San Diego Gulls Bi-Weekly Report 13

By Thomas Harrington

Fighting for their playoff lives, the San Diego Gulls needed a great two-week stretch to keep their faint hope alive. Instead, San Diego went 1-4 and were eliminated from playoff contention. The Gulls have not made the playoffs since the 2021-2022 season when they lost in the preliminary round to the Ontario Reign. 

Despite missing the playoffs, San Diego had arguably the biggest highlight of their season happen over the past two weeks. Against the Coachella Valley Firebirds, defenseman Will Francis made his professional debut. Francis is a three-time cancer survivor who recently finished his college career. He signed an ATO to join the Gulls. He’s unlikely to be signed by the Ducks this summer, but after everything he’s been through, seeing him suit up in a professional game was probably the best thing to happen in San Diego or Anaheim this season.

For their first game, the Gulls hosted the Abbotsford Canucks. Abbotsford opened the scoring in the first, but Stian Solberg scored his second career AHL goal to tie the game late in the period. In the second, Judd Caulfield put the Gulls on top before the Canucks tied the game. With 13 seconds left in the middle frame, Justin Bailey restored San Diego’s lead. In the third, Abbotsford scored four straight goals, the final into the empty net, and won 6-3.

The Gulls then traveled to Iowa for a pair of games. In the first game, Iowa made it 3-0 before the game was even eight minutes old. However, neither team scored again that period or in the second. In the third, Tyson Hinds and Caulfield both scored to bring San Diego within one goal. However, two minutes later the Wild scored again and won 4-2. In the second game in Iowa, the Wild struck with 12 seconds left in the first, and then scored twice in the second to make it 3-0. Roland McKeown scored his 14th of the season, the most ever scored by a San Diego defenseman. Sasha Pastujov returned to the lineup for the first time since the end of February and picked up an assist on this goal. Iowa scored two late goals, including one into the empty net, and won 5-1.

San Diego then traveled to Bakersfield to take on the Condors in a game they’d rather forget. Bakersfield scored twice in the first period, twice in the second, and then into the empty net in the third period, winning 5-0. The Gulls finished things off by visiting Coachella Valley. The Firebirds held a 2-0 lead after the first period, but Jan Mysak and Yegor Sidorov both scored in the second to tie the game. Coachella Valley retook the lead in the third, but McKeown scored with eight seconds left in the game to send the contest to overtime. In the extra session, Nico Myatovic scored his ninth goal of the season and San Diego won 4-3.

The Gulls have only one week left in their season, and they’ll play in three games over that stretch. They’ll start out by hosting the Henderson Silver Knights and then traveling to Ontario to face the Reign. San Diego will finish the season at home, hosting Coachella Valley.

With so few games left in the season for both Anaheim and San Diego, Ian Moore heading to Anaheim will likely be the last player recalled from San Diego this season. However, given that the Ducks’ season ends before San Diego’s, the Gulls could be getting some reinforcements from the NHL. Sam Colangelo, Nikita Nesterenko, Moore, or the recently signed Time Washe could all head back to the AHL to finish the season.

Overall, this was a disappointing season for the Gulls, but there’s no question that they were a much better team in the second half of the season. If they can play at that level from the start of the season, they’ll have an excellent chance to make the Calder Cup Playoffs next year.

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April 15th, 2025