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Recap: Wranglers fall 5-1 to Condors in Martin Pospisil’s return to game action
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Photo credit: Angela Burger/Calgary Wranglers
Paige Siewert
Jan 17, 2026, 10:00 ESTUpdated: Jan 17, 2026, 01:32 EST
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The Calgary Wranglers hosted the Bakersfield Condors at home on Friday to start their weekend match-up. This match-up gave Flames centre, Martin Pospisil his first game action since Oct. 1 as he joined the AHL squad on a conditioning loan. The Wranglers appreciated an extra body for an already depleted lineup but could not get things done in this game. Aydar Suniev was the lone goal scorer for the Wranglers in the 5-1 loss to the Condors. 

Lineup notes

The Wranglers are running a lean lineup right now and have some additions and subtractions that affected the roster going into this game. In the team injury report, Owen Say was listed as month-to-month with a lower body injury, and Ivan Prosvetov is day-to-day with a lower body injury. The Wranglers also temporarily lost two other blueliners with Artem Grushnikov out with an illness and Etienne Morin missing the game due to a family situation.
The only Wrangler unaccounted for was Matvei Gridin. Gridin did not play, skate for warm-up or dress for this game. He also wasn’t listed on the injury update and his absence suggests a transaction between the Wranglers and Flames is incoming. 

Wranglers lines

Clark Bishop – Sam Morton – Martin Frk
Rory Kerins – Martin Pospisil – Aydar Suniev
Carter King – David Silye – Parker Bell
Alex Gallant – Carter Wilkie – Lucas Ciona
Turner Ottenbreit – Daniil Miromanov 
Nick Cicek – Jeremie Poirier
Xavier Bernard – Simon Mack 
Connor Murphy
Arsenii Sergeev

Game at a glance

The Wranglers started Connor Murphy for this game after recalling him last weekend to back up Arsenii Sergeev when Owen Say went down injured. The Condors started Connor Ungar in net for this game. This game didn’t have a crazy pace right out of the hop but the effort was quite even on both sides.
The first goal came at 7:25 when Seth Griffith capatalized on a neutral zone turnover and scored on a breakaway. A few minutes later, the first penalty of the game was called and it went against Nick Cicek for hooking. In the last 20 seconds of this power play, the Condors made it a 2-0 game with a goal from Max Jones. He went in with the backhand shot and flipped it over the pads of Connor Murphy. This goal was scored at 12:34. 
At 15:25, the Condors took their first penalty of the game and the Wranglers were also able to capitalize on this chance. With just four seconds remaining in the man advantage, Carter King won the offensive zone faceoff and set up Aydar Suniev for his signature shot. 
This wrapped up the scoring in the first and by the end of 20 minutes, the Wranglers were trailing the Condors 2-1. Shots through the first frame were 8-7 Bakersfield. In the second period, the Oilers affiliate had the early opportunities, then they were called for a bench minor for too many men at 5:57. Calgary had a couple of looks on this man advantage but couldn’t beat Ungar. 
At 9:09, Bakersfield extended their lead with a goal from James Hamblin. Hamblin was in the right place at the right time to push a loose puck into the back of the net. Nearly a minute later, Lucas Ciona and Viljami Marjala got tangled up between the benches and took offsetting minor calls. On top of this, Ciona was called for unsportsmanlike conduct that Martin Frk served on his behalf.
The Wranglers penalty kill didn’t need to go the full distance as the Condors were called for interference at 11:44. Then Martin Pospisil was called for cross-checking at 12:26 and finally Max Jones was called for high-sticking at 13:12. Calgary was on a four on three and they gave up another breakaway that James Hamblin scored a shorthanded goal on for his second goal of the period. 
Calgary got burned again at 17:49 with a giveaway in their zone that Roby Jarvantie put past Murphy. At the end of the period, James Hamblin was called for high-sticking and the Condors had a 5-1 lead heading into the second intermission. Shots through the middle frame were 11-10 Bakersfield. 
The Wranglers put Arsenii Sergeev in net to start the third and kicked things off on the man advantage. Calgary’s power play to start the third was cut short as well with a hooking call against Martin Frk at 1:27. The Condors felt as if they took their foot off the gas in the third and Calgary didn’t have much left to answer back with. The Wranglers had a game-high 13 shots in the third but nothing that could close the gap between their visiting opponents.
Calgary fell 5-1 and outshot Bakersfield 5-1. Martin Pospisil spoke to the media after the game about how he felt for his first professional game back in months. He spoke about it being nice to be back and how he was feeling good physically. In regards to the team, Pospisil is a graduate of the AHL system and played 26 regular season games with the Wranglers between the 2022-24 seasons and 87 games with the Stockton Heat before that. When he talked about coming back to this team, he said:
“Feels a little weird but at the same time it’s nice to see some friendly faces and they have some really good players. I just need some situations to figure it out and I think we still had some good chances to score. We just need to be a little bit stronger at the puck and just make a play, then we score.” 
Martin Pospisi finished with a -2 rating, three shots and two PIMs this game.

Scoring stat summary 

Aydar Suniev – 1G
Carter King – 1A

Highlights

Next up 

The Wranglers practice on Saturday and will wrap up their weekend series on Sunday for a 1:00 p.m. game against the Bakersfield Condors.

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