Gulls Bi-Weekly Report 10

By Thomas Harrington

The San Diego Gulls played six games over the past two weeks and had a record of 3-3-0chas, one of their better two-week stretches of the season. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that they did this without their best player Lukas Dostal, who has been in Anaheim for nearly a month and will likely stay there for the rest of the season. They were also without their best forward Rocco Grimaldi for two of their wins because he was traded.

The Gull started things off with a trip to Bakersfield. The Condors scored two goals in the first period and another in the second to take a 3-0 lead after 40 minutes. Chase De Leo got the Gulls on the board in the third, but that was all they could muster, and San Diego lost 3-1.

The Gulls returned home to host Coachella Valley, and Grimaldi got the goal scoring started early in this one, but the Firebirds tied the game a little more than a minute later and took the lead late in the first. In the second, things fell apart for the Gulls as the Firebirds scored three unanswered goals. In the final period, Pavol Regenda scored, and San Diego lost 5-2.

San Diego then traveled to Ontario to face the Reign. Drew Helleson scored early in the game to give the Gulls a 1-0 lead, and it held up until Ontario tied the game early in the third. The game went to overtime, and Grimaldi got to play the hero, scoring the game-winning goal and sending San Diego home with a 2-1 win.

The Gulls then hosted Henderson for a wild game. Josiah Slavin, playing in his third game for San Diego, got the scoring started early in the first, but Henderson tied the game before the period was over. The second was a back and forth affair: Brayden Tracey scored, the Silver Knights tied it, De Leo scored, and then Henderson tied the game again. In the third, Henderson took their first lead, but Michael Del Zotto tied the game soon after. With less than three minutes to go in regulation, the Silver Knights scored to take a 5-4 lead, and then scored into an empty net a minute later. De Leo scored late and the Gulls lost 6-5.

The Gulls then traveled to Tucson for a pair of games. The Roadrunners scored the only goal of the first period, but Josh Lopina and De Leo scored goals less than 40 seconds apart in the second to give the Gulls a 2-1 lead. However, Tucson tied the game before the period was over. Neither team scored in the third and the game went to overtime. Just 15 seconds into the extra frame, Slavin scored his second goal with the Gulls to give them a 3-2 lead.

In the next game, neither team scored in the first, but playing in his first game with San Diego, Chase Priskie opened the scoring in the second period before the Roadrunners tied it. Neither team scored in the third period, and then late in overtime Priskie scored his second goal of the game to give the Gulls a 2-1 win.

The Gulls will only play four games over the next two weeks. They’ll start out with a three-game homestand, with Henderson visiting for a pair of games, followed by Iowa. San Diego will then travel to Coachella Valley to face the Firebirds.

With Dostal in the NHL and Grimaldi traded, things aren’t looking great for the Gulls. Thankfully, some of their new players have fit in really nicely early on. While they won’t be making the playoffs this year, hopefully Anaheim’s prospects play well down the stretch and help the Gulls pick up a few more wins.

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March 10th, 2023