Bakersfield Wrap Up: Condors Champs Of The Pacific, Cracknell Returns & The Road Ahead

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“They know how I feel.”

BAKERSFIELD, Ca. - That was Bakersfield Condors head coach Jay Woodcroft’s often repeated phrase on Saturday night when talking about his team, which defeated the Henderson Silver Knights 3-2 to win the AHL Pacific Division John D. Chick championship trophy.

The game, played before 7,420 in T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, brought an end to a pandemic-affected season which brought about realigned divisions, varying numbers of games and pages upon pages of Covid-19 protocols.

"We asked them to do some hard things here, including playing six games in nine nights. Three of them went to overtime and we had to take out two very good hockey teams, two very well coached hockey teams," Woodcroft said.

"To see those guys lay it on the line like they did... they know how I feel."

There will be no AHL championship in this disjointed season. Playoffs were limited to division championships and the Pacific Division was the only one to opt in, even though the vast majority of players reportedly voted not to play.

No matter to the Condors, where the attitude was: if we have to play, we might as well win.

"This is a very enjoyable group to be around," Woodcroft said. "That was something we talked about this morning, that having an opportunity to win your last game is a special thing. And realistically, we know how the hockey business works. Not everybody in the room is going to be back next year. So we wanted to finish this thing off."

The Condors opened the series with a 3-2 overtime win on Wednesday then, due to the Las Vegas Knights needing the building on Friday, had to come right back on Wednesday and lost 6-3. That was the fourth game in five nights for Bakersfield, three of those having extended into overtime.

The finale was a nail biter.

"I thought it was a great game, very exciting to watch the lead changes." Woodcroft said. "I thought it was very similar to what we had going on throughout the year with this team. We played a lot of close games.'

Henderson opened the scoring 3:37 into the first and Jakob Stukel drew the Condors even with his first of the postseason at 12:31. Phil Kemp then scored his first of his AHL career at 15:09 as the Condors went up 2-1.

Kareden Korzcak tied the game for Henderson five minutes into the third before Tyler Benson got what proved to be the game-winner for the Condors at 8:51.

Stuart Skinner, as he was throughout most of the season and the playoffs, was rock solid in net for the Condors, stopping 33.

"Electric," said Woodcroift of playing in front of the large crowd. "The most fans we've played in front of this year, obviously, with the Covid-19 pandemic. I thought it gave them a lift, especially early in the game, but we stuck with our gameplan. We respected it, and at the end of the day we tried to do it harder and longer than our opposition. In the end we found a way to win."

The Condors, who finished second to Henderson in the division, finished 9-4 against the Knights, going 9-2 over the last 11 contests.

Bakersfield started the season 0-5 but went 28-11-1 (.713) over their final 40 games, including the six in the Pacific Division's postseason play.

The Condors did it without a bevy of top-end prospects, rather a mixture of a handful of early-round draft picks, rookies and veterans - many of which on AHL-only contracts.

Adam Cracknell, the oldest player on the team at 35, led the division in postseason points with 10 (3g, 7a). He won the offensive zone draw which led to Kemp’s goal. Seth Griffith, 28, had seven points (3g, 4a) and was second in scoring. Captain Brad Malone had one goal, but it was huge - in overtime against San Diego to advance the team to the championship series.

Defensively, Theodor Lennstrom and rookie Max Gildon, on loan from the Florida Panthers, each had three assists. And veteran Kevin Gravel likely led the team in blocked shots.

"It wasn't always easy," Woodcroft said. "We lost some key pieces this year. Major injuries to Alan Quine, Markus Niemelainen, Graham McPHee, Joseph Gambardella.  Dylan Holloway (signed to an ATO after putting up 52 points, 19g, 33a, in 52 games for the University of Wisconsin) wasn’t able to play for us this year he has not yet healed from his major injury (broken hand)."

"During those times you learn the capabilities of your team, how to push them, the stimulus they respond to. We just didn’t have one line, one person wearing the cape for us. We had different people rise to the occasion at different times of the year."

Condors Sign Cracknell to AHL Contract for 2021-22

Their season might have just ended, but Bakersfield didn't waste much time in bringing back a key veteran forward to mix for next season - signing Adam Cracknell to a standard AHL contract for next season.

In his 15th season of pro hockey this past year, Cracknell was more than serviceable at the AHL level - finishing in the top-20 in the league in scoring with 30 points (11G-19A) in 39 regular season games to go along with his 10 points in six postseason appearances.

A Look Ahead to the Condors 2021-22 Roster

Unrestricted Free Agents (UFA): defensemen Kevin Gravel, Janis Jaks and Ryan Stanton and forwards Blake Christensen, Joseph Gambardella, Graham McPhee, Alan Quine and Jakob Stukel

Restricted Free Agents (RFA): goaltenders Stuart Skinner and Dylan Wells, defenseman Theodor Lennstrom and forwards Tyler Benson and Cooper Marody

Current Expected Roster for 2021-22

Goaltenders: Ilya Konovalov and Olivier Rodrigue

Defensemen: Yanni Kaldis (AHL), Philip Kemp, Michael Kesselring and Markus Neimelainen

Forwards: Devin Brosseau (AHL), Adam Cracknell (AHL), Luke Esposito (AHL), Liam Folkes (AHL), Seth Griffith, James Hamblin (AHL), Dylan Holloway, Raphael Lavoie, Brad Malone and Ostap Safin