Bakersfield Condors (ECHL)

Bakersfield Condors
founding	1998
resolution	2015
history	Bakersfield Fog 1995–1998 Bakersfield Condors 1998–2015 Norfolk Admirals since 2015
Stadion	Rabobank Arena
Location	Bakersfield , California
Team colors	maroon, light brown, black, white, gray, green
league	ECHL
Conference	Western Conference
division	Pacific Division
Cooperations	Edmonton Oilers ( NHL ) Oklahoma City Barons ( AHL )

The Bakersfield Condors were an American ice hockey franchise based in Bakersfield , California . It played from 1998 to 2015 at minor league level in the ECHL .

history

Ice hockey at Bakersfield

Ice hockey entered Bakersfield in 1940 with the Bakersfield Oilers , who were the college team of the University of Southern California . But after only three years the game was stopped due to the Second World War and only with the Bakersfield Kernels from the Southern California Hockey League there was an ice hockey team in the city again. The Kernels earned the dubious reputation of being the league's bad boys and their goalkeeper led them in penalty minutes. But even the kernels could only last for three years and were dissolved in 1963.

Almost 30 years later there was a fresh start for ice hockey in Bakersfield. A new team under the name of the former college team Bakersfield Oilers entered the semi-professional Pacific Southwest Hockey League and the interest of the fans was so great that the team owners applied for a place in the newly formed West Coast Hockey League .

The Bakersfield Condors in action against the Las Vegas Wranglers

Establishment in professional sport

In 1995 the team finally made their debut in the WCHL under the name Bakersfield Fog. In the first three seasons, the team was trained by Keith Gretzky , a younger brother of Wayne Gretzky . Under him, the team showed fluctuating performance, but could reach the playoffs twice . The best player at the time was Steve Dowhy, who had 310 points in 184 games for Bakersfield.

There were many changes in 1998. The team was renamed Bakersfield Condors, Kevin MacDonald replaced Gretzky as coach and the team moved to the new Bakersfield Centennial Garden, which is now called the Rabobank Arena . Despite the changes in the team's environment, it could not improve in the following years. In the three seasons under coach MacDonald, the Condors never reached the mark of 30 wins in 70 or 72 season games.

In 2001 Paul Kelly became the new coach in Bakersfield and he also improved the team's performance. In 2001/02 they had the second best season in their history and the following year they even set a franchise record with 41 wins . The guarantee for success was goalkeeper Kevin St. Pierre , who was named MVP and best goalkeeper of the regular season.

In the summer of 2003, the WCHL merged with the higher-class ECHL . Paul Kelly led the Condors in the first season in the new league, but he was replaced due to poor performance by Marty Raymond towards the end of the season. The coaching change had an effect the following year and in the next three seasons the team won at least 40 of the 72 season games and made it to the second round of the play-offs twice. In the 2007/08 season, the Condors stumbled, but were still able to qualify for the play-offs.

In 2008 the Bakersfield Condors signed a cooperation agreement with the Anaheim Ducks from the NHL and acted together with the Iowa Chops from the AHL as their farm team . In July 2010, the collaboration with the Ducks was ended. For the 2010/11 season there was a collaboration with the Minnesota Wild .

In September 2012, the Bakersfield Condors submitted to the Canadian pop - and Contemporary R & B - singer , songwriter and actor Justin Bieber a contract offer for the 2012/13 season .

In January 2015 it was announced that the team was moving to Norfolk for the 2015/16 season to operate as Norfolk Admirals from then on. The reason is that the American Hockey League undertook a major restructuring , as part of which the Oklahoma City Barons moved to Bakersfield to operate a new AHL team there. As a result, the Condors from the ECHL took over the identity of the Norfolk Admirals from the AHL, who were also relocated.

Season statistics

season	league	division	GP	W.	L.	T	OTL	SOL	Pts	GF	GA	PIM	Playoffs
1995-1996	WCHL	WCHL	58	24	29	0	5	0	53	271	323	1439	not qualified
1996-1997	WCHL	WCHL	64	33	26th	0	5	0	71	345	325	2061	Eliminated in round 1
1997-1998	WCHL	WCHLS	64	22nd	37	0	5	0	49	226	230	1949	Eliminated in round 1
1998-1999	WCHL	WCHLS	70	21st	40	0	9	0	51	213	308	2010	Eliminated in round 1
1999-2000	WCHL	WCHLS	72	24	39	0	9	0	57	244	272	2343	Eliminated in round 1
2000-01	WCHL	WCHLS	72	29	36	0	10	0	68	220	273	2147	Eliminated in round 1
2001-02	WCHL	WCHLS	72	32	35	0	5	0	69	213	237	1377	Eliminated in round 1
2002-03	WCHL	WCHL	72	41	22nd	0	9	0	91	253	186	1625	Eliminated in round 1
2003-04	ECHL	Pacific	72	25th	38	9	0	0	59	201	236	1750	not qualified
2004-05	ECHL	west	72	40	22nd	10	0	0	90	232	205	1691	Eliminated in round 1
2005-06	ECHL	Pacific	72	40	26th	6th	0	0	86	221	222	1814	Eliminated in round 2
2006-07	ECHL	Pacific	72	41	19th	0	3	9	94	270	236	1556	Eliminated in round 2
2007-08	ECHL	Pacific	72	26th	37	0	2	7th	61	230	280	1772	Eliminated in round 1
2008-09	ECHL	Pacific	72	33	31	0	3	5	74	246	263	1250	Eliminated in round 1
2009-10	ECHL	Pacific	72	38	29	0	4th	1	81	232	243	1273	Eliminated in round 2
2010-11	ECHL	Pacific	72	41	27	0	2	2	86	222	210	1528	Eliminated in round 1
2011-12	ECHL	Pacific	72	24	41	0	4th	3	55	199	241	1356	not qualified
total			1192	541	524	39	80	27	1209	4048	4420	25911

Abbreviations: GP = games, W = wins, L = defeats, T = draws, OTL = defeats after overtime , SOL = defeats after shootout , Pts = points, GF = goals scored, GA = goals conceded, PIM = penalty minutes

Later NHL players

• C Connor James (2004-05) played two games in the NHL for the Los Angeles Kings in the 2005-06 season
• G Yutaka Fukufuji (2004–05) was appointed to the Los Angeles Kings roster on December 15, 2006. On January 13, 2007, he became the first Japanese-born NHL player.

Special events

On January 11, 2003, Danielle Dubé was the first woman on the ice for the Bakersfield Condors. Dubé guarded the goal in a game against the Anchorage Aces , which the Condors won 6-4. The Canadian goalkeeper had already been on the ice in 16 games at WCHL league competitor Long Beach Ice Dogs the year before .

Blocked shirt numbers

• 16 Paul Willett
• 17 Paul Rosebush
• 26 Glen Mears
• 28 Jamie Cooke
• 74 Steve Dowhy

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ducks to get new ECHL partner ( Memento of the original from July 15, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ oursportscentral.com, Condors country NHL affiliation with Minnesota Wild in 2010-11
3. ^ Condors Offer Contract to Justin Bieber . bakersfieldcondors.com. Retrieved September 14, 2012.

Web links

Commons : Bakersfield Condors  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Bakersfield Condors at hockeydb.com