Gulls Bi-Weekly Report 13; Sommer Retires, McIlvane In?

Photo: Salzburg EC

By Thomas Harrington and Michael Walters

The San Diego Gulls season has come to an end. The Gulls played in five games over the final two weeks of the season and lost all five of them.

Gulls Doubled Up By Barracuda

San Diego started out with three straight games at home, with San Jose visiting first. Chase Priskie opened the scoring early in the first period, but the Barracuda tied the game up before the period was over. San Jose opened the second period with three straight goals before Benoit Olivier-Groulx made it a 4-2 game, but San Jose scored again before the second was over. Priskie scored his second of the game less than a minute into the third, the Barracuda scored again later in the period, and they skated off with a 6-3 victory.

Calgary Earns Two Wins In San Diego

The Calgary Wranglers then came to San Diego for a pair of games. Glenn Gawdin scored the only goal of the first period. The Wranglers tied the game early in the second. Dylan Sikura put the Gulls back on top, but Calgary tied the game again before the period was over. Calgary scored twice in the third, including an empty net goal, and won 4-2. For San Diego’s final home game, Calgary scored twice early in the first to take a 2-0 lead. Connor Hvidston, playing in his fifth game with the Gulls, scored his first career AHL goal. Groulx then scored, and the period ended with the score tied at 2-2. Calgary scored the only goal in the second, neither team scored in the third, and the Wranglers won 3-2.

Gulls Drop Pair Of Games In Colorado

The Gulls then hit the road for a pair of games in Colorado. The Eagles scored twice in the first period to take a 2-0 lead. Neither team scored in the second, and Colorado scored their third goal of the game early in the third. Bryce Kindopp put the Gulls on the board a few minutes later, and Colorado scored into the empty net to win 4-1. For San Diego’s final game of the season, Colorado scored twice in the first period and once in the second to take a 3-0 lead. Late in the third Jacob Perreault scored San Diego’s final goal of the season and the Gulls lost 3-1.

The regular season has ended and San Diego will not be going to the playoffs after a disastrous season. There were some bright spots, but not enough. Hopefully next season will see San Diego back in the playoff mix.

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Roy Sommer Announces His Retirement

On April 15th, Sommer announced that he would be retiring at the end of the Gulls season. San Diego ended their season with a 20-49-2-1 record. It was a rough season in San Diego just as it was in Anaheim. 

The Anaheim Ducks organization now has openings for their NHL and AHL head coach positions. According to Elliotte Friedman on The Jeff Marek Show, Sommer was brought in for just one year and General Manager Pat Verbeek has he eyes on Matt McIlvane to come in and possibly coach the Gulls at first. The belief is that he could come in and eventually be the long term coach of the Ducks. 

McIlvane is currently coaching the Salzburg EC in Austria. He has been the head coach for the past two seasons posting a 60-28-8 regular season record. He is big on creating a culture of winning based upon performance. He defines performance as a combination of capability (talent) and behavior (how act, work, and & think). He is big on the process to building a winning environment. He seems to be a very viable candidate for the Anaheim organization.

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April 19th, 2023