Bear of a night for Condors
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1 of 10By Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian
Condors & Teddy Bear Toss Almost a dog pile, trying get to the puck, and #12 of the Condors Jacob Lagace did for the first score of the game.
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2 of 10By Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian
Condors & Teddy Bear Toss Condors #12 Jacob Lagace collides with Ontario's #4 Brock Sheahan.
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3 of 10
By Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian
Condors & Teddy Bear Toss It took everyone avaiable to pick up all the stuffed animals tossed onto the ice. About four minutes in the first period the Condors struck first with a goal to start off the annual Teddy Bear Toss. Over 73,000. stuff animals have been collected.
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4 of 10
By Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian
Condors & Teddy Bear Toss An unidentified spectator tosses in a teddy bear, About four minutes in the first period the Condors struck first with a goal to start off the annual Teddy Bear Toss. Over 73,000. stuff animals have been collected.
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5 of 10
By Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian
Condors & Teddy Bear Toss An unidentified spectator raises a young hockey fan to toss a teddy bear. In record time about four minutes in the first period the Condors struck first with a goal to start off the annual Teddy Bear Toss. Over 73,000. stuff animals have been collected.
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6 of 10
By Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian
Condors & Teddy Bear Toss In record time about four minutes in the first period the Condors struck first with a goal to start off the annual Teddy Bear Toss. Over 73,000. stuff animals have been collected.
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7 of 10
By Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian
Condors & Teddy Bear Toss In record time about four minutes in the first period the Condors struck first with a goal to start off the annual Teddy Bear Toss. Over 73,000. stuff animals have been collected.
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8 of 10
By Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian
Condors & Teddy Bear Toss #10 Peter Boyd takes a spill in the first period.
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9 of 10
By Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian
Condors & Teddy Bear Toss Condor's #7 Tyson Gimblett dukes it out with Ontario's #41 David Starenky.
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10 of 10
By Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian
Condors & Teddy Bear Toss Condor's #7 Tyson Gimblett dukes it out with Ontario's #4 Brock Sheahan.
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BY MIKE GRIFFITH Californian staff writer mgriffith@bakersfield.com
The fastest goal in Teddy Bear Toss history -- by Evan Trupp 73 seconds into the game -- pumped up a crowd of 8,388 on Saturday night at Rabobank Arena and with six minutes left in the period the Condors had a 3-1 lead.
Then reality set in.
The Ontario Reign scored six straight goals and went on to a 7-3 victory, handing the Condors (5-11-1-2) their fifth straight loss.
By the time the collapse was complete, Ontario's C.J. Stretch had amassed four goals and the Condors had been outshot 31-18. The 18 shots tied a season low for Bakersfield, set Tuesday in a 4-2 loss to San Francisco.
On Tuesday, Condors coach Matt O'Dette was incensed with what he said was a lack of effort. He wasn't saying that Saturday.
"We didn't sustain the good start," he said. "We had some jump, some energy and they worked up, essentially. That's a good team over there. They're strong and fast. They just took over from there. Turned it on and outworked us. Plain and simple.
"Some of our guys are outmatched against some of theirs and that needs to be addressed."
By the time the second period started the Reign had tied the game 3-3 and the Condors became totally ineffective.
Stretch scored his second goal midway through the period and five minutes later the Reign were up 5-3 on a goal by Dan DaSilva. Bakersfield managed just three shots on goal in the period.
"They snuffed us out pretty good," O'Dette said. "We needed to keep it simple to get into their zone and generate our chances and we didn't get in there to get to work and do what we wanted to do.
"It's a good team. We didn't do enough to generate those things."
Stretch completed his hat trick 32 seconds into the third period and finished the scoring with his fourth goal four minutes later.
Trupp's goal 1:13 into the game hyped up the crowd and set the tone for a wild period, which ended with six goals on 17 shots and a fight with some hair-pulling for good measure.
Ontario evened the game at the six-minute mark on Stretch's first goal.
The Condors got the crowd going again at 11:08 when Jacob Lagace pushed the puck past Chris Carrozzi after a flurry of shots on a power play. Just over two minutes later, the Condors had a two-goal lead as Zach Cohen scored his first goal in 13 games after a steal and pass by David Towes.
Then the wheels starts to come off.
Ontario's Brodie Sheahan scored just a minute after Cohen's goal and then the L.A. King's Kyle Clifford -- playing in Ontario due to the lockout -- made his presence known.
Clifford, whose role as a fourth-liner with the Kings is as a tough guy, stole the puck behind the Condors' goal, skated out front and scored to put the Reign up 4-3 at 16:47. It was the first goal for Clifford, who was playing in his second ECHL game.
Tyson Gimblett and David Starenky dropped the gloves with three minutes left, and late in the lengthy fight, Starenky grabbed a handful of Gimblett's hair, netting him an automatic game misconduct penalty.
Sadly for the Condors, that was the last of their effort on a night that started with so much hope.
Notes
The Condors were playing without captain Levi Nelson, who was a healthy scratch.
The Condors have nearly a full week off, returning to action on Friday night against the Alaska Aces at Rabobank Arena. It is the only regular-season game for the Aces in Bakersfield.
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