The National Hockey League has moved like a glacier at times, particularly during the era of the 1950s and 1960s when it ruled the ice as North America’s lone major league.
Integration was slow to come to the superpower league, then dominated by the Original Six franchises, which held players in near-servitude with relatively meager salaries and almost non-existent free agency.
The upstart World Hockey Association, which faced off in 1972 and battled the NHL head-to-head for seven seasons, challenged that with a brash new outlook – not only in terms of escalated player salaries but other new ideas such as importing European talent, signing under-age Junior hockey players and adding overtime to settle tied games. San Diego was home to one of its franchises when the Mariners entertained local hockey fans with their brand of major league hockey for three seasons from 1974-78.
The Mariners clearly weren’t the region’s long beloved minor league Gulls, who had endeared themselves to local fans from 1966-74 in the long-defunct Western Hockey League. But the Mariners did something minor league teams couldn’t do; they brought bon afide major league superstars to the arena. Hockey Hall of Fame legends Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull played in San Diego in the WHA. Then there was the Mariners’ own magician, Andre Lacroix, who would end his career as the WHA’s all-time leading scorer.
Lacroix won WHA scoring titles in 1973 and 1975 and tallied more than 100 points in each of his three seasons in San Diego. In 1974-75, he racked up 106 assists – the professional record at the time.
Only Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux have joined Lacroix by scoring 100 assists in a season.
In fact, Lacroix scored 100 points in six consecutive seasons.
The NHL ignored the fledgling WHA at first but eventually realized the two leagues couldn’t co-exist in a continued bidding war for playing talent. The senior league absorbed the four remaining WHA teams during the 1978-79 season as expansion clubs, and also eventually adopted some of its rules (in an adapted way, of course).
As Swedes, Finns, Czechs and Russians made their way onto NHL playing rosters, the game itself grew a bit more exciting, and not just because of the new imports. The NHL added an overtime period.
The WHA had employed a 10-minute overtime period; the NHL settled on five minutes to settle its ties.
It all seemed rather daring at the time, but which now seems perfectly logical to anyone watching a hockey game.
The NHL had used overtime prior to World War II, but it took more than 40 years to reinstate it, beginning in the 1983-84 season.
Since then, rules have been tweaked to even more modern sensibilities and it seems the excitement never stops when regular season games at any level of hockey end in a tie.
And both teams emerge as winners in a way.
Since 1995, American Hockey League has awarded a point for an overtime loss. In 1998, the AHL further amended its overtime rule to four-on-four skaters and a goaltender.
The move was popular and adopted by both the NHL and the ECHL the following season.
Previously, games that ended in an overtime tie remained as ties. But that changed when lower minor leagues began to employ shootouts to break ties.
The shootouts took place immediately after regulation play, with one additional point award to the winner and one point to the loser
In 2000, the East Cost Hockey League adopted the AHL’s four-on-four overtime tiebreaker, but kept the shootout to break overtime ties.
Five-round shootouts have since been replaced by three-round shootouts in both the AHL and NHL, starting in 2014-15.
The NHL has made overtime even more daring after switching to a three-on-three overtime format this season. The AHL had utilized it to great success the previous season.
And everyone, it seems, has agreed so.
The Sweetwater district-sponsored CIF-Metro Conference high school inline hockey league had employed a modest five-minute sudden-victory overtime period to settle tie games for the past several seasons until adopting the new three-on-three OT format this season.
Southwest High School coach and district liaison Jerry Nestlerode didn’t have to wait long to see it put to use. The Raiders lost, 5-4, to the Castle Park Trojans via the new overtime rule to face off the 2015-16 season.
Several other games were decided in overtime over the course of the season, which ended with the top-seeded Westview Wolverines hoisting the Kiwanis Cup trophy following their 13-3 victory against third-seeded Cathedral Catholic on March 2.
