5. Good reading? You bet. This wins my award for best article of the day. It also wins the award for scariest article of the day. But I don’t think it goes far enough, because an NFL destroyed by medical lawsuits has a trickle down effect to college football, the NHL, minor league hockey, baseball and basically every other sport under the sun. Because it’s sports. It’s dangerous and specialized. And only a select few can play them at a high level. And permanent damage from it is practically GUARANTEED. And that will never change.

4. In my ESPN.com fantasy playoff challenge for the Condors office, I am in trouble. Premise: you pick players and if they score for you, you get points. After the first round I was in 1st place. I was killing it. Mainly because I had Flyers and Penguins all over my roster. Before the second round we picked again, and what do you know, I’m still in 1st place. However, before the third round you pick again, except you don’t get to pick before the finals, so you’d better choose wisely. I went with all Devils and Coyotes, as @BroadcastHolt pointed out on twitter this morning, and I’m in trouble.

Eventually I think the Devils will prevail in that series, but after watching the Kings/Coyotes game the other night, I think that’s going to be a short series that doesn’t end well for Phoenix.

3. Speaking of the finals… The Wranglers and Everblades have commenced the final series in the ECHL Kelly Cup Playoffs, and the Wranglers took Game One last night, 2-1. Mike Tyson ushered in the start of the finals without punching someone in the face, but ringing an air raid siren (which I have to admit could turn into a cool tradition in Vegas).

Florida was one of the best teams in the league in the second half of the season and should give Vegas a run for their money. Former Condor Matt Marquardt is the second leading Everblades scorer in the post-season, and good for him, he’s a good guy and made some fans quickly here in Condorstown. He had a really inconsistent season, but he is now a part of a pretty balanced Florida attack.

The Wranglers are balanced as well, an although they boast two of the top three playoff scorers, they only have two of the next 19 leading scorers in the league. Bizarre considering they are in the finals and no team has played more games. Florida has nine players in the top 22 in scoring, Vegas has four.

2. Hey man, there’s a beverage here! Not for nothing, but I was appalled this morning when I discovered that not only has broadcast partner Ryan Holt NOT seen The Big Lebowski, but neither has Condors Assistant Coach Kevin Barrett. And yes, I mean to say I was APPALLED. How does a guy like Holt go through college without seeing The Big Lebowski? I thought college was the time that you familiarized yourself with cult flicks and are drawn to movies that include booze like it’s another cast member.

1. Last week I wrote about how the game of hockey always fixes itself. Enter Rangers Head Coach John Tortorella with this beauty.

I think he’s wrong to want it back, but still, he has a point that rolls with my point last week, and that is that whatever the league does to open the game up seems to backfire.

Let me take it one step further in the opposite direction from Tortorella (who notably is a hockey expert, while I’m just a radio guy) I will use this opportunity to promote my thoughts on the red line: get rid of it altogether. Right now it’s being used only for icing. I think the league misses the point on eliminating it. It’s not a three-zone game as long as that stupid line is there – it’s a four zone game, with the neutral zone split in two. I think it should be gone altogether and icing should be determined when you fire the puck all the way down from your own zone. Otherwise you’re penalizing teams for missing the mark slightly on neutral zone passes. Teams that can transition well will be rewarded, because once the puck is taken away at your own line, you can immediately move it up without fear of retribution by simply missing your guy.

Then next they can apply regular icing rules to penalty killing, which wouldn’t seem all that cruel if you just had to escape your zone with it. When you’re shorthanded, why do you get different rules? In a way, that never made sense to me. You’re shorthanded. It’s a penalty. You are being penalized. But you can ice it? Especially after making the no-line-change rule after icings, doesn’t it seem silly that the PK can send it whenever they want? It’s like being sent to your room grounded but your parents let you stay up later and watch movies in bed. Well you ARE stuck in your room for the night, so here’s the TV?? No, that’s not how it works.

Kevin Bartl is the VP of Communications and part of the Condors broadcast team, entering his 10th season in #Condorstown. His opinions are clearly not reflective of the Condors organization. His blog comes out every Tuesday, or whenever he gets around to it. For not-always-hockey-related thoughts, follow him on twitter @KevinBartl.

“What’s going on Condorstown?!

This summer I will be home here in Anchorage, Alaska and I will be rehabbing my shoulder (which I hurt at the end of the season and had surgery on), training for next season, and working the odd job here and there which includes working on a boat for a bit.

