Gulls Bi-Weekly Report 11

Photo: San Diego Gulls

By Thomas Harrington

The Gulls stumbled over the last two weeks, going 1-4 in five games. Their offense really dried up in these five games, as they were shutout twice. The Gulls are still in a playoff position, but Colorado is nipping at their heels.

Gulls Earn Split In Stockton

The Gulls started things out with a trip to Stockton. Chase De Leo and Kalle Kossila scored to give the Gulls an early 2-0 lead, but Stockton made it 2-1 before the first was over. In the second, Stockton took the game over, scoring three times to make it 4-2. The Heat scored one more goal in the third to win 5-2. The next night, the Gulls and Heat were at it again. Sam Steel and Adam Cracknell scored 15 seconds apart late in the first to make it 2-0. Neither team scored in the second, and Steel scored into the empty net to give the Gulls a 3-0 win.

Gulls Drop Three Straight At Home

The Gulls then returned home for a three-game homestand, starting with Stockton for the third straight game. Stockton took an early lead, but Cracknell and Kossila scored to make it 2-1. However, the Heat tied the game up before the first was over. Andy Welinski and Cracknell scored early in the second to make it 4-2, but Stockton responded with three unanswered goals to make it 5-4 before the period was over. In the third, Stockton scored two more times to make it 7-4. Corey Tropp scored a late goal for the Gulls, but they lost 7-5.

The next two games were against Colorado. In the first game, neither team found the back of the net in the first or second period, but the Eagles finally scored late in the third and won 1-0. San Diego fired 24 shots on goal but weren’t able to find the back of the net. The next night, the Gulls were hoping for a better result, but it wasn’t to be. Colorado scored a goal in the first, a goal in the third, and kept San Diego off the board for the second straight game to win 2-0. This time, the Gulls fired 28 shots on net.

Upcoming Schedule

The Gulls will only play four games over the next two weeks, starting with a trip to Bakersfield. From there, they’ll travel to Manitoba for a pair of games, before returning home to take on Ontario.

San Diego’s offense hit a bump over the last couple of weeks, especially their last couple of games. Cracknell has been San Diego’s best forward, with Steel and Kossila not far behind. With Troy Terry and Max Jones in Anaheim, the burden of San Diego’s offense falls to others, and they weren’t able to answer the challenge in these games. However, I’m confident that they’ll be able to get back to filling the net going forward. That being said, if the Gulls have another two-week stretch where they struggle, things will start looking similar to the end of last season when the Gulls missed the playoffs in the final weeks of the season.

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March 13th, 2019