“It’s a bit of a change,” Nestlerode explained. “You have more scoring chances, it favors the offense because there’s a lot more open space. You’ve got to be more responsible defensively. There’s more emphasis on goaltender play. They have to be on their toes.”
The intent at the professional level for the introduction of fewer skaters on the ice in overtime was to reduce the number of games that proceeded into a shootout following a tie game in overtime.
The three-on-three format, as opposed to the previous four-on-four overtime format adopted by the NHL, obviously favors offense.
The biggest winners have been the fans, who have whole-heartedly stamped their approval on the move to the three-on-three format with the words “pure excitement.”
The wide-open offensive, back-and-forth nature dictated by the format has turned even the most dull game into an instant thrill-ride.
The AHL had 75 percent of its games that extended beyond regulation decided in overtime last season – nearly double when the league used a five-minute, four-on-four format.
San Diego Gulls head coach Dallas Eakins can certainly attest to the excitement level (from a fan’s standpoint) and the nerve-racking level (from a coach’s standpoint) after the Gulls have skated to overtime decisions in their last four AHL Pacific Division contests (winning three of them).
Last Friday’s 6-5 overtime win over the visiting Bakersfield Condors had to count among the most exciting games during the team’s inaugural AHL campaign in San Diego. Certainly, the 11,168 fans in attendance got their money’s worth.
The teams combined for seven goals in the first period (four by the Condors) and combined for 10 goals at the end of regulation play.
Bakersfield scored the game’s jump goal and proceeded to build at 4-2 lead before the Gulls began to play more urgently in a bid to battle back. The hosts tied the game on three occasions before finally winning it on a goal by Chris Wagner 3:20 into the five-minute overtime period.
The Gulls’ only lead of the game came on Wagner’s game-winning OT goal.
Wagner, who tallied twice in the game, received the game’s first star award.
Prior to Wagner’s game-winner, the Condors hit the crossbar and forced San Diego netminder Anton Khudobin to make two crucial saves, one of which was miraculously cleared off the goal line.
Heart-stopping action, no question.
Eakins admitted his team pushed all the buttons during the frenzied game that featured 71 total shots.
“Frustrating, emotional – we hadn’t had a game like that in a while,” the San Diego coach explained. “All the games we had played of late had been under control, more methodical. It was like riding a roller-coaster at Disneyland.”
Just three days earlier, the Gulls had defeated the Condors, 4-3, in overtime in Bakersfield after relinquishing a 3-1 lead in the third period. However, Stefan Noesen rescued San Diego with a breakaway goal 3:40 into overtime in front of a sellout crowd of 8,000 in Rabobank Arena.
The Gulls recorded one of their biggest wins to date by edging the division-leading Ontario Reign, 2-1, Saturday evening on the road. Mike Sgarbossa netted the game-winner 3:42 into overtime after the teams had deadlocked 1-1 in regulation.
The win over Ontario, the Gulls’ biggest rival this season, continued an amazing streak that has the Gulls sporting a 25-0-0 record when leading after two periods.
Eakins said the three-on-three OT tiebreaker sits well with him.
“I love it for the game,” he said. “It definitely makes it more exciting for the game three-on-three, obviously at this level through to the NHL. It’s exciting really to watch. I feel the biggest advantage is offensively. It doesn’t take much to open up the ice and get a chance.”
The Gulls’ overtime odyssey began on March 5 when the Gulls dropped a 5-4 OT decision to the visiting Stockton Heat.
The Gulls scored just 56 seconds into the game but fell behind 3-2 by the end of the first period. The Heat scored just 3:11 into the second period, which prompted the exit for San Diego starting goaltender Matt Hackett. Khudobin kept Stockton off the scoreboard as the Gulls battled back to send the game into overtime on goals by Sgarbossa and Chris Mueller.
However, the Heat managed to pull out the extra point on the strength of Emile Poirier’s tally at 2:34 of the tiebreaker to deny the 7,399 fans a chance to see a shootout.