I also plan on visiting and training in Grand Forks, ND (where I went to school) and Philadelphia as well. As far as activities I will be doing, I enjoy hiking, biking, and golfing. I love the great outdoors, especially up here in Alaska.

I also enjoy spending time with my family. I’m the oldest of five (3 brothers and 1 sister). I’m going to try skydiving this summer and I’m taking a belated “senior trip” with a few guys from college to Florida.

Feel free to follow me this summer on twitter. My account is @trupper19.

Enjoy the summer everyone!” – Evan

No NHL hockey does not mean there isn’t a wealth of other hockey options going on around North America though. I figured that we could delve into the other interesting leagues and championships that you don’t get to hear about too often. Unless of course you listen to a NHL playoff game called by Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick and Pierre McGuire who always give mention to leagues and champions that the majority of their viewers haven’t even heard of.

In the American Hockey League (AHL), one team, the Toronto Marlies (Toronto Maple Leafs), punched their ticket to the Western Conference Finals where they await the winner of the Oklahoma City Barons (Edmonton Oilers) and the San Antonio Rampage (Florida Panthers). I called down to Matt O’Dette today to see how the city of Toronto was celebrating their playoff run. He says that a few people have jumped on the bandwagon, but that it’s definitely a Leafs city. On the eastern side, (yeah, I know, Toronto isn’t in the AHL Eastern Conference? Then again neither is Charlotte, NC) the Norfolk Admirals (Tampa Bay Lightning) and St. John’s IceCaps (Winnipeg Jets) appear headed on a crash course for the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Central Hockey League has already crowned its champion, the Fort Wayne Komets, after they took four of five from the Wichita Thunder. As Bartl already mentioned, it’s almost a sure lock that they’re coming to the ECHL next season. Not only are they a great organization and would be great for the league, but they have 86-year old legend Bob Chase (who Emrick interned for) calling their games. He’s broadcasted Komets games since 1953. Let that sink in.

Of course there’s always the ECHL Kelly Cup Finals. Las Vegas and Florida will get underway next week. It should be entertaining with Florida being the hottest team over the last part of the season and Vegas taking out the defending champions in Alaska.

The Memorial Cup is right around the corner as well. For those that don’t know, it pits the winners of the three major junior hockey leagues along with a host city into one, four-team round robin tournament. The host city is Shawinigan this year. Props to anyone who can tell me where that it is and what their team name is without looking it up. Tweet @BroadcastHolt if you know!

In the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), the Saint John Sea Dogs are up 3-0 on Rimouski. FYI, Rimouski was where Sidney Crosby played. The Dogs won the Memorial Cup last year and are likely headed there again this year. I have to give a mention to my hometown brethren Charlie Coyle who is leading the league in scoring and will be suiting up for the Minnesota Wild next year. I played on a line with his sister Jess when I was in squirts. She still swears she’s a better player. In the OHL, the London Knights have a 3-1 series lead over the Niagara Ice Dogs and in the WHL, the best series going, the Portland Winterhawks and Edmonton Oil Kings are deadlocked at 2-2 heading to game five tonight.

In the American-based junior leagues, the United States Hockey League (USHL), which is the top league or Tier I, the Waterloo Black Hawks and Green Bay Gamblers will meet in a best-of-five championship series. The Gamblers are a bit of a powerhouse here, having been to the final in each of the last three seasons.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the other top junior hockey league in the States, the North American Hockey League (NAHL), which is a Tier II league, who as Doc mentioned during the Rangers-Capitals game last night, crowned their champion earlier this week, the Texas Tornado. Texas, based in the Dallas area, was the host team and got an automatic berth to the six-team final. They ended up winning two straight overtime games and won the entire thing. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or not that a team with a 3-5 post-season record won the cup, but hey that’s why you play the games I suppose. Frisco, where the Tornado is based, was a fun spot to visit many times two seasons ago now when I was in Corpus Christi.

I think that pretty much covers the entire non-NHL hockey landscape around North America. My apologies to the New Jersey Outlaws (Federal Hockey League) and Columbus Cottonmouths (Southern Professional Hockey League) who won titles this year, but were too far in the distant past for me.

Hope you enjoyed the twirl around the hockey world. If you didn’t, at least now you’ll know who Doc and Pierre are talking about when you hear them mention teams over and over for the next few weeks. Enjoy the playoffs!

Until next Thursday #Condorstown…

Ryan Holt recently completed his first season in #Condorstown and celebrated his 24^th birthday on Monday by working for the man. The off-season is killing him and he needs hockey back at Rabobank Arena immediately. Follow him on Twitter @BroadcastHolt or e-mail your thoughts to rholt@bakersfieldcondors.com.

