Gulls Bi-Weekly Report 4

Photo: AHL

By Thomas Harrington

The San Diego Gulls played five games over the past two weeks and lost all five of them. Overall, the Gulls have lost eight games in a row and currently sit last place in the AHL. The good news is that the AHL expanded the number of playoff teams last season, so the Gulls still have a chance to make it to the postseason, but they need to turn things around pretty much right away.

The Gulls started things out by hosting the Colorado Eagles. The Eagles scored the only goal of the first period, but Rocco Grimaldi continued his hot play and tied the game in the second. However, before the middle frame was over Colorado had regained the lead. In the third, Colorado scored into an empty net and won 3-1.

The Gulls then faced the Calgary Wranglers in four straight games; the Gulls were the home team for the first two. The first game saw an offensive explosion, as Grimaldi scored just a minute into the contest, but Calgary then scored two goals of their own. Nikolas Brouillard tied the game, and then Calgary scored two more times to take a 4-2 lead after the first period. In the second, Calgary scored two early goals to make it 6-2, but Justin Kirkland got one back for San Diego. In the third, Calgary scored the only goal 22 seconds in, and they won 7-3. The next night, things went much worse for San Diego, as Calgary scored once in the first period, three times in the second, and two more times in the third to win 6-0.

Things didn’t go much better when the Gulls hit the road. In the first game, Calgary scored twice in the first period, once in the third, and won 3-0, shutting San Diego out in back-to-back games. The final game saw Calgary score twice in the opening frame, and then again early in the third before Bryce Kindopp finally got the Gulls back on the board. The Wranglers scored again before Benoit-Olivier Groulx scored to make it 4-2. In the final frame, Calgary scored the lone goal and won 5-2.

The Gulls will play five games over the next two weeks. They’ll start out with three straight home games, as they host Abbotsford, Coachella Valley, and then Tucson. San Diego will then hit the road for a pair of games in Tucson, giving them three games against the Roadrunners.

Lukas Dostal continues to be San Diego’s best player and has been called up to Anaheim with Anthony Stolarz out with an injury. Both Anaheim and San Diego have a lot to figure out right now, and if the season continues to go off the rails for the Ducks, it wouldn’t surprise me to see a number of Gulls players get a look in the NHL in the coming weeks and months.

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December 13th, 2022