Struggling Condors on pace for poorest finish of team's 14-year existence
| Saturday, Jan 07 2012 09:31 PM
Last Updated Saturday, Jan 07 2012 09:53 PM
SeasonWLOTLSOLPtsPCTCoach(es)Finish
2002--0341220991.632KellyLost in round 1
2003--0425380959.410Kelly, RaymondOut of playoffs
2004--0540225590.625RaymondLost in round 1
2005--0640262486.597RaymondLost in round 3
2006--0741193994.653RaymondLost in round 3
2007--0826372761.424RaymondLost in round 2
2008--0933313574.514RaymondLost in round 1
2009--1038294181.563RaymondLost in round 2
2010-1141272286.597RaymondLost in round 1
2010-128243019.271O'Dette?
Images
Bakersfield's Scott Freeman, right, and Stockton Thunder's Matt Foy race for the puck in first period action at Rabobank Arena.
The game had ended 25 minutes earlier and Condors coach Matt O'Dette was still struggling to regain his composure.
He had watched the Condors take a 3-0 lead over the Ontario Reign on Dec. 28 only to lose 4-3, and the frustration level had reached a melting point.
He spent nearly 15 minutes in the locker room with his team, then holed up in his office were there was dead silence for several minutes before he released his pent-up anguish, loudly repeating one unprintable word every few seconds.
A few minutes later, an upset but composed O'Dette emerged from his office for the postgame questions from the media.
If nothing else, the Condors are proving that expansion teams have a hard time winning in the ECHL.
The Condors, in their 14th year of existence, are far from an expansion team. In fact, they entered this season coming off back-to-back Pacific Division championships.
But for all intents and purposes, they entered this season with the make-up of an expansion team. Only two players returned from the previous season, O'Dette, a rookie coach, was hired well into the recruiting season and the team did not secure a National Hockey League affiliation, which might have resulted in one to five players being assigned to the Condors.
The end result: The Condors are off to their worst start in franchise history. Halfway through the season, the Condors are 8-24-3, the worst record pro hockey.
Hardly the season O'Dette or anyone in the Condors organization expected.
"It's not easy when you're losing, that's for sure," said O'Dette, who is seemingly forever in his office, making calls, going over video and tweaking game plans in an attempt to turn the tide.
"The adversity we've gone through has taken a toll. There's not a lot of sleep, that's for sure."
It's no better for the front-office employees, who are the conduit for disgruntled fans.
"Nobody likes to walk around the concourse (at Rabobank Arena) when fans aren't happy and hear about it," said Condors president Matthew Riley.
The losing record hasn't adversely affected attendance too much at this point as the Condors averaged 5,054 fans per game at the end of December. They finished last season with an average of 5,117.
But the big attendance period for minor hockey is on Friday and Saturday nights in January and February, which is nine games for the Condors this season.
"Does winning or losing have an effect on attendance? Yes," Riley said. "Is it as major as the average person would think? Probably not.
"But I don't want to minimize the importance we place on winning. We place a tremendous amount of focus on how the team is performing on the ice."
As the record would indicate, the Condors have struggled in just about every aspect of the game. There have been defensive breakdowns, offensive lapses and goaltending woes. Seldom have all key aspects of the game come together in one game.
The Condors won back-to-back games to open the season and have not done so since. They lost one game with 4.4 seconds left, another with 15.6 seconds remaining and another on an overtime power-play goal, and a couple others in the final few minutes.
It seems the Condors are adept at finding ways to lose.
"Look at what happened to us," O'Dette said. "We've been in a lot of games where it hasn't gone our way, not because we didn't play hard. There's probably 10 games we could have, or should have, won. If we did, we're sitting at 18-14 and not talking about this."
Other than a 6-0 loss in Ontario on Tuesday, the Condors haven't been getting blown out. They lead the league with 13 one-goal losses and have lost eight others by two goals.
"You always question your systems if you're not winning games," O'Dette said. "I judge myself by how hard the guys battle for me and for the most part the guys have worked really hard. No one's quit. No one's given up."
That said, no one is satisfied with status quo.
"I think we're much more competitive than our record indicates," Riley said. "But whatever the reason, the bottom line is results and they're not there."
O'Dette has been tweaking his roster since right before the season started, getting key rookie acquisitions in Peter Boyd (Oct. 13), Tyler Helfrich (Nov. 21) and Robby Dee and Chris Kushneriuk on Dec. 1. He added another rookie, Alex Hudson, to the mix on Friday.
On Saturday another rookie, defenseman Josh Van Dyk, joined the team. He was acquired from the Florida Everblades for forward Matt Marquardt, who had been an alternate captain for the Condors.
"I'm not only supportive, I'm insistent," Riley said of O'Dette's quest to reshape the Condors. "You can't keep doing the same things you're doing and expect results."
O'Dette said he's fairly pleased with the large group of rookies on the team, but not so with some of his older players.
"It's on me," he said. "Experience is something we're lacking, obviously. And the talent level could be higher, no question.
Marquardt, a fourth-year pro, was the third most experienced player on the team and had 13 goals but O'Dette felt he wasn't playing to near his potential.
"There are some guys that just aren't putting it on the line every night and you need every guy going every night. If you have passengers you're not going to win."
For now, most changes will have to come via trades with other teams, but by early March, players finishing their NCAA careers become available.
"People on the outside may not understand some moves," O'Dette said. "We have to be smart and we have to improve our locker room situation. It's a puzzle and everything is timing.
"You think you have deals done and 24 hours later the situation has changed due to an affiliation, an injury or whatever. It's all about opportunity and timing."
With a solid core of rookies, O'Dette is certainly building a strong foundation for next season.
But despite the deep hole the Condors are in, O'Dette is far from thowing in the towel on this season.
"The way we look at is we only have to catch one team (to make the playoffs)," he said. "We plan on making the playoffs. No one here has any doubt in their mind. That's not how we're thinking at all.
"We have to keep working. Keep battling. We all know the sweet's not sweet without the bitter. And there's been plenty of bitter."