Today’s NHL isn’t that much different than the one that existed pre-lockout. But if you recall the years immediately after the lockout, there was a distinctly different game being played. Clutching and grabbing has returned, because it’s almost impossible not to grab someone, or use your stick (the only real tool a player has) to impede someone. Expecting otherwise is like expecting soccer players to stop tripping their opponents.

Every effort to open the game up over the years has been met by a defensive system with a good goaltender. Stop trying to change it.

4. When is Opening Night for the Condors? I can’t tell you, but I have seen a version of the 2012-13 schedule, which is likely to change many times before it’s ready for release. Traditionally we have a schedule to announce sometime around early June, and I’m not really at liberty to discuss anything until the final version is approved.

For instance, I can neither confirm nor deny that an Eastern Conference team is coming to Rabobank Arena this season. I can neither confirm nor deny that our first game of the season is expected to be on the road against a new team. Nor can I confirm or deny that the Condors have an East Coast swing in January to a couple locations in warmer climes. I can’t confirm or deny any of these things.

3. What is the most number of players the Condors have brought back from the previous season? As far as my memory and the record book could tell me, the answer is 12, in 2006-07. I’ll clarify: 12 players played for the 2006-07 team that also played at least one game for the 2005-06 team. Whether they were all technically “returning” signings is another question, but for argument’s sake, that’s how I counted it. The 2007-08 team brought back 11 players from the previous season.

Last season the Condors brought back three players, one more than in 2004-05; and the least amount ever brought back was one player (Andrew Ianiero), in 2009-10. That was the season the Ducks told us they were sending us over 10 players. It’s usually 6-8 players returning, and this off-season could challenge that 2006-07 squad’s mark of 12.

2. Is the CHL going to have a reigning champion next season? If you believe the rumors, which are running rampant, this could be the second straight season the Central Hockey League loses its league champion during the off-season. Last year, the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs up and folded after hoisting the Presidents Cup. This season, rumors abound about the Fort Wayne Komets joining the ECHL. The Komets ousted the Wichita Thunder in Game 5 last night.

The Komets would be a nice fit for the division that includes Toledo, Cincinnati and Kalamazoo, especially considering the recent departure of the Chicago Express. It would return four teams to that division. I guess it could be worse for the CHL, who is actually adding a team in Denver… last season they lost BOTH teams that reached the finals, with the Colorado Eagles bolting as well after losing to the Bugs.

1. When is there going to be just one big ‘AA’ hockey league? Speaking of the CHL… I’ve been in favor of this for a while. It can be done. It should be done. Regionally it would help several teams. It would bring these leagues into balance. And it might even save some clubs from extinction.

How much would it save Colorado to have a one-hour road trip into Denver a few times a year? Maybe a three-game series there would save them the cost of a $15,000 trip to Alaska. Arizona could bus to Ontario and Vegas and eliminate at least two flights per season. One flight into Dallas (an easy, cheap flight) and the Condors could kill five or six road games against Allen, Tulsa and the Brahamas. I’m sure Kalamazoo wouldn’t mind busing to Evansville, Fort Wayne and Quad City instead of making the 12-hour trek to Greenville a couple times. And Boise, Loveland and Salt Lake City are all closer to Rapid City than any team they played in 2011-12.

The only drawback I can see might come from the players perspective, as one big league would limit their opportunities to change teams and markets, but that’s an easy fix, and besides, in order to do that you have to have teams and markets to play in. And I think this would help everyone stay healthy. It’s time for this discussion to be had.

Kevin Bartl is the VP of Communications and part of the broadcast team, entering his 10th season with the Condors. His blog comes out every Tuesday, or whenever he feels like it. Follow him for not-always-about-hockey thoughts on twitter @KevinBartl.

The “these things” he’s referring to, is the somewhat new craze sweeping through the Condors front office – pools and fantasy tournaments on various sports. It started with picking NCAA Football bowl games over the winter and is continuing this weekend with a draft of Kentucky Derby horses.

I’m not sure if Riley is out of the pools entirely. He’ll probably want in once he thinks about it. I mean, they’re addicting. We’re competitive by nature up here in the front office and tournament season has only highlighted that fact.

It’s not something that I’ll put on a resume, but “Pool Commissioner” has been a pretty fun aspect of being in #Condorstown. (Look for a Front Office Forum tomorrow on Condors.TV) We do it for fun and wager tiny amounts sometimes. We don’t do it for the money necessarily. Instead, they’re done to bring the office together in a competitive way, whether you know what bracket or sport you’re filling out or not. It’s fun to check the standings in the morning and see the brackets lining the walls of the office.

