GAMEDAY: BARRACUDA VS. HEAT
Dec 6, 2017LISTEN | WATCH | GAME NOTES
Tonight’s Matchup: On Wednesday, the Barracuda take on the Stockton Heat for the third of 12 matchups on the season. San Jose is 2-0 against the Heat this year and 18-6-1-1 all-time. The Barracuda are 11-2-0-0 all-time on home ice against the Calgary Flames top affiliate. The Barracuda beat the Heat in a decisive game five in last years opening round of the Calder Cup playoffs to advance to the Divisional Round.
Heat Check: The Stockton Heat's strong start can be largely credited to sophomore forward Andrew Mangiapane who ranks tenth in the AHL in points (22), and T-fourth in plus/minus (+13). Mangiapane is a former teammate of Sharks forward Kevin Labanc with the Barrie Colts in the OHL.
700 For Sommer: San Jose Barracuda Head Coach and Bay Area native Roy Sommer collected his 700th AHL win of his career on Sunday in Bakersfield, 2-1. Sommer is the first coach in the 82-year history of the American Hockey League to reach 700 coaching wins. In 2015-16, Sommer surpassed Fred “Bun” Cook as the AHL’s all-time leader in wins and collected his first A.R. Pieri Memorial Award as AHL Coach of the Year in 2016-17. Sommer is 700-613-48-72-65 (W-L-T-OTL-SOL) in his career and is just two games shy of 1,500 coached in the AHL.
Cuda Call Up: After Saturday’s recall of Marcus Sorensen, the Sharks now possess eight players from the Barracuda’s Calder Cup playoff roster from a year ago (Marcus Sorensen, Danny O’Regan, Joakim Ryan, Tim Heed, Barclay Goodrow, Timo Meier, Kevin Labanc and Ryan Carpenter).
Awesome Antoine: Barracuda netminder Antoine Bibeau collected his fifth-straight victory on Sunday after making 30 saves on 31 shots in San Jose’s 2-1 win over Bakersfield. Bibeau ranks fifth in the AHL in goals-against average (1.93), T-fourth in save percentage (.930), and is T-first in shutouts (2).
MAN-ny Power: After missing 15-games due to an upper-body injury, Manny Wiederer returned to the Barracuda lineup on Sunday and netted the game-winner. Wiederer has a pair of goals in three pro games, and is tied for the team-lead in game-winning goals (2), and ranks first on the Barracuda in short-handed goals.
Rudolfs Rolling: Rookie forward Rudolfs Balcers leads the Barracuda in assists (12) and is also tied for the team-dflead in points (14). Among freshman, Balcers is T-12th in points and ranks 6th in assists in the AHL. The Latvian native led all rookie skaters in the WHL a season ago with 40 goals as a member of the Kamloops Blazers.