BAKERSFIELD, CA – This first round matchup looks to be a battle royal as these two teams have grown a strong dislike for each other over the past few years. The Condors and Wranglers have a history of physical battles that tend to boil over dating back to both teams entry into the ECHL. On paper these two teams look closely matched as the Wranglers came in below expectations this year and aren’t their usual dominating selves. The two teams finished just two points apart in the regular season standings (76-74 in Vegas’ favor).
Coaching – These two coaches have gone at it dating back to the WCHL when Glen Gulutzan was an assistant with Fresno and Marty Raymond was with Tucson and Phoenix before finally landing in the ECHL with Bakersfield. Gulutzan’s teams tend to be high-scoring and loaded with talent and some strong goaltending thrown in for good measure, this year the offense is off a bit and the roster has been unstable due to injuries and call ups. Raymond’s teams in Bakersfield have tended to be workmanlike and have turned in some strong regular seasons but tend to underachieve in playoff situations. These two teams tend will clash on the physical front and they bring out the worst in each other. Both coaches can be fiery when provoked as well. Sparks will fly! Forwards – For the Condors Dave Bonk and Mark Derla go had their expected great seasons notching 82 and 77 points each. Chad Painchaud’s recent return from AHL Iowa will help bolster the troops as well as he averaged more than a point a game in his time with the Condors earlier this year. Matt Pope and Mike Wirll have both been above the point a game mark for the Condors this year. Bakersfield is offensively loaded for one of the few times in their history. Whether it will be enough to offset their, at times, shaky defense will be the story of the series.
The Wranglers had a huge loss late in the year after a huge brawl erupted against the Alaska Aces and the Wranglers lost Chris Ferraro to a broken leg for the remainder of the season and his brother Peter Ferraro was subsequently suspended for the remainder of the regular season and the playoffs for a spearing incident as he retaliated against the Aces Matt Stefanishion. Dan Reidel is the regular season scoring leader and will have to step it up in the playoffs. Rookie Kevin Devergilio has been hot since joining the team late in the season. The Wranglers will be looking for someone to step up and fill the skates of the missing Ferraros.
Defense – This is where the Condors struggled this year but they did improve significantly over the second half of the year. Their 263 goals against was the worst in the conference and it was partly due to goaltending issues but the Condors were struggling in their own end much of the year. Th e Wranglers fared much better, only giving up 195 and this is a striking factor between the two teams.
Goaltending – Yutaka Fukufuji will lead the Condors into the playoffs having staked out a firm position as the number one goaltender over Dave McKee. Fukufuji is at times brilliant but his inconsistency has kept him at the ECHL level the past few seasons.
‘Vegas has a pair of goaltenders who are both strong and have been consistently solid. John DeCaro ended the regular season with a .929 save percentage and Glenn Fisher finished with a .926.
Outlook – If defense wins playoff games and the regular season is an indicator look for the Wranglers to walk over the Condors in easy fashion. The wild card here is the regular season is over. The Condors come into the playoffs on a roll having gone 7-2-0-1 in their last ten games while the Wranglers were on a roller coaster ride all year long and had a 5-5 record over their last ten. The loss of the Ferraros is gong to be a big one for the Wranglers as they have had a huge leadership role on the team over the past two years. This one could go a full seven games of very physical hockey.
Contact mike.canady@prohockeynews.com.
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