Things didn’t start well for us though. The first two pools we did, the NCAA football bowl pool and the March Madness pool, both were won by Nick Wynne of the SMG Marketing dept. (Well, credit to Brad Urbani for at least getting a split of the bowl win)

So, to alleviate the problem of having “outsiders” winning the pool, I’ve banned him and his cronies. I’m the commish. I make the rules.

Then we moved on to a fun one, the NCAA Frozen Four brackets. We let the players in on this one too and lo and behold, Chris Kushneriuk took it home. OK, players, now you’re banished. Boom.

We have two going on currently, with a fantasy pool for the NHL playoffs where we pick players and accrue points based on how they’ve done in the post season. Andrew Crutcher has overtaken the lead from Kevin Bartl, who led after the first round of games.

Our other brackets currently on the wall are for the ECHL playoffs. I’ve long been eliminated along with El Presidente both due to our finalists bowing out in round one. (Thanks Ontario!)

But, others are still flying high and it has come down to Condors Head Coach Matt O’Dette and VP Justin Fahsbender. O’Dette takes the win if the Las Vegas Wranglers take home the Cup, while Fahzy is looking for the Kalamazoo Wings to win it all. Good luck to both.

Tomorrow we’ll draw numbers out of a hat to see which horse we’ll be rooting for on Saturday.

Speaking of the Kentucky Derby, did you know I was born on Derby Day in 1988? Winning Colors won that year, one of only three fillies (that’s a young female horse for those out of ‘the know’) to ever win the Run for the Roses.

My birthday isn’t on Derby Day this year, it’s on Monday. May 7^th. Mark it down. Presents are more than welcomed. Checks as well.

If I was a betting man, and I am, I’d take the “8 Creative Cause” and box him with the “19 I’ll Have Another” and the “15 Gemologist” (Todd Pletcher can’t win the Derby.)

Do you have Derby picks? Does your office get in on the pool fun? Let me know! Email me, rholt@bakersfieldcondors.com

Ryan Holt is the Manager of Media Relations and Broadcasting entering his second season in #Condorstown. He placed his first bet at the racetrack at the ripe ol’ age of five. His blog comes out every Thursday. Follow him on Twitter @BroadcastHolt.

You may be thinking, wait, the Condors season ended nearly a month ago. And you would be right.

But, when Joel Ward slid a puck through Tim Thomas and into the back of the net a few minutes into overtime of Game Seven, ending the Bruins defense of their 2011 Stanley Cup, the off season began. Sure there is still hockey going on and yes I’ll still watch, but it’s not the same. I’m not invested into any of the remaining teams the way I am invested in the 2011-12 Condors and Bruins. It came quicker than anticipated and with an abruptness that far surpassed the way the Condors season ended.

There was no time to prepare last night. I sat in front of a big projection television at a local establishment and stared blankly at the screen as the Capitals celebrated and then shook the hands of a stunned Bruins squad.

Then I watched the replays upon replays that the NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus, formerly the Outdoor Life Network) kept showing…over…and…over…and…over.

And to be honest, I saw a goal that should have been waived off. Capitals forward (and from Bruin) Mike Knuble takes a shot and then proceeds to enter the crease under his own power, into body of Thomas, and remain there obstructing his view (and movement?) as Ward potted the game-winner.

We’re not talking Brett Hull having an inch of his skate’s toe in the top of the crease against Buffalo on a Stanley Cup winning goal. (I know, it was different rules back then.) We’re talking full on, in the crease, obstructing the goaltender. I get its game seven of the playoffs and overtime. To ask a referee to make a split second judgment call like that isn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination. You’re never going to get that call in a situation like that.

However, by definition, following the letter of the law, it should be disallowed no?

Rule 69.1 — “Interference on the Goalkeeper…Goals should be disallowed only if: (1) an attacking player, either by his positioning or by contact, impairs the goalkeeper’s ability to move freely within his crease or defend his goal; or (2) an attacking player initiates intentional or deliberate contact with a goalkeeper, inside or outside of his goal crease.

“The overriding rationale of this rule is that a goalkeeper should have the ability to move freely within his goal crease without being hindered by the actions of an attacking player. If an attacking player enters the goal crease and, by his actions, impairs the goalkeeper’s ability to defend his goal, and a goal is scored, the goal will be disallowed.”

All that doesn’t matter though. Here is the exact reason why the Bruins didn’t get that call. It’s called karma.

