There is not a single team the Valencia Flyers have faced more this season than the first-year Bakersfield Jr. Condors. Saturday night’s affair marked the ninth time in the regular season these two rivals have met, not to mention three pre-season contests to get the blood flowing earlier in the year. The lowly Jr. Condors have only seven wins for the year but three of those have come over the Flyers, including the last two clashes in Valencia. The Jr. Condors took the last two victories due in large part to quick starts, and again on Saturday they used a quick start to jump out to a lead in Valencia.

 

Bakersfield forward AJ Ramirez always tends to fare well against the Flyers, as he scored both goals in regulation and the shootout winner the last time the Jr. Condors were in town on January 29. Before that he had three assists in Bakersfield’s 8-0 domination of the Flyers in December and he kept it up on Saturday.

 

Ramirez took the puck over the Valencia blue line and let a long wrist shot go, that seemed to handcuff Andrew Lux and find the net just 2:47 in to make it 1-0 Bakersfield. The unassisted goal, Ramirez’ 14^th of the season, came on the Jr. Condors first shot of the night and took away from a fast start for Valencia.

 

Bakersfield mustered only eight shots in the opening twenty minutes, with only one coming from a scoring chance area but were able to keep the Flyers off the board. Michael Pittman played extremely well in net, as he normally does, and stopped all 23 first period shots he faced. Most of the shots were from scoring areas, as six of the 23 shots were considered grade “A” .Bakersfield did not lead in a single category after the first period, as the Flyers also led in hits 20-14, but the Jr. Condors led the only place it matters, 1-0.

 

The Flyers looked to come out and start the second period off right but a turnover by David Knowles led to another Bakersfield goal just 13 seconds into the period. Knowles’ outlet pass found the blade of Bakersfield forward Mike Conner right in front of Andrew Lux. Conner’s original shot was stopped by Lux but the rebound sat flat for Conner who made no mistake and buried his 10^th of the season. The unassisted goal seemed as if it were a major set back but may have done just the opposite as the Flyers really picked it up in the minutes to come.

 

With 18:48 left in the period John Dove took a stretch pass from Bryan Fiol and skated around the Bakersfield defense. Dove spun and sent a pass in the slot right onto the stick of David Tagvoryan who was streaking down the middle. Tagvoryan waited and snapped a wrister past Pittman to put the Flyers on the board, trailing 2-1. Tagvoryan’s 11^th of the season came from Fiol and Dove and was the start of three Valencia goals in less than two minutes.

 

59 seconds later, while on a 5-on-3 power play, Cameron Noland’s wrist shot through traffic found its way home to knot the game at two. Noland’s eighth goal of the season came off assists from Thomas Meinhardt and Todd Graham and left the Flyers with a while remaining on the one-man advantage.

 

Sure enough Valencia took advantage of the time, as newest Flyer James McGuirk notched his second goal in as many games with his new squad on a wrist shot from the bottom of the circle. The goal to give the Flyers’ their first lead of the night came with 16:43 left in the second period and was produced by Cam Noland and David Knowles.

 

Just when it looked like Valencia had gained full control of the momentum, Bakersfield struck to tie the game up less than a minute later. Matt Butler tallied his 10^th of the season by putting home his own rebound, off assists from Cameron Coburn and Kyle Hawkins.

 

After five goals in the first five minutes of the second period, no more scoring would occur in the remainder of the fast paced middle stanza. Bakersfield put pressure on the Flyers late in the period, but Andrew Lux picked his game up and made some timely saves to preserve the tie into the intermission.

 

Shots became closer as the Flyers led 15-14 in the second, while chances were also narrower with Valencia tallying six to Bakersfield’s five. The Flyers played the body well for another period and out-hit the Jr. Condors 29-21 in yet another physical battle between the two fast-becoming rivals. The biggest statistic after two periods of play however was the discrepancy in power plays. The Flyers had notched two goals over four power play chances, while Bakersfield was blanked for four chances with no shots, as the Flyers’ penalty kill wreaked havoc all evening.

 

The Flyers picked up the pace in the third but Pittman made a number of big saves for Bakersfield to thwart Valencia’s efforts. Pittman was a huge reason his team was in the game but he ended up making a play that wound up losing it for the visitors.

 

Pittman has shown a habit of “flopping” to draw penalty calls when opposing players are near his crease and happen to make slight contact with the heady net-minder. It is a smart strategy used by goaltenders everywhere. With that being said, if done too often, referees tend to take note and begin to ignore contact even if it would normally be considered a borderline interference call.

 

Late in regulation with the Flyers swarming, Pittman went behind his net to play the puck and got tied up with Flyers’ foward Bryan Fiol. Pittman hit the ice hard looking to draw a call and got nothing form referee Ryan Lewis. Pittman was incensed with the non-call and took a hack at Fiol as he skated by seconds later and ended up losing his stick out of the play. Pittman was now rattled and without his goalie stick and sure enough the puck rolled to the most dangerous man on the ice; David Tagvoryan. Tagvoryan picked the puck up at the bottom of the circle and ripped a wrister over the glove of Pittman to make it 4-3, with only 2:51 remaining in the third period.

 

Tagvoryan’s second of the game and 12^th of the season came unassisted and sent Pittman into a rage of anger.

 

Bakersfield was never able to get set-up and have a good chance at tying it late as time ran out in a 4-3 Flyers’ victory. The win gives the Flyers the season series over Bakersfield at 6-2-1 in the nine games against their rivals from the north.

 

Pittman took the loss, his 22^nd of the year. His record now stands at 7-22-2, although he continually faces over 50 shots and is still able to keep his team close in games. The Flyers notched 57 shots on the Amarillo, Texas native, including 21 scoring chances.

 

Andrew Lux got the win for the Flyers, after he weathered a rocky start and settled down late. Lux stopped 24 of 27, including nine scoring chances to move his record to 7-2-1.

 

The Flyers finished with 82 hits to Bakersfield’s 65, in another physical game between the two teams. Lastly, the Flyers notched two power play goals on five chances, while Bakersfield got nothing out of five power plays, with only one shot to show for it.