By: Brent Maranto

The last time the Bakersfield Jr. Condors invaded Valencia, they played what many would consider their best game of the season and carried on to rout the Flyers 8-0.

Since that game on December 11, the Flyers and Jr. Condors have gone in completely opposite directions. Bakersfield has gone 1-11-1 in its 13 games since and at the other end of the spectrum the Flyers turned it up on their way to a 10-3 record.

Both teams came together on Friday night in Valencia and battled it out in yet another close contest. Each squad knows each other well, as their latest affair marked the eighth time they have met this season; with one game still remaining.

Taylor Nelson got a rare start between the pipes for the Flyers after impressing in relief work the previous Saturday in Long Beach. Michael Pittman, who continually has stood on his head, once again got the nod for visiting Bakersfield.

Early on both goaltenders played well while facing limited shots, as neither team was able to muster a ton of offense in the first half of the opening period.

With 6:58 left in the first period, the Jr. Condors struck first as AJ Ramirez notched his eighth of the year on a harmless looking shot.

At the end of a long shift Ramirez took an outlet pass from Jay Cochran and skated over the red line, where he faced two Flyers’ defensemen. Ramirez was just trying to get the puck in deep as he wound up for a slap shot a step outside of the Valencia blue line. His shot deflected off a Flyers’ stick on its way in and popped up and over Taylor Nelson, who had already dropped to his knees in anticipation of stopping the low shot. The puck found its way into the net and gave Bakersfield the 1-0 lead on a freak goal.

No more scoring would occur in the opening period, as the two teams went back and forth for most of the first twenty minutes.

A bright spot for the Flyers in the opening stanza was the strong play of their penalty kill. Led by Kyle Schwartz and Stephen Stoll, the Flyers allowed only one shot and zero scoring chances on two first period Bakersfield power play attempts.

The Flyers did not have a power play of their own in the first, but managed to out-shoot Bakersfield 9-6, as both teams tallied two scoring chances in the first period.

Valencia picked up the pace in the second and started to give Michael Pittman the workload he has become accustomed to. The power play created chances early on, and cleaner break-outs and transitions put the Jr. Condors on their heels for the first ten minutes of the period.

Sure enough the pressure worked as Thomas Meinhardt buried his 14 goal of the season just 9:32 into the middle stanza.

Big Todd Graham has been effective in jumping up into the rush as of late and it proved golden once more, as he won a foot race to a loose puck in the Bakersfield corner. Graham wasted no time in sliding a pass across, which was intended for Stephen Stoll, but found the blade of Meinhardt at the bottom of the far circle, who beat Pittman to knot the game at one.

One of the two forwards making their Flyers debut, Zach Wallace notched his first ever point as a Flyer on the goal. Wallace, who played on the top line alongside Stoll and Meinhardt and logged big time minutes all evening garnered the secondary assist, as Graham received the primary.

Things calmed down late in the period, as the buzzer sounded to end the second with the game tied up at one. The Flyers pulled away in shots in the second, tallying 11 to lead 20-11 over the first two periods. Valencia had four scoring chances in the second as Bakersfield once again notched just two.

The Flyers seemed to slow up a bit in the third period, and allow Bakersfield to play a dump and chase game that proved to be decently successful.

Just as Valencia was beginning to slow things down and get back to their game, Stephen Stoll took an incidental high sticking penalty and put Bakersfield back on the man advantage with 9 minutes left in regulation.

Sure enough another AJ Ramirez slap shot from the blue line found its way through traffic and past Taylor Nelson to once again give the Jr. Condors the lead. Ramirez’ second of the game and ninth of the season came off an assist from Matt Butler at 12:25 of the period.

Stoll would soon after redeem himself, tallying a power play marker for himself about four minutes later to tie the game once more.

Near the end of a power play that had failed to produce much offense, Zach Wallace knocked down a Bakersfield clearing attempt and picked up the puck just over the offensive blue line. Wallace found the puck in his feet and slid it over to Stoll who one-timed the puck past Michael Pittman from the slot for his 11th goal of the season.

Wallace continued to impress with his second assist of the night and Thomas Meinhardt picked up his second point of the game with the secondary assist. The goal gives Stephen Stoll points in ten of his last eleven games and puts him into third in team scoring tied with the aforementioned Meinhardt.

