Falcons Snap Winless String
Finally Prevail Over Condors in Shootout

It only took nine tries but the Fresno Falcons finally beat the Bakersfield Condors for the first time this season by defeating their Highway 99 rivals in a shootout on Friday, 5-4, in front of 5,674 at Selland Arena. The Falcons are now 1-7-1 against Bakersfield on the year.

After the teams skated to a scoreless first period Bakersfield defenseman Jonathan Sorg tallied twice in the second period to give the visitors a 2-0 lead at 10:39. Shortly thereafter Mike Mathers got Fresno on the board with his eighth of the season by sending home a rebound with Fresno on the power play at 13:51. On the play Condors goaltender Kevin St. Pierre, who entered the game with a save percentage of 94.0% against the Falcons this season, suffered an injury and would not return after leaving the game.

Bakersfield still led 2-1 as the third period began with St. Pierre’s back-up, Fredrik Jensen, seeing his first action against the Falcons. Just 2:09 into the frame the Condors’ Jeff Goldie scored into an empty net on the power play after a dump-in caromed out of the corner right into the slot. Fresno responded right away as Scott Borders notched his fourth of the year 13 seconds later to bring the Falcons back within one. Kris Porter then tied the game at three two minutes after that off a two-on-one feed from Mathers.

Following a major skirmish mid-way through the period that resulted in two player ejections for each side, Fresno took its first lead of the night. Skating with a four-on-three power play, Cory Murphy wristed a shot from the point that was re-directed by Porter past Jensen at 12:03 for a 4-3 lead. Nothing against Bakersfield has come easy for the Falcons this year as they found themselves heading to a shootout once former Falcon Christian Skoryna somehow snuck a wrist shot between the pads of Fresno goaltender Terry Friesen from a poor angle to tie the game at four with 2:24 to play.

Friesen redeemed himself in the tie-breaker by stopping all four Bakersfield shooters, and with goals from Murphy and Colin Embley, the Falcons came away with the 5-4 win.

The victory avenges a 5-3 loss the night before to Bakersfield and lifts Fresno back to .500 at 11-11-3 and 25 points. They are now just one point behind the Long Beach Ice Dogs in the standings, who were shutout by the San Diego Gulls tonight, 3-0.

A regulation victory tomorrow night against Long Beach at Selland would move Fresno ahead of the Ice Dogs into fourth place in the league. The first 5,000 fans at tomorrow’s game will receive a 2003 Falcons calendar compliments of ValPrint and Budweiser. Tickets are still available for the 7:30 p.m. start at the Selland box office, at all Ticketmaster locations and online at www. ticketmaster.com.


Final
1 2 3 SO T
Bakersfield 0 2 2 0 4
Fresno 0 1 3 1 5

Shots On Goal
1 2 3 T
Bakersfield 9 9 12 30
Fresno 7 16 13 36

Period 1
Scoring: None.
Penalties: Murphy, Fre (Tripping), 1:02; Both, Fre (Fighting), 3:57 Bell, Bak (Fighting), 3:57; Prosofsky, Fre (Roughing), 7:04; Rosebush, Bak (Roughing), 7:04; Ralph, Bak (Roughing), 7:04; Embley, Fre (Tripping), 12:59; Willett, Bak (Crosschecking), 20:00;

Period 2
Scoring: 1, Bak, Sorg 4 (Byram, Drolet), 4:50 2, Bak, Sorg 5 (Willett, Goldie), 10:39 3, Fre, Mathers 8 (Haupt, Murphy), 13:31
Penalties: Short, Fre (Tripping), :35; Barrie, Fre (10-min misc), :35; Sorg, Bak (Slash), 2:27; Sorg, Bak (Hooking), 5:34; Gulutzan, Fre (10-min misc), 7:37; Gulutzan, Fre (Game misc), 7:37; Byran, Bak (Slashing) 12:30; Todd, Fre (X-checking) 14:40 Murphy, Fre (X-checking) 16:23

Period 3
Scoring: 4, Bak, Goldie 9 (Willett, Dupuis), 2:09 (pp) 5, Fre, Borders 4 (Both, Haupt), 2:22 6, Fre, Porter 12 (Mathers, Schoneck), 4:25 7, Fre, Porter 13 (Barrie, Murphy), 12:03 (pp) 8, Bak, Skoryna 9 (Jackman, Drolet), 17:36
Penalties: Sorg, Bak (gross misc), :59 Todd, Fre (Holding), 1: Rosebush, Bak (Highstick), 4:48 Short, Fre (Elbowing), 6:39 Bell, Bak (Fighting), 10:54 Bell, Bak (Game misc, 2nd alterication) 10:54 Byram, Bak (x-checking), 10:54 Byram, Bak (10-min misc), 10:54 Byram, Bak (Game misc), 10:54 Ralph, Bak (Fighting), 10:54 Prosofsky, Fre (Fighting), 10:54 Prosofsky, Fre (Game misc, 3rd man in), 10:54 DeWaele, Fre (Fighting), 10:54 Landry, Fre (Fighting), 10:54 Landry, Fre (Game Misc, 2nd altercation), 10:54 Anderson, Bak (Hooking), 11:31 Short, Fre (Fighting), 17:03 Short, Fre (game misc), 17:03 Byram, Bak (Tripping), 17:03 Norgen, Bak (10- min misc), 17:03

Fresno Shootout Results
1. Fresno - Murphy - Goal
2. Fresno - Haupt - Missed
3. Fresno - Embley - Goal


Bakersfield Shootout Results
1. Bakersfield - Ladouceur- Missed
2. Bakersfield - Cooke - Missed
3. Bakersfield - Skoryna- Missed
4. Bakersfield - Goldie - Missed


Power Play Results
Fresno - 2 for 7, Bakersfield - 1 for 9



Saves - Bakersfield Goaltenders
Goaltender - Minutes 1 2 3 T
Kevin St. Pierre (33:51) 7 15 0 22
Fredrik Jensen (26:09) 0 0 10 10



Saves - Fresno Goaltenders
Goaltender - Minutes 1 2 3 T
Terry Friesen (60:00) 9 7 11 26
Mark Gowan 0 0 0 0


Three Stars
1st Star: Cory Murphy
2nd Star: Colin Embley
3rd Star: Kris Porter