I had the good fortune of watching the B’s take on the Anaheim Ducks this year from the Honda Center’s press box in mid-March (thanks to fellow Holy Cross alum Matt Chmura who runs their PR dept. Give him a follow @mchmura). It was a dreary Sunday evening and little did I know that it was that exact game that would come back to eliminate the Bruins from the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

With the Bruins ahead late (and barely hanging onto the lead mind you) it appeared to everyone in attendance that the Ducks scored a late goal.

The Ducks forward does not touch Bruins G Marty Turco and yet the goal is still waived off; because he impairs Turco’s ability to see the puck while standing in the crease. Iffy or not, whether you agree or not, the Bruins got the benefit of the call.

Again.

Watch Joel Ward’s from last night…

Now watch the waived off Ducks goal from March…

So there you have it. Let us call it Holty’s Conspiracy Theory. If I had known that I saw the Bruins season come to an end with my own two eyes on a rainy March California day I probably would have stopped watching.

That’s why it’s hockey though. There’s no rhyme or reason to it and the calls don’t always go your way, but it’s fun to watch nonetheless and keeps you coming back for more.

What do you think? Tweet (@BroadcastHolt) or email me (rholt@bakersfieldcondors.com)

Until next Thursday #Condorstown…

Ryan Holt is the Manager of Media Relations and Broadcasting with the Condors. He just finished his first season in #Condorstown and as you can tell, grew up in Boston. Follow him on Twitter (@BroadcastHolt) or email him (rholt@bakersfieldcondors.com).

5. Actually WATCHING hockey for a change. Not only do I have more time to sit down and enjoy a game on TV once in a while, but I actually enjoy it. With everything going on outside of work in my daily life, honestly sitting down and watching a hockey game during Condors season feels like I’m bringing work home with me. I watch enough hockey every week of the season; not just games, but replays, highlights, practices, as well as watching other teams activities and burying my face in hockey stats every day. I don’t need to add NHL games to my list. Now that our season is done, I can relax and enjoy a game on my couch.

4. No Sunday/holiday phone calls from the coach. Don’t get me wrong, I like talking to the guy, but when the team’s on the road and he calls me on a Sunday night at 10:15 p.m., I know it’s not to chat about my day. It’s telling me I can’t go to bed yet and I probably have to get on my computer and book a flight. Or when it’s Christmas morning with the family and I see MATT O’DETTE come up on my caller ID, I know it’s a call I wished wasn’t happening. I spent almost 3 hours on the phone and in the office trying to get a couple Canadian guys back over the border into the States on Christmas morning. The call came before I could make my holiday dinner appetizer and open my 6 month old son’s first Christmas gifts. So it goes.

3. Update the media guide. It’s one of the most enjoyable parts of my job every summer. I love tucking myself into the history of this team and after almost a decade in Condorstown I have so much of it stuck in my head. Going into my third season in Bakersfield I built the media guide, doubling it in size like you can only do after a team has been around for four or five years. Then when Jeremy Zager came to town in 2006-07, he doubled its size again, and after my return I made some changes as well and it has to be as inclusive as any document in the entire ECHL for recording a team’s history. You can find it on the website in PDF form under the media tab. Check it out for reliving Condors history and maybe also learning more if you’re a newcomer to Condorstown.

2. Start the “potential players” spreadsheet. It’s a top secret document I do every year. Few people know about it. Nobody sees it. I probably shouldn’t even be talking about it, it’s that top secret. When the coach gives me a name of a player he’s spoken to over the summer, that player’s name goes on it. If he didn’t trust me to not share the names that are on the list, he’d probably stop telling me names, and that would literally ruin my entire summer.

There are five categories on it: Signed, Offers, Try-Out, Potential, and No. By July there are usually about 50 players on it, including the previous season’s guys. By late August you can somewhat tell where our strong points are going to be. By September there are twice as many guys in the ‘NO’ category than the ‘Signed’ category. Guys move around, from ‘potential’ to the ‘offers’, from ‘potential’ to ‘no’, from ‘offers’ to ‘signed’… But watching that list build, and even watching it come apart while players sign elsewhere, gives you a whole new perspective on putting a team together. It’s hard to swallow when a guy we had on that “Offers” list ends up scoring an overtime game winner against you three months later. You tend to remember that stuff.