“I think we let our foot off the pedal in that one,” Eakins noted.
What the four overtime games have done is help the Gulls pile up precious points in their quest to solidify a playoff berth. The win over Ontario allowed the Gulls to surpass the 64 points the team accumulated last season as the Norfolk Admirals with 13 games left on the team’s 68-game regular season schedule.
The Gulls are currently riding a season best 10-game points streak (8-0-1-1) and have collected points in 12 of their past 13 games (10-1-1-1).
The Gulls return to home ice for games Wednesday (against San Antonio) and Friday (against Bakersfield) before hitting the road for four games to end the month that could well decide their playoff positioning.
The Gulls (31-20-2-2, 0.600 points-percentage) currently find themselves just 0.009 percentage points behind the second place Texas Stars (35-21-5-3, 0.609 points-percentage) in the Pacific Division standings. That’s essentially the equivalent to one game in baseball, basketball or football standings.
The Gulls also have a five-point lead in the division standings over the fourth place San Jose Barracuda (26-21-6-3, 0.545 points-percentage). San Jose, in turn, has a tenuous two-point lead over fifth place Bakersfield (26-22-5-2, 0.536 points-percentage). The Condors sit five points, in turn, ahead of sixth place Stockton (25-24-2-2, 0.509 points-percentage) as the race for a Calder Cup playoff berth intensifies over each team’s final dozen games or so of regular season play.
Only the top three Pacific Division teams would qualify for the Calder Cup playoffs if the season ended today.
Ontario continues to lead the division but, with three games left on its schedule against the Gulls, first place may not be sewed up yet for the Reign, which won last season’s Calder Cup championship as the Manchester Monarchs before the move west to create the AHL’s new Pacific Division.
The Gulls have captured six of the teams’ nine meetings thus far this season against the reigning AHL champions.
Tailfeathers
Mueller, who has moved into the Gulls’ scoring lead, has racked up 21 points (10 goals, 11 assists) in his last 16 games. Mueller leads the Gulls in team scoring with 47 points (17 goals, 30 assists).
San Diego defenseman Brandon Montour, who ranks second in team scoring with 45 points, leads all AHL rookies with 36 assists and 27 power play points.
Despite the two wins over Bakersfield, the Condors still hold a 13-10 lead in points in the teams’ 12-game series with two games remaining, both in San Diego.
Nick Ritchie, who started the season with the Gulls and led the team in goal-scoring until his most recent call-up to Anaheim, scored his first NHL goal in Monday’s 7-1 win over the New Jersey Devls. Ritchie, a Ducks No. 1 draft pick, has one goal and one assist to his credit in 25 NHL games this season.
Getting inline
Southwest’s Nestlerode termed the CIF-Metro Conference’s 2015-16 campaign “another successful season.”
“I thought overall it went really well – I really enjoyed it,” he said. “Every team got at least two wins and every team had at least two losses. There were some good championship races throughout the leagues. Congratulations to Otay Ranch for winning the Mesa League and Chula Vista for winning the South Bay League.
There is some parity showing, which makes it exciting.”
Gulls to host Learn to Play clinics beginning in April
The San Diego Gulls of the American Hockey League will host several Learn to Play clinics at local rinks beginning in April.
The first clinic, each of which has four sessions, will take place at Poway Ice Arena (12455 Kerran St. #100, Poway) with sessions on Saturdays, April 9, 16, 23 and 30 from 3:15-4:15 p.m.
Additional clinics will be held at Poway Ice Arena on Saturdays, May 14, 21, June 4 and 11 from 3:15-4:15 p.m. and at Carlsbad Icetown (2283 Cosmos Ct., Carlsbad) on Sundays, April 10, 17, 24 and May 1 from 10:15-11:15 a.m. More sessions will be added in the near future.
The San Diego Gulls Learn to Play program, like the Anaheim Ducks Learn to Play program in Orange County, is designed for new hockey players with little or no hockey experience.
