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Recap: Wranglers pick up a point in overtime loss for Zayne Parekh’s AHL debut
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Photo credit: David Moll/Calgary Wranglers
Paige Siewert
Jan 19, 2026, 09:30 ESTUpdated: Jan 19, 2026, 00:17 EST
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The Calgary Wranglers played the back half of their weekend series against the Bakersfield Condors on Sunday for a matinee game. This game brought some loaned talent and familiar faces back that the AHL squad definitely appreciated. Calgary continued to build on some of the positives they were seeing in their last game but couldn’t quite get it done this game. After a scoreless 60 minutes, they fell 1-0 in overtime. 

Lineup notes

The Wranglers got some skill injected back in their lineup in addition to the Martin Pospisil conditioning assignment on Friday. William Stromgren was sent back to the Wranglers on Saturday and Zayne Parekh was also assigned to the AHL on a conditioning loan. The Flames’ affiliate lost Matvei Gridin to a call-up and Gridin got some NHL action on Saturday afternoon. These moves prompted some lineup changes and compared to last game, Parker Bell, Simon Mack and Xavier Bernard came out of the lineup to make room. Artem Grushnikov was able to return after missing Friday’s game with an illness. 

Wranglers lines

Rory Kerins – Sam Morton – Martin Frk
William Stromgren – Martin Pospisil – Aydar Suniev
Carter King – Clark Bishop – Carter Wilkie
Lucas Ciona – David Silye – Alex Gallant
Artem Grushnikov – Daniil Miromanov
Nick Cicek – Zayne Parekh
Turner Ottenbreit – Jeremie Poirier
Arsenii Sergeev

Game at a glance

Arsenii Sergeev got the start for this game after coming in for Connor Muphy in the third period of their last match up on Friday. On Bakersfield’s side, Matt Tomkins got the nod between the pipes. The Wranglers came out of the gate with a lot of speed and got the first looks on goal. Zayne Parekh got an early look in this game too with a shot at 2:29. 
At 6:33, the Wranglers got a few seconds of a delayed penalty before Rhett Pitlick was called for slashing at 6:43. Just over a minute into this power play, it was cut short by a delay of game call against Arsenii Sergeev for a restricted area play. Lucas Ciona served this call for him at 7:42.
After the four-on-four, the Wranglers killed off the penalty and continued to push on. The first period wrapped up with a few opportunities for Calgary, but nothing to add a point to the scoreboard. Through the first period, the Wranglers outshot the Condors 11-4.
Early in the second period, Carter Wilkie put up a hit on Mason Millman in the Condors’ zone and Millman came back to give him a piece of his mind. They dropped the gloves and took fighting majors at 2:22. 
Up until this point in the game, the Condors still only had four shots and this flight helped slingshot some shot production for the visitors. The Wranglers got back into the offensive zone by the midway mark of the period then at 14:13, Turner Ottenbreit put up a hit on Max Jones and Jones grabbed onto him and Ottenbreit dropped the gloves. Jones wouldn’t go so this resulted in an unsportsmanlike conduct call against Ottenbreit and a holding penalty against Jones.
About halfway through this four on four, Artem Grushnikov was called for tripping and the Wranglers were shorthanded. The Condors used this call to take a timeout and sent their All-Star rookie, Quinn Hutson out to put on a shooting clinic. Hutson had a run of five shots in just over a minute and Sergeev turned them all away.
At 18:10, the Wranglers got a power play of their own when Ethan Keppen was called for holding. Calgary managed a few more shots before the end of the frame but this game remained scoreless by the end of 40 minutes of play. Shots in the second period were 13-11 Bakersfield. 
The Condors had the first looks of the period then Clark Bishop was sprung on a breakaway at 2:20 that he shot just wide. Bishop had another breakaway chance a few minutes later at 5:39 that ricocheted off the post, and Tomkins got a glove on it to keep it out. 
It was pretty back and forth for the rest of the period with Carter King getting one of the best looks in the last couple of minutes of the frame. At the end of regulation, this game remained scoreless and shots in the third were 10-10. 
In overtime, Arsenii Sergeev got the first big test of the frame about 30 seconds in when he stopped a point blank shot from from Viljami Marjala to keep this game alive. Around 1:04, Zayne Parekh had a look as well but shot it wide and out of play. On the next draw, Martin Pospisil tried to find Parekh for a one-timer but it didn’t connect on the pass. 
This game ended just 1:38 into overtime when Max Jones got out on a breakaway, went forward backhand and elevated his shot over Sergeev. The final score was 1-0 Bakersfield and shots finished 33-31 with the Condors registering the only three shots in overtime. 

Flames conditioning watch

Zayne Parekh
Parekh had some adjustments to make this game but didn’t look out of place. It seemed at times he was thinking about his plays and things weren’t coming as naturally as we’ve seen in the past. There were still bright spots from Parekh including his early shot, drawing the first penalty of the game and getting some time on the power play and into overtime. 
Individually, he was not happy with himself after the game and gave himself an honest evaluation and said:
“I felt like I wasn’t hitting passes today like I usually do. I was missing a lot and I felt like that wasn’t going great. I just couldn’t generate anything really offensively.”
Martin Pospisil 
Pospisil on the other hand, felt as if he took a bit of a step forward compared to Friday. He was playing with more confidence and noticeable physicality. He was going for more shots and was the go-to guy screening on the power play. He fed some chances for skilled guys like Sam Morton and Zayne Parekh and helped elevate the play of the team for this game. 

Highlights

Next up

The Wranglers continue their four-game homestand next week, where they’ll host the Laval Rocket for the first time as a Wranglers franchise. The last time the Montreal Canadiens’ affiliate was in Calgary was when this team was the Stockton Heat playing in a modified, relocated bubble season over the Covid-19 season in 2020-21. The first meeting between these teams will be on Saturday, Jan. 24 at 12:00 p.m. MT.

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