It was a great week for the Bakersfield Condors as they have now found themselves winners of three straight games and start the new year off undefeated.

It was also a test for the depth in Bakersfield as their two top guns, Quinn Hutson and Isaac Howard, got recalled on January 2nd, but before that, they were dressed against the Coachella Valley Firebirds on New Years Eve.

Howard had a goal and two assists while Hutson potted two goals in a 7-3 Condors win. But the bigger story to me is the back-to-back wins by a score of 4-1 and 2-1 (SO) against the San Jose Barracuda this weekend. Both wins came without Isaac Howard and Quinn Hutson due to the recalls, and other players were forced to step up. They didn’t disappoint.

Damien Carfagna and Beau Akey have been great since being paired up together for the first time on the Coachella Valley game. Carfagna has averaged around 26 minutes a game in the last four games with Cam Dineen and Atro Leppanen out. The Ohio State alum has taken over first power play unit duties, while also providing time on the penalty kill. Carfagna doesn’t have a point in the last four games, but I think he has been performing great.

The main strength of his game is his mobility, and the former Buckeye uses it to his advantage to get active in transition to help the offence. In the first clip below, you’ll see Carfagna receive a pass from Hutson before the recall, and he just runs out of space, but he fills the perfect lane.

Excellent job by Carfagna recognizing the space Howard creates with his net drive and he’s able to fill in the space behind him to become a deadly option. The next two clips are more of the same and why I’ve been impressed with the left-shot defender. Carfagna wins a defensive battle in both clips, but isn’t satisfied there. The mobile defender activates instantly and threatens to be an option in the offence.

The second clip shows more of what Carfagna can do when he activates. He makes a very heads up play to drive the middle, take the defenders stick, and create a passing lane.

Beau Akey has averaged about 20 minutes per game in the last four contests and like Carfagna has been given a taste of penalty killing duties as well as quarterbacking the secondary power play unit. Another trait that Carfagna and the former Barrie Colt share is the ability to get active in transition as you’ll see in the clip below.

Akey started out as the furthest Condor away from the puck and hops on his horse to get involved in the transition. However what I have been most impressed with is his play under pressure. In the next clip below Akey has pressure on him from a forechecking Firebird, but he keeps him on his backside and places a backhand pass perfectly on the tape to the centre while avoiding the secondary forechecker.

Not only is this an incredibly skilled play to make in a difficult environment, but it’s also a play that a confident player is going to try and make instead of going up the boards. Later on in the first period Akey slips another great backhand pass while under pressure to Samuel Poulin who has some space to skate it over the red and dump it in.

The right-shot defenceman scored an empty net goal against Coachella and that’s Akey’s only point in his last five games played. However like his defensive partner, Akey has been gaining more and more confidence to make a difference on the offensive side. The final clip shows Akey jumping into the free space that’s available and throws a great fake at the defender causing him to turn his feet to the inside as Akey goes around him on the outside.

The new (most likely temporary) top pairing for the Condors have shown a ton of great flashes on both the defensive end and offensive end. Carfagna and Akey read off of each other very well, Akey is the more natrual defender as the American defender is offensively inclined. Hopefully this pair can continue to provide some great minutes and maybe get rewarded on the box score for it.

When Hutson was called up earlier in the year Jarventie was the player who took his spot and looked great with Samanski and Howard. Now that both the young scorers are with the big club the new line was Josh Samanski centring Roby Jarventie and Max Jones. Now that’s a big, heavy, and mobile group. The big Finn is the offensive creator of the bunch, Jones pushes the pace and Jarventie is able to execute with the space he provides as you’ll see in the first clip below. Jarventie takes a drop pass from Jones and then he executes an elite drag release and shot for his only goal of the weekend.

The shot hasn’t been what has intrigued me about the Finnish winger, it’s the playmaking ability Jarventie brings with him that makes me eyes open. In the clip below Jarventie steals the puck on the forecheck and one touches a backhand pass between four players finding Samuel Poulin in the high slot for a goal.

Continuing on the theme of stealing pucks and turning it into instant offence, Jarventie does the exact same thing against the Barracuda during their Saturday tilt. This time Roby doesn’t get an assist, but he definitely deserved one here.

I’m hopeful Jarventie gets a look in the NHL at some point this year. The young winger just continuously makes plays all over the ice whether its with his playmaking or his own scoring ability. In the final clip you’ll see how Jarventie attempts to drive the net, picks up his own loose puck while avoiding the defender, and sends a bullet cross ice to Jones for a one timer attempt.

I wonder where Jarventie ranks on the depth chart according to the coach/GM. Now sitting at 21 points in 27 games while getting mostly secondary power play time (when Howard and Hutson are with the Condors) the six-foot-three winger continues to play his game and play it very effectively.

Connor Ungar has been nothing but excellent since being called up by the Condors. The Calgary native has started three games at the AHL level and Ungar has a 1.95 goals against average, a 0.941 save percentage, and of course three wins. Ungar hasn’t had a save percentage under 0.900 since he appeared in three games with the Brandon Wheat Kings during the 2019-2020 season. In my three viewings of the Brock University alum this year with the Condors it seems like he anticipates play extremely well and can read the oppositions stick blade at an above average rate.

As I said earlier it was a great week for the Condors and to carry on the momentum with Howard and Hutson out of the lineup is massive. Can they continue to do it against Abbotsford Canucks who are in last place in the Pacific division?