The Flyers had chances late in the period as they were able to flurry the last two minutes of the game, but Pittman stood strong and took the game into overtime.

In the third the Flyers once again out-shot Bakersfield 12-10 and out-chanced the visitors 7-4, but were heading to their third overtime in four games.

The Flyers continued the pressure in overtime as Pittman was forced to make a handful of big saves, including a breakaway stop on Bryan Fiol.

The Flyers notched six shots in the five-minute overtime period, as Bakersfield failed to get one. For the game Valencia led in shots 38-21 and out-chanced the Jr. Condors 15-8. Each team put up one power play marker, with Bakersfield converting on one of four, and the Flyers one of three opportunities.

A five round shootout would be next and the Flyers could have really used Harout Keshishian, one of the better one-on-one players on the team. Keshishian was forced to sit out the contest due to a game misconduct he received for a so-called “fight” the weekend before against Long Beach.

Both teams elected to stay with their starting net-minders as Nelson and Pittman would battle it out for five more shooters.

Bakersfield as the visiting team shot first and went with Matt Butler, who shot wide of Nelson who out-waited the Bakersfield forward.

David Tagvoryan shot first for the Flyers and put on a stick-handling clinic. The Flyers’ leading scorer stick handled in on Pittman and smoothly went to his backhand, which went off the cross bar and in, making it 1-0 Valencia. The move was a thing of beauty and would make some NHLer’s jealous. Pittman actually played the move perfectly, sliding from his left to his right but the shot placement was perfect.

Tyler Giulietti was next up for Bakersfield and shot the puck right into the logo on Nelson’s chest as the Jr. Condors remained scoreless through two rounds.

John Dove, who scored a week prior in a shootout against Long Beach, could not get his wrist shot to beat Pittman to end the second round.

AJ Ramirez, who scored both Bakersfield goals in regulation, continued to kill the Flyers as he out-waited Nelson and went upstairs to tie it up at one.

Coach Bill Muckalt continued to show confidence in the rookie Zach Wallace, as he shot third for the home team. Wallace, another good stick-handler, had Pittman down and out but could not get the puck to slide into the net and put it just wide.

Brandon Bullett got the nod in the fourth round for Bakersfield. The pugilist is more known for his fighting than his scoring, but the league leader in penalty minutes had a chance to give the Jr. Condors the lead.

The left handed shot forward placed a nice wrist shot over the pad and under the blocker of Nelson to make it 2-1 Bakersfield.

Stephen Stoll’s backhand attempt was foiled by Pittman to end the fourth round with Bakersfield still leading.

RJ Preisser had the chance to win it in the fifth round for the Jr. Condors but their leading scorer missed the net by a mile.

To extend the shootout Thomas Meinhardt was the Flyers last gasp in the fifth round.

Meinhardt broke in and faked backhand before pulling it back to his forehand, but Pittman stuck with him and made the save to give Bakersfield the 3-2 shootout win.

The win gives Bakersfield seven on the season, three of which have come against the Flyers. Pittman took the win and moved his record to 7-20-2, but don’t let the record fool you, he’s faced over 1,100 shots on the season and has kept his team in games they should not be in.

The shootout loss hurts the Flyers, combined with San Diego wins in Peoria over the Arizona RedHawks on Friday and Saturday night. Valencia now is now ten points back of the Gulls for the fourth and final playoff spot, with just nine games remaining in the regular season.

Nelson played very well but was the loser in the shootout, as his record now stands at 0-2-1, but with the best goals against average and save percentage on the team.

The Flyers venture out for their last road trip of the year, as they take on the second place Idaho Jr. Steelheads next Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Be sure to check out Valenciaflyers.net during the trip, as we will have live blogging, up to the minute game stories, pictures from the road and much more.

After the three game set in Idaho, the Flyers return home for the final six regular season games of the season, as they look to catch fire and jump into the postseason.

The Flyers return home on Friday, February 12 for two games with the Arizona RedHawks, with a Saturday affair with Bakersfield sandwiched in between.

The next weekend, February 19-21, the Flyers take on Phoenix twice and the league-leading Fresno Monsters once.

Be sure to check out Valenciaflyers.net as all games will be webcast live, starting 15 minutes prior to faceoff with the pre-game show.