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Jan. 24, 2003

When Kevin St. Pierre is between the pipes for the Bakersfield Condors, they usually win. Well… St. Pierre, indeed, was in net tonight and thoroughly frustrated the San Diego Gulls again.

The Condors got two early goals, which were more than enough for St. Pierre, and went on to beat the Gulls 5-1 Friday night, before 5,166 at Centennial Garden. The two teams are now tied for second place in the West Coast Hockey League with 49 points apiece, 12 behind the Idaho Steelheads. For the Gulls, it ends their four-game winning streak and five-game road streak. The Condors have now won six straight games.

But it wasn't just the 6-foot-3-inch, 220-pound netminder that bugged the Blue and Orange tonight. St Pierre was good when he had to be, but the entire Bakersfield defense made him look even better. San Diego did muster 30 shots, but the majority of those were low percentage opportunities.

The Condors (22-12-5) grabbed an early 2-0 lead taking advantage of two San Diego defensive lapses. A red-hot Jason Ralph struck first with a breakaway goal at 6:42. Ralph intercepted a Gulls clearing pass and was off to races, eventually squeezing a back-hander by Trevor Koenig.

Bakersfield had another outnumbered attack later in the period and capitalized again at 14:04. Shawn Byram skated behind the San Diego defense, took a pass from Christian Skoryna and buried his 11th tally. The Condors had several more grade-A chances in the opening period, but a rock-solid Koenig kept the Blue and Orange in the game.

San Diego (24-13-1) finally got on the board 15:04 into the second period on Dan Cousineau's first of the season. Dennis Purdie whipped a cross-ice feed to Cousineau, who stepped over the blue line and rifled a shot past St. Pierre.

Jonas Lennartsson got his first of the year 3:15 into the third stanza, regaining Bakersfield's two-goal lead. Skoryna started the play again by intercepting Koenig's clearing pass. He then found Lennartsson at the top of the right circle, whose wrist shot trickled by Koenig scrambling to get back into position.

Ralph wrapped up the Condors victory with his second goal of the night – 16th of the season – at the 11:36 mark. Paul Rosebush skated out from the corner and floated a pass that caromed of Ralph's leg into the net. It was Ralph's 13th point in the last six games. Jamie Cooke added insult to injury with an empty-netter (15th goal) with 2:35 left.

Notepad
With St. Pierre in goal, the Condors are now 21-4-3. Without him, they're 1-8-2… San Diego has won 16 of its last 19 games… The last time Cousineau scored was March 2 (44 games)… R.J. Enga didn't score tonight, but is now tied for third all-time with 184 WCHL goals. He's tied for eighth with 244 assists and sixth with 428 points… Sylvain Deschatelets earned Player of the Week honors. He had 11 points in three games last week… The Gulls played without the services of David Neale, who's nursing a sore back… Kevin Grant remains on injured reserve… Marc Busenburg and Rob Voltera remain with the American Hockey League's Hershey Bears…

FEATURE ARTICLES
Goalies leave their legacy in WCHL
East meets West in final WCHL season
WCHL’s 2002-2003 makeover starts at the top
WCHL Training Camp Notepad
WCHL honors its own with organizational awards

AROUND THE WCHL
November 2002 Edition
October 2002 Edition
May 2002 Edition

GAME RECAPS
02/07/03: Condors 4, Gulls 3 (SO)
02/05/03: Gulls 2, Falcons 1
02/04/03: Falcons 8, Gulls 3
02/01/03: Steelheads 6, Gulls 5 (SO)
01/31/03: Gulls 3, Steelheads 2 (SO)

PROFILES IN HOCKEY
Enga is Gulls’ new ironman
Danielle Dube — pioneer, no; goaltender, yes
Greg Spenrath: Falcons lose a legend
Grandfather, grandson keep Gulls "all in the family"

PRESS RELEASES
Ice Dogs name Kaminski as head coach