1. Vacation. Yes, getting away from it all. Sometimes it’s just for the weekend, which isn’t really easy during the season either (see #4 on why I feel like I always have to at least be within cell/internet range). But it’s not every job that prevents you from taking a week off for more than half the year. Basically, from September until a few weeks after the end of the season, getting out of Dodge for a week isn’t really an option. Even just taking a four-day weekend for Thanksgiving isn’t an option. Christmas to visit family? In 13 years in this business I’ve enjoyed Christmas dinner with one of my parents only once, and right afterward I had to drive home seven hours through a blizzard to work the next day.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, I’m just saying when the vacation window opens during the off-season, it’s extra nice to fly through it, because it closes very quickly. And everyone needs to recharge their batteries. On the vaca wish list this summer: the city of my birth (Rochester, NY), Florida to visit the old man, and I’ve never been to Sacramento. I shall like to visit and give the folks in the capitol building a piece of my mind. I’ve also never been to the aquarium in Monterrey. I enjoy a nicely put together fish tank. And I would also like to go off the grid to the mountains once or twice, and maybe dip my toes in the Pacific on several occasions.

Ahhhh yes… the off-season is here, and it isn’t all bad.

Kevin Bartl is the Vice President of Communications and part of the broadcast team for the Condors, entering his 10th season with the team. His blog comes out every Tuesday, or whenever he feels like it. For not-always-hockey-related thoughts, follow him on twitter @KevinBartl.

Part of my job, and a good chunk of my off season duties is community relations. This includes everything from scheduling appearances with the mascots, attending school events, and bringing players to charitable causes. I love doing it, because being far away from home (I’ll let you look up how many miles it is to Weymouth, Mass.) it gives me the chance to see Condorstown, meet people, and get a feel for the “West Coast.”

On a recent appearance at Stone Creek Junior High students asked me what the best part of my job is and the answer was easy: the travel. Getting to go around the country, do what I love to do, and get paid to do it? That’s a no-brainer. It even made the 21-hour bus rides from Corpus Christi, Texas to Topeka, Kansas bearable two seasons ago.

But the question got me thinking about the seven new cities I got the chance to spend some time in this year on the road and figured that I might as well rank them. I know that many of you have visited these cities, so sound off and tweet to me (@BroadcastHolt) with what you think of the list.

Without further ado, here are the top ECHL Western Conference cities in order:

1. Ft. Collins/Loveland, Colo. (Colorado Eagles) – If you’re looking for a good road trip next season, I suggest you make this one. Place is flat out awesome. Aside from the fact that the team hotel is 20 min. away from the rink, Ft. Collins is a college town that has everything that you could be looking for, other than say a beach. Most of what we do on the road revolves around restaurants and the area has some great ones including Panino’s (Italian) and Suh (Sushi) right across from the hotel. The scenery is great with the mountains surrounding the area and the place just screams hockey. Add into the fact that they fill their arena, and you have a great road trip destination.
2. Anchorage, AK (Alaska Aces) – Never in my life would I ever think I would step foot in Alaska. It’s an ALL DAY flight even from Bakersfield. But, once you get up there (we take a bus to LAX and then make a pit stop in Seattle), you’ll be amazed at what you find. The downtown is great if you can navigate through the snow banks and you’re right on the water, which can make walking around at night pretty windy. But, one of the best memories of the road was back in the first week of November, after Matt Keetley and the team shutout the Aces, we had a big dinner the next night at the Glacier Brewhouse where we ate like kings. Anchorage is just a fun spot to be and the people are friendly. There’s just not a lot of sunlight!
3. Boise, ID (Idaho Steelheads) – Listen, Boise would have been number one on my list. It’s fantastic. I can remember walking around on a Saturday afternoon, sun shining, everyone outside at the many downtown restaurants with outdoor seating, and it just feeling like a great spot to be. But, I can’t put it number one. Coaches O’Dette, Barrett, and I made a return trip to this place called Flatbread, probably because the tomato basil soup was the best thing I had eaten on any road trip. But, we got there, they seated us, and we sat for 15 minutes without anyone coming over to wait on us. We got up and left. It’s stuck with me ever since. Shame on you, Boise.
4. West Valley City, Utah (Utah Grizzlies) – When you go to a place as often as we went to Utah this year (13 nights) you begin to get an appreciation for the place. It’s where we spent New Year’s Eve and a place where we had a lot of success on the ice. We only ventured to Salt Lake City once, but much like Colorado, the atmosphere and scenery are great. But, my enjoyment of Utah is the rink, with the history of having held an Olympic hockey final in 2002. (Great game, watch the highlights here) … For that alone, you can get the #4 spot on my list.
5. Las Vegas, Nev. (Las Vegas Wranglers) – Now you’re thinking “Woah, Holty, you’ve lost it, I’m not reading any more of this garbage,” but hear me out. Vegas is a great place, no doubt. But it’s not the kind of place that you need to go to over and over during the course of a season. Once is great. Twice is alright. But by the fourth trip you’ve had enough of your suits smelling like cigarette smoke from having to walk through the casino to get to the rink.
6. Ontario, Calif. (Ontario Reign) – I called my very first ECHL game in this building, but even on that day, I said to Bartl that something didn’t sit right with this place for me. We only really made day trips, aside from New Year’s Day where we spent a night, so most of the distaste for the place comes from the rink. It’s not that it’s hostile or anything there. But, there are roughly 3 million orange cones that have to be moved before our bus can enter (Sammy the bus driver knocked over most of them), the traffic is terrible, and we didn’t have much success there this year despite opening the season with a win. I’m sure it’s a nice place, it’s just not “LA” like I had thought before moving out to the West Coast.
7. Stockton, Calif. (Stockton Thunder) – This comes as no surprise. Upon arriving in Condorstown, two things were clear to me. Bakersfield had the best fans and under no circumstances was I to like anything about Stockton. The latter wasn’t hard. Safe to say, Bakersfield owns the Central Valley compared to Stockton. Include the fact that the host hotel is closer to Rabobank Arena than Stockton Arena and it’s just not a fun place to be. Except of course when we’re winning there, which we did more often than not this season.

