The Bakersfield Condors only had one game the whole week so this is going to be a short update on the players that stood out. Fortunately, some good news came for some of the top Condors.
Call ups
With the all the great play by the Condors, the terrible play of the Edmonton Oilers and all of the Oilers injury, Raphael Lavoie, Sam Gagner, and James Hamblin got called up to play for the team. Philip Broberg got sent down to the AHL to play for the Condors.
Broberg sent down
It was unfortunate to see Philip Broberg sent down to the AHL but the move made sense. He needs to regain his confidence again and, to put it plainly, Broberg needs to start having fun again. In my opinion, I have no idea what Coach Jay Woodcroft was doing with him. He was suppose to be playing with Mattias Ekholm and, instead, Woodcroft decided to, yet again like last season, staple him to the bench and play seven minutes a night. I don’t know why Woodcroft did this. If he doesn’t want to use Broberg, send him down to the AHL earlier!
To get back on topic, Broberg’s first game with the Condors was fantastic. He was up in minutes in the top three with Cam Dineen and Ben Gleason, and he also registered an assist. He generated this assist by creating a beautiful breakout pass from the defensive zone up to the Condors players and the rush chance resulted in a goal for fellow Condor Adam Erne. He was solid in all aspects of the game and he is now getting power play time as well. It’s good to see him gaining some confidence back after a solid game with the Condors.
Bourgault thriving
This was the first game Bourgault played without Gagner and Lane Pederson since one got called up and the other got injured. In all fairness, he did not gain a point or a goal but Bourgault had a good game. He created chances for his line but, more importantly, he was good defensively for the team and his penalty killing was efficient. He was a little bit more quiet than the other games but that was to be expected.
Wanner making an impact
Max Wanner has continued his solid play. He has acquitted himself very nicely on the team and has brought a long his nastiness to his defensive work. He’s also been playing consistently on the top pair with Dineen. The breakout passing has been done very well by him. Usually when a defenceman from Junior comes up to the AHL, it is very fast for the player and he is not able to think as quick. But, for Wanner, it has been second nature to him and he’s been on par with all facets of the game so far. He’s been nasty and smart in the defensive zone and has not looked out of place in the offensive zone. I am keeping my eyes on him from the defensive core.
There are more games this week so we will see more activity in next weeks update!
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
