Gulls Biweekly Report 10

Photo: SD Gulls

By Thomas Harrington

The San Diego Gulls had a rough two-week stretch, going 0-4-1 in five games. While the Gulls hadn’t been an elite team in recent weeks, they certainly have been better than this most recent stretch of games. Injuries and callups to Anaheim have really hurt them, and they’ve recalled a couple of players from the ECHL as a result.

The Gulls started out in Bakersfield to take on the Condors. Pavol Regenda and Andrew Agozzino both scored before the game was four minutes old, but Bakersfield responded with two goals of their own to tie the game, and then took the lead with two seconds left in the first. Glenn Gawdin scored the only goal of the second to make it 3-3, and neither team scored in the third. Bakersfield found the goal in overtime and won 4-3. San Diego then returned home to host Ontario. The Reign scored the only goals of the first and second periods, and then made it 3-0 37 seconds into the final frame. 23 seconds later, Olen Zellweger put the Gulls on the board, and two minutes later Chase De Leo made it a one-goal game. Neither team found the back of the net after that and Ontario won 3-2.

San Diego then traveled to Texas for a pair of games. In the first one, the Stars scored the only goal of the first but Nikita Nesterenko tied the game early in the second. However, Texas retook the lead before the second was over. Neither team scored again until the Stars scored into the empty net at the end of the game and won 3-1. The next night, Texas scored twice in the first five minutes of the game, but Zellweger scored early in the second. Texas scored again before the period was over to retake the two-goal lead, and then again in the third to make it 4-1. Josh Lopina and Gawdin both scored to get the Gulls close, but that was it, and San Diego lost 4-3. In their final game, the Gulls traveled to Ontario to face the Reign. Neither team scored in the first, but Ontario scored twice in the second period, with their second goal coming with less than a minute to go in the period. Neither team scored through most of the third until the Reign scored into the empty net and won 3-0.

The San Diego Gulls will play six games over the next two weeks. All six games will be at home. They’ll start out by hosting Bakersfield, and then Coachella Valley will visit for two straight games. Ontario will be next, and the Gulls will finish things up by hosting Milwaukee for two games.

With Ilya Lyubushkin traded to Toronto and Cam Fowler hurt, Zellweger has already been recalled from the Gulls and played on Friday against New Jersey. The Ducks currently only have two right-handed shooting defensemen on their roster: Radko Gudas and Gustav Lindstrom. This would normally be a great opportunity for Drew Helleson to be recalled and get some NHL playing time, but he’s one of the Gulls players who is currently injured. It remains to be seen if the Ducks call up any more defensemen from San Diego, but if they do, it will probably be Robert Hagg who has been up and down all season. At forward, the Ducks are going to trade at least one or two players before the trade deadline, which could leave the door open for some Gulls forwards to get called up. It wouldn’t surprise me to see any of Regenda, Agozzino, or Nesterenko make their way to Anaheim over the next two weeks.

Before this past two-week stretch, the playoffs were a long shot at best for the Gulls. Now it looks like they are completely out of the picture. Mathematically they can still make it, but it would take a truly herculean effort down the stretch. Instead, I think for the final month and a half of the season we’re more likely to see a number of players called up from San Diego to Anaheim to give them a taste of the NHL.

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March 4th, 2024