Staff from The Rinks, an affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks and San Diego Gulls, as well as coaches from local rinks and host venues, will review the basics of skating as well as fundamentals of hockey such as shooting, passing and stickhandling. Learn to Play programs are designed for players under the age of 12 and include all necessary equipment, at no cost to the participant.
“We are very excited to bring our Learn to Play program to San Diego,” said Ari Segal, Gulls President of Business Operations and Special Assistant to the CEO of the Anaheim Ducks. “Increasing access to hockey, exposing new people – especially young kids – to our sport, and having a positive impact in local communities are not only core organizational values of both the Anaheim Ducks and San Diego Gulls, but also critical aspects of our strategic plan to grow the sport regionally. We are thrilled to partner with Poway Ice Arena, Carlsbad Icetown, and other local rinks to enable hundreds of San Diego County kids to try the sport of ice hockey at no cost whatsoever.”
Participants in the San Diego Gulls Learn to Play program will be provided with an equipment bag, helmet, shin guards, hockey pants, elbow pads, shoulder pads, gloves and a jersey to use for the four-week session in order to be fully protected on the ice. The use of full hockey equipment provides protection and allows the participant to feel like a real hockey player, wearing all of the necessary hockey gear.
“Our programs have had great success in Orange County and we are excited to bring that proven model to San Diego,” said Art Trottier, The Rinks Vice President. “With three NHL teams and five AHL teams in California, we are committed to continuing to grow the sport at the grass roots level, and there’s no better place to start that than with our youth, the next generation of hockey players and fans.”
For more information, visit www.sandiegogulls.com/learntoplay.
Second place Gulls face off stretch run for Calder Cup playoffs
Every point is precious at this time of the season in the American Hockey League – the San Diego Gulls know that, as do the San Jose Barracuda, Bakersfield Condors and Stockton Heat, teams that are currently looking to unseat the Gulls from a Calder Cup playoff berth.
The Gulls flew into second place in the Pacific Division standings by virtue of a 6-2 win over the visiting San Antonio Rampage on March 16. The Gulls have soared in recent weeks and extended their points streak to 11 consecutive games while picking up their fourth consecutive victory.
The loss was the seventh straight for San Antonio, which continues to occupy the Pacific Division cellar. San Diego swept the season series against the Rampage 6-0.
While it seems San Antonio is merely counting the losses (er, games) until it is finally eliminated from the Calder Cup playoffs, neither San Jose, Bakersfield or Stockton have given up hope of qualifying for post-season play.
San Jose currently sits in fourth place but recently swapped places with Bakersfield following a Condors win. Those three teams are separated by just six points in the division standings: Bakersfield is two points behind San Jose and Stockton is four arrears of Bakersfield (with an extra game to play).
The Condors certainly showed why they aren’t quite extinct yet in the playoff race by ending the Gulls’ 11-game points streak with a 7-5 victory on foreign ice on March 18. Bakersfield, clawing for every goal and every point in the standings, opened up an early 3-1 lead and later extended that lead to 5-1 on goals by California native Matt Ford (his 24th of the season) and a breakaway tally by teammate Philip McRae, his fifth of the season, as the visitors chased starter Anton Khudobin from the game (after making 14 saves on 18 shots).
The hosts had a chance to get back in the game with a three-minute power play after Condor Jujhar Khaira was handed a match penalty for a vicious upper body hit on Gulls leading scorer Chris Mueller.
Bakersfield would push its lead to 6-2 midway through the third period before the Gulls finally found their scoring touch.
Andrew O’Brien scored his second goal of the game, with assists to Matt Bailey and Antoine Laganiere with 8:45 to play.
The game took on a wild finish in the final minute as the hosts scored twice in a 15-second span to trim the Bakersfield lead to 6-5.
The Gulls crept to within 6-4 on the scoreboard with 59 seconds to play when rookie Brandon Montour’s blast deