5 Questions (Bartl’s Blog)

Condors Broadcaster Kevin Bartl chimes in with five questions for a random Tuesday in May…

5. What’s with the obsession with leaf blowers around town? Despite the fact that Bakersfield is no haven for deciduous trees, leaf blowers are a mainstay for landscapers and just about anybody that has to clean anything around town. This is without a doubt the laziest cleaning invention ever, especially in it’s current use.

Last week I chastised the “landscape” crew at the house next to me (I use that term loosely, as that house has only a dusty front porch and a front lawn to mow) for literally blowing all the filth from their front porch into my driveway. In a town that perennially is voted having the worst air quality in the country, we actually PAY people to make our air filthier. If no single speck of dust ever fell on Bakersfield ground again, we would still be filthy because we just continue to blow the same pile of dust all over the city.

There are no leaves on the front porch, you moron, get a broom and sweep it into a dustpan and put it in a bag! Don’t blow it all up into the air so we have to breathe it, and DO NOT blow it onto my house. It goes right through my screens and into my bedroom.

4. Is this one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen a Finn do? Yes. Wonder if he was perhaps celebrating a little too excessively on the plane.

3. Why do I love the Green Men? I think it’s because the first time I saw them, I thought it was a joke. That couldn’t really be happening at an NHL game. People wouldn’t really spend that much money on season tickets only to wear a giant green stocking over their faces the whole game, making it impossible to see the actual game, only so they could taunt opposing players.

And after all this time, they still crack me up. They’re so weird. Watching them and their outlandishness hits a nerve in me, like every time I see that Michael Myers mask in Halloween movies. It’s a little creepy.

The Green Men are so bizarre, so out-of-place, so…… GREEN, that you can’t help but admire their bold originality and their Will To Be Weird. They and Ryan Kesler, are my only two things (I guess three things) that I like about the Vancouver Canucks. Go Sharks.

2. How terrible are the Aces? Can you believe they actually allowed two goals in Game 2 of the finals against the K-Wings? I mean, I know they won but that’s embarrassing…

On their inexplicable run of 10-0 in the Kelly Cup Playoffs this season, which is the second longest playoff winning streak in ECHL history (11 games, Richmond, 1999), they surrendered more than two goals in a single game only once, and gave up one or less goals six times, including three shutouts.

In their four-game sweep of Idaho in Round 2 (remember they had a bye in the first round), they gave up two TOTAL goals in four games, setting a new ECHL record. By the way the Steelheads mark of futility broke an old record that was shared by the Condors (three goals in 2007), set against Alaska, and matched in 2009 by Las Vegas, against…. you guessed it, Alaska. Victoria managed eight goals in their four-game sweep, including a whopping three goals in Game 2 of that series.

The record for fewest losses in a single playoff year is two, accomplished three times. Games 3 and 4 are in Kalamazoo Wednesday and Friday, with Game 5, if necessary on Saturday.

1. What was the highest +/- for a single game in Bakersfield history? Jason MacIntyre, who somehow managed a +10 in a 13-0 victory over the Alaska Gold Kings on Nov. 15, 1996.

One of my favorite things every off-season is updating the Condors record book. I am always being reminded of former names and stats and records that I may not have seen for several years. That one always jumps off the page at me. I was reminded of it last Sunday by an Adult League teammate of mine (who shall remain nameless), when he commented on his -9 he took in a game last season. +/- is one of those stats: sometimes it’s deserved, sometimes it’s not – both positively and negatively.

MacIntyre was a defenseman who played just one season for the Fog, recording 21 points (3g-18a) in 41 games. His great fortune of being on the ice for at least 10 goals can never be verified since there isn’t any video of the game anywhere, and even the box score is lost to trashbin of history. I do know that he has less than seven points in the game, which is the Condors/Fog single game record. But considering power play goals don’t count in +/- calculations, he might have actually been on the ice for more than 10 goals. We’ll never know.

The second highest +/- ever recorded for Bakersfield is a +5, accomplished many times, making MacIntyre’s +10 not only highly impressive, but also one of those statistical anomalies that you have to wonder at whenever you see it.

Kevin Bartl is the VP of Communications for the Condors and part of the broadcast tandem. His blog comes out every Tuesday on BakersfieldCondors.com. Follow him on twitter @KevinBartl.