4 then we take a major boarding penalty and they get another."
Calder scored 15 minutes into the third period but before the P.A. announcer finished announcing the goal, the Eagles scored their final goal.
Notes
* The Condors will don special space-themed jerseys for tonight's game in honor of the NASA space program. The jerseys will be auctioned after the game with proceeds going to the Asthma and COPD Education Center.
* Condors rookie forward Alex Hudson, loaned to Manchester, N.H, of the American Hockey League, did not play for the Monarchs on Friday night.