I hope you enjoyed round one of the blog. Have an idea or topic you’d like me to write about? Tweet me (@BroadcastHolt) or email me (rholt@bakersfieldcondors.com). Until next Thursday #Condorstown…

Ryan Holt is the Manager of Media Relations and Broadcasting with the Condors and just completed his first season in Condorstown. He loves every minute of it.

5. How’s my ECHL Kelly Cup Playoff Bracket? It’s looking pretty good, although it has a couple glitches in it.

I didn’t anticipate Las Vegas slicing through Utah like a hot knife through butter, though, and now that they’re getting players back I’m a little weary of their resurgence. Heading into the post-season, I was under the impression that their record this season was pretty much smoke-and-mirrors.

Color me shocked as well that Stockton stole a game away from Alaska on the road over the weekend. I still have the Aces dispatching with the Thunder en route to the Conference Finals. They are my pick to win it, over South Carolina in the final.

But the big surprise for me was the debacle of Ontario losing to Idaho in Round 1. They were the best team in the conference, maybe even the league, in the second half of the season. I had them advancing to the Western Conference Finals against the Aces. Oops.

I also have South Carolina over Kalamazoo (Wings lead 2-0), Elmira over Florida (1-1) out east.

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4. Is everything spiraling out of control in the NHL playoffs because Brendan Shanahan didn’t suspend Shea Weber for his face-slam in Game 1? I submit yes.

Some of the stuff that’s been happening in other series is ridiculous, and it’s all because there was no punishment for Weber. Here’s why: everybody in the hockey universe saw that play. Everybody collectively had the same reaction to it. And when it was announced that he was only fined pocket change and not even suspended for a single game, everybody – fans, players, coaches, referees, general managers – everybody thought “Oh well, I guess this is the playoffs.”

My guess is if Weber had gotten five games, which I believe he should have, Matt Carkner probably doesn’t jump Brian Boyle as he did in the Rangers/Senators series. And then the list goes on and on. If Weber is hammered with five games, the players know if they act up, they’re out. (more on that below)

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3. Is this the first instance in the history of mankind in which a person can repeatedly punch a man in the face while he’s on his back practically defenseless, and then 15 seconds later is referred to as “classy”?

The classy thing is not to climb on top of him while he’s down and beat him in the face, but that’s what the UFC is about – the ultra-violent. Within the rules of this sport, I suppose you could say it was “sportsmanlike”, but only in a twisted version of reality can it be considered “classy”.

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2. Is the Condors front office still employed during the summer? Yes!!! We live here, we work here, all year ’round.

At the risk of sounding sarcastic, we don’t just open the doors an hour before a game and have 6,000 people file through the turnstiles. We sell season tickets and group outings and corporate partnerships all summer, there’s a schedule and team travel to work on, phone calls and orders need to be placed for promotional nights, and countless community appearances to work on, among other things.

Actually, those community appearances aren’t countless… We know for a fact there are 16 of them in the month of April alone, and already eight scheduled for May. Having a non-profit event? Call us at 324-PUCK to see what we can do to help.

