HOLTY’S BLOG: ON TO ONTARIO

It’s time to hit the road. The bus leaves at 1 p.m. and they’ll have no trouble leaving me, so let’s get to it!

You may want me to be late for the bus, and that’s fine, but as I’ll remind you, it’s my blog and I’ll do what I want.

Now for the blog…

Had rookie d-man Ryan Mantha on Condors Insider last night with the interview below. We chatted everything from being a rookie, to hunting and grilling. Take a listen:

Also on the show last night, I liked Tony Borgford’s line of “we have some things to tidy up, but there’s no panic here.”

It’s an accurate statement, because the team has been the better side in two of the three games thus far. They will need to be sharp though, because a desperate Ontario team (0-3) awaits tomorrow and Saturday for their first two home games of the season.

Speaking of Ontario, they’ve scored three goals in three games and are a much different looking team from the past two seasons. However, I’d be shocked if they don’t play well this weekend.

AHL On the Beat story on Caleb Jones and Ethan Bear. Give it a read, I know the author.

Condors will only have six d-men heading into the weekend as Mark Fayne, Keegan Lowe, and Ryan Stanton all remain out. However, the fact that nobody was signed this week from the ECHL (the Condors have nobody under contract in the ECHL) leads me to believe that one or two of the group above is close to returning. It’s very rare for the team to only have six d-men for any significant stretch of time.

Brad Malone became the 25th Condors player to play for both Bakersfield and Edmonton. He’s still with the club as the Oilers take on Chicago tonight. Leon Draisaitl and Drake Caggiula, who have been out of the lineup, are with the team on the trip, so hopefully everything will get back to full shortly

The Condors Charity Golf Classic is Monday at Rio Bravo Country Club. There is still time to sign up and golf with the team. Just give us a call at 324-PUCK (7825). If there’s one thing nearly all hockey players like to do outside of the rink, it’s playing golf. Should be a fun time.

All of this weekend’s action will be live on Fox Sports 970 and you can watch both games at the Padre Hotel. 

LOCK OF THE WEEK: Notre Dame and USC hasn’t been a relevant matchup for quite some time. What a game in South Bend Saturday. Notre Dame -3.5 easily.

Until next time Condorstown…

Ryan Holt aka Holty is in his 7th season with the Condors. He hasn’t decided on dinner tonight in the Inland Empire, but he’s sure it will be good. Follow him on Twitter @CondorsHolty for more nonsense or shoot him an e-mail to rholt@bakersfieldcondors.com with questions, comments or blog ideas.