San Diego Gulls Bi-Weekly Report 3

By Thomas Harrington

The San Diego Gulls struggled over the last two weeks, picking up only one win in five games and going 1-4 overall. Injuries in both Anaheim and San Diego are a major factor in their recent struggles, along with the simple fact that San Diego’s defense is not as strong as it has been over the last couple of seasons.

The Gulls started out by hosting their rivals, the Ontario Reign, to kick off the month. Philippe Maillet gave Ontario the 1-0 lead halfway through the first, and that was the only goal of the game. Ontario’s netminder Cal Petersen stopped all 27 shots that he faced. Leland Irving was in net for the Gulls and was spectacular in the losing effort, as he stopped 41 of 42 shots. This was the first time this season that the Gulls’ vaunted offense has been shutout. Looking for revenge, the Gulls traveled to Ontario the next night. Late in the first, Jeff Schultz scored to make it 1-0; it was his first goal as a member of the Gulls. Just over a minute later Andy Welinski made it 2-0 before the first was over. In the second, Ontario scored two goals to tie it, and then took the 3-2 lead early in the third period. Deven Sideroff scored his second goal of the season to tie the game up at three, and that’s where it stayed through regulation. No one scored in overtime and the game went to a shootout. Kevin Roy and Spencer Abbott both scored, while Reto Berra stopped both shootout attempts, leading the Gulls to a 4-3 victory. This was Berra’s first game with the Gulls, and so far his only one, as he’s back in Anaheim. He stopped 38 of 41 shots and looked solid in net for San Diego.

After that win, the Gulls returned home to host Texas, a team San Diego dominated a couple of weeks previous. However, this time around, Texas was all over the Gulls and dominated them, scoring two goals in every period and winning 6-2. Welinski and Giovanni Fiore scored San Diego’s two goals, and the Gulls didn’t score until they were in a 4-0 hole. This was the first game that Roy missed this season, as he had been recalled to Anaheim because of the myriad of injuries the Ducks are going through.

The Gulls hosted Stockton next, but with similar results. The Heat built a 3-0 lead before the Gulls could get on the board. San Diego did make things interesting as Sam Carrick and Steve Oleksy made it 3-2 in the second, but Stockton responded and made it 5-2 early in the third. Julius Nattinen scored to make it 5-3, but the Heat scored again to claim the 6-3 win. The Gulls finished up the previous two weeks by hosting the Ontario Reign again. It was another slow start for the Gulls, who found themselves down 3-0 halfway through the third. Keaton Thompson scored his first goal of the season to make it a two-goal deficit, but an empty net goal for Ontario sealed the deal for them.

After struggling over the last two weeks, the Gulls will look to right their ship over the next two weeks. The Gulls will start out by hosting Tucson for two straight games, before traveling to Tucson to take on the Roadrunners for the third straight game. The Gulls will then return home to host Bakersfield, before traveling to San Jose to finish off the next two weeks.

Right now, Kalle Kossila and Roy, two of San Diego’s top scorers from a season ago, are in Anaheim, while Corey Tropp and Nicolas Kerdiles are both injured. Other players are stepping up, but those four represent four of the Gulls’ most dangerous offensive weapons. If Kerdiles and Tropp can get healthy, or Roy and Kossila return to the AHL, it would go a long way to helping the Gulls get back in the win column.

With Kossila, Roy, and Berra in Anaheim, the hope is that no one else from San Diego will be Anaheim bound. However, if more San Diego players are needed, I think that Fiore, Welinski, and Jacob Larsson are the most likely players to be called up. Fiore has been dangerous in every game he’s been in and recorded a point in almost every AHL game. Welinski is tied for the team lead in points with Roy with 11 and is one of the leading point-scoring defensemen in the AHL early in the season. Larsson has missed time with injury this season but has six points in seven games.

The Gulls have hit a rough patch early in the season, something that virtually every team goes through every year. How the team responds to this adversity will help give us an idea of how good the Gulls really are. If San Diego can respond to this adversity and start turning this around soon, that will be a good sign of the team’s mental resolve. However, if their struggles continue through November and into December, this could end up being a disappointing season in San Diego. Right now, just like Anaheim, it’s too soon to tell whether or not things can turn around, but they do need to start righting the ship sooner rather than later.

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November 17th, 2017

Filed under: Ducks News Tagged: Bi-weekly report, ducksnpucks, san diego gulls