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1. Are hockey suspensions are a joke? YES, they are a joke. A big, fat, glaringly not-funny joke. A player takes an illegal hit to the head that sidelines him for a month, and the offender gets 2 games. What’s TWO GAMES do? Nothing. Instead of calling that a suspension they should call that a vacation. That’s one-1/40th of the season in the NHL. It’s 1/36th in the ECHL.

In the NFL, when they give you two games for a headshot, that’s 1/8th of the season. That’s the equivalent of a 10-game suspension… for one hit to the head that injures an opponent. In baseball, they suspended Manny Ramirez 50 games for violating the PED policy. 50 games!! That’s a 25 games suspension in the NHL, and he didn’t even do anything violent to another player during a game. The NFL suspends people for things they do off the field. ECHL players don’t even get more than 1/79th of a season for Intent to Injure. By the way, that, by definition, means he actually intended to injure somebody… on purpose… not even accidentally… he tried to injure someone on purpose.

Only in hockey do you get multiple offenders – guys who are suspended multiple times in a single season. Some of them are multiple offenders in multiple seasons. Why is that? Are there no really bad individuals playing other sports? Of course not, it’s because hockey suspensions are a joke. It wouldn’t be possible to be suspended four times in a season in the ECHL if each time it was for eight or 12 games. A team would just release you if you were that stupid. They wouldn’t even wait around for you to clear suspension. That would change the culture in hockey, quickly. But that’s OK, teams will just continue to fork over millions of dollars in workers comp payments repeatedly because of cheap shots until they go broke and fold, because players roam the ice taking liberties, fearing nothing for retribution from their respective league, spearing people, elbowing guys to the head, hitting them from behind. (But hey, that’s entertainment right UFC?)

The Condors lost four players to concussion on headshots this season, and the offenders COMBINED for two games in suspension time. That’s it.

Back to Shea Weber of the Predators. This hit earned him no suspension and a $2,500 fine. He makes $7.5 million a year. I’m pretty sure if I walked outside and grabbed a stranger and did that to him I’d get fined more than that by the state of California.

A suspension is a suspension. It’s supposed to penalize players with the intent of altering behavior. Giving someone a weekend off isn’t a punishment, and isn’t altering behavior. It just means they don’t have to spend a weekend riding the bus for eight or ten hours, they can stay home and play video games and drink beer.

Kevin Bartl is the Vice President of Communications with the Condors and part of the broadcast team, entering his tenth season with the team.

… and turn them out, they did. Not only are the lights turned off but the ice is melting as you are reading this. Just like that another season comes screeching to a halt. Oh, there’s the party tonight, and there are a few days in which the players will be here before they shuffle off to their non-Bakersfield residences across the map. I’ll have to do walk-thoughs at the apartments, discovering which players apartments were the party headquarters. We’ll have to have the furniture picked up and pay the final bills. And then the paperwork begins.

How did the budget look this season? What can be done differently next season? Season-ending press releases. Tweaks to the website. Delve into the media guide. Find out what records have been broken, where guys rank on the all-time lists, etc.

In a season that featured so many new faces in prominent roles, I’m looking forward to hearing the fans’ reaction to off-season maneuvers. I’m interested to know who they want to see back.

I’m interested because it’s interesting to me to think that on a team that finished 16 points out of a playoff spot, most fans – and myself, for that matter – would like to see much of the team back.

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I will have more on the team’s tremendous finish at a later date, but make no mistake, it was a tremendous finish considering where this team was standing, 47 games into the season. Sometimes in life, a journey’s end point is more impressive in considering where you started. Here are a couple stat lines to make you think a bit.

The resurgence of this team started in the win/loss column on February 8 (the final 25 games). Six of the top eight scorers on the team during that time were rookies. Only two players that finished the season with the team were a ‘minus’ during that time.

Five players remarkably scored double-digit goal totals from that point on. Five. Think about that – 25 games is roughly a third of the season. That means 30 goals over the course of a full year. In the first two-thirds of the season, only four players had double-digit goal totals.

Ten players had at least 10 points. 47 games into the season, only 13 players on the team had 10 points.

Only seven teams had more points in the entire league than the Condors did from February 8th on. In 25 games they gained 30 points in the standings, remarkable when considering that through 47 games, the Condors had just 25.

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That’s all I have for this morning. Both Ryan Holt and I will be blogging throughout the summer. So stay tuned!

Kevin Bartl is the Vice President of Communications for the Condors and part of the broadcast team, who just wrapped up his ninth season with the team.