Goaltender Hirsch back for 2nd stint with Bakersfield
| Tuesday, Aug 10 2010 07:04 PM
Last Updated Tuesday, Aug 10 2010 07:04 PM
Peter Hirsch's first stint with the Bakersfield Condors lasted only a couple of months.
Condors coach Marty Raymond is banking that the Danish goaltender's second stint will be longer and much more successful.
The Condors announced the signing of Hirsch, centerman Adam Naglich and defenseman Jay Cascalenda on Tuesday.
Hirsch, 31, played 14 games for a sub-par 2003-04 edition for the Condors (going 4-8-1 with a 2.70 goals against average and .904 save percentage) before heading back to Europe where he has played since.
He led his team to Danish Cup championships in 2005 and 2006 and was goaltender for Coventry, England, last season, winning the EIHL (Elite Ice Hockey League) title.
"He was with us a few years back and I think the situation wasn't the best for him, he had some personal problems," Raymond said of Hirsch. "He reached out to us early in the spring. He was a phenomenal goaltender last year in England where he won the division and had an unbelievable save percentage in the playoffs (.940).
"We felt goaltending experience is what we needed in Bakersfield backed up by a young prospect and I think that's a start of the building block for a hockey team."
Raymond also said that Naglich, coming off a solid rookie season for the Condors, was a key building block.
"Naglich was a must for us," Raymond said. "He was one of the best impact rookies, along with (Alexandre) Bolduc, we've had over the last five or six years. "He showed some leadership for a young guy, has good hockey sense, knows the game will and I think will be a very good second-line centerman for us."
Naglich, 26, had 16 goals and 23 assists (39 points) in 69 games last season.
Cascalenda, 25, played his rookie season for the South Carolina Stingrays.
"He's a really good skating defenseman and a shut-down type of a guy," Raymond said of Cascalenda. "We're trying to go more a style where we have a third line of guys that are able to shut down the best line of the oppositions.
"We're building with roles, role players and guys who can do the job for us."
