Stockton makes early goal stand up in 1-0 win over Condors
| Friday, Jan 06 2012 11:04 PM
Last Updated Friday, Jan 06 2012 11:04 PM
Two games into the New Year, the Condors are still looking for their first goal.
The loss, the fourth in the past five games, dropped the Condors (8-24-3) further into the ECHL basement.
“We outplayed the team, that’s for sure,” Condors coach Matt O’Dette said. “But the goal scorers have to put the puck in the net. We have countless chances and we don’t score.”
Stockton scored 1:42 into the game when Jordon Fulton got behind a defensemen and shot a rolling puck past Matt Keetley from close range.
“One play where our defenseman was asleep at the wheel and 1-nothing,” O’Dette said. “There you go. “Bottom line is the guy can’t get behind our D like that. He whacked it in.”
It was the 16th time this season the Condors have given up a goal in the first minute of a period, and the 13th one-goal loss.
The Condors had multiple opportunities to tie the game, including five power plays, but could not get the puck past Stockton goaltender Olivier Roy, who stopped 29 shots.
“He’s a good goalie but he’s not that good,” O’Dette said. “Countless opportunities. Gotta put the puck in the net, plain and simple.”
The offensive tone of the game was set for the Condors on their first power play, 7:39 into the game. Bakersfield spent most of the two minutes in Stockton’s zone and got five shots. Midway through the third period the Condors were swarming around the Stockton net and a Thunder defenseman stopped a shot from going in with his leg.
“Not bearing down, not getting the bounce,” O’Dette said. “Normally when you have that type of pressure the puck bounces to a guy who has a wide open net and you score. Buzzing all around the net and couldn’t be Johnny on the spot for that goal. It didn’t bounce our way.
“We had opportunities to score and our goal scorers didn’t score.”
And that meant a late night for O’Dette and assistant coach Kevin Barrett.
“We’re going to juggle the lines up,” O’Dette said. “We have to reconnect and find some new chemistry because the lines we have aren’t scoring.
“We’re playing well defensively, playing great defensively. But we need to generate offense.”
Notes
• Coach Matt O’Dette sent a major message to his locker room on Friday when alternate captain Matt Marquardt was traded to the Florida Everblades for rookie defenseman Josh Van Dyke. Marquardt, a fourth-year pro, was second on the team in goals with 13 and had 19 points. Van Dyk, 25, played in 32 games with Florida and had 11 points (two goals, nine assists). Ten of those points came in his last 17 games. “Well, we need new faces and the guy we moved wasn’t fitting in as far as what we’re trying to do and what it takes to win games,” O’Dette said. Van Dyke, who arrived in Bakersfield on Friday night and will play tonight, was a teammate of current Condor Robby Dee for four seasons at the University of Maine.
• Making his pro debut for the Condors on Friday night was forward Alex Hudson. It was the first game in nearly a month for the former University of Nebraska at Omaha player, who arrived in Bakersfield on Thursday afternoon. “He looked alright,” O’Dette said. “He has speed and smart instincts out there. It’s encouraging what he did out there tonight.”
