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Karma finally finds Roy Sommer in record-setting AHL win

San Jose Barracuda coach Roy Sommer (middle with Shark hat) celebrates his record-setting AHL victory with San Jose Sharks team officials. Photo provided by San Jose Barracuda.

San Jose Barracuda coach Roy Sommer drove around downtown San Jose on Wednesday with the top of his classic MG car rolled down handing out dollar bills to homeless people on street corners.

After being stuck on 636 AHL wins – which tied a 1956 record set by Fred ‘Bun’ Cook – since Jan. 30, Sommer believed he needed all the luck he could get.

“Good karma hit me last night,” Sommer joked in a phone interview with Puck Daddy.

The Barracuda picked up the record-setting victory with a 4-2 win over the Ontario Reign in front of 3,974 people at SAP Center. Sommer, who has been the San Jose Sharks’ AHL coach for 18 seasons, won his 635th game on Jan. 15. Goaltender Aaron Dell made 50 saves to help preserve the win.

“I think the guys were as relieved as I was. It wasn’t like we were playing real bad. It was like, ‘we’ll get this one for you tonight’ and they were right,” Sommer said. “So I think it was a relief for them too. I think everyone was kind of playing real up tight because of this whole thing. I think it was more of a relief for them I think.”

Interestingly, karma came in the form of a goaltender recall. The Los Angeles Kings brought up netminder Peter Budaj, who had been nearly unbeatable this season for Ontario with a 26-9-3 record and .935 save percentage. The reason for the recall was an injury to Kings starter Jonathan Quick.

“Right before the game Budaj gets called up, and it was kind of like all the stars were aligned for us, because we couldn’t beat that Budaj, man,” Sommer said.

Sommer has coached 120 players who have gone onto NHL careers. This includes 95 who have spent a portion of their time with the Sharks. Though he's never made it past the second round of the playoffs in the AHL, the Sharks see him as an important part of their organization. Sommer was also once an assistant with the Sharks before finding his role in the minors.

“You know what? Roy to me is everything that’s great about this game,” Sharks general manager Doug Wilson said in a recent interview with Puck Daddy. “He is real. He loves the game and he’ll do anything to help a player get better.

The 58-year-old Sommer is from the Bay Area, and he remembered how he used to drive through San Jose as a youth to get to practices in Berkeley.

“I guess that was kind of neat, getting it done last night,” Sommer said about winning in his home area.

After the game, he went to a local bar owned by former Shark, Owen Nolan with several Sharks staffers and had a couple of beers.

The day after the game, karma switched the other direction. The Sharks recalled top defenseman prospect Mirco Mueller, a 2013 first-round draft pick. Being in the AHL for so long, Sommer understands roster unpredictability. It’s this unique type of patience that’s helped him reach this point.

“That’s the American Hockey League man, that’s why it’s so hard to win,” Sommer said. “It’s feast or famine. Some days your roster is really good and then the next day it's really bad.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!