San Diego Gulls Bi-Weekly Report 5

Photo: Ontario Reign

By Thomas Harrington

The San Diego Gulls only played four games over the last two weeks, and that lighter schedule appears to have helped them, as they finished with a record of 3-1. It was a successful end to a long road trip and it will hopefully help turn their season around. After the demoralizing loss to San Jose, these last four games were a good response by the Gulls.

The Gulls started out by visiting their rivals, the Ontario Reign. Neither team scored in the first, but Ontario opened the scoring just minutes into the second. About two minutes later, Scott Sabourin scored his first goal of the season to tie the game up. Giovanni Fiore scored less than two minutes into the third period to put the Gulls on top, but Ontario tied the game up with just 25 seconds left in the third. It looked like the game would go to overtime, but Fiore scored his second goal of the game with just seconds left in regulation to give the Gulls the win. Reto Berra made 35 saves to get the win.

After that last-second win, San Diego traveled to Milwaukee to take on the Admirals. Julius Nattinen and Sam Carrick gave San Diego a 2-0 lead in the first, and Kalle Kossila made it 3-0 halfway through the third. Milwaukee scored a few minutes later, but Eric Fehr scored his third goal as a Gull to restore the three-goal lead. With just over a minute left in the game, the Admirals scored again, but Keaton Thompson scored an empty net goal just a few seconds later to give San Diego the 5-2 win.

After those two wins, the Gulls traveled to Chicago. The Wolves built a 3-0 lead halfway through the third period. Sabourin got the Gulls on the board in the third, but San Diego lost 3-1. The Gulls finished the road trip off by traveling to Iowa and taking on the Wild. Iowa built a 2-0 lead in the second period, but Fehr scored to make it a 2-1 game. Just a minute into the third, Chicago restored their two-goal lead. From there, the Gulls took over the game. Fehr scored his second goal of the game and Kossila scored his fourth of the season to tie things up. In overtime, Ryan White scored his first goal of the season to give the Gulls the 4-3 win.

Once again, the Ducks will play only four games over the next two weeks. They’ll start out by hosting Stockon for a pair of games, including the teddy bear toss night on December 16th. After that, the Gulls will have a home and home series with the Ontario Reign.

Jaycob Megna, Kevin Roy, and Mike Liambas are all in Anaheim, and Andy Welinski has just been called up as well. If the Ducks do need more players from San Diego, Fiore and Kossila are the most likely players to get called up. Hopefully, more AHL players aren’t needed and players make their way to San Diego instead.

The Gulls have struggled through the first two months of the season, but a good start to December has them almost back to the .500 mark. Hopefully, their play can continue to improve as the season progresses. If Anaheim can get healthy, San Diego’s roster should receive several reinforcements.

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December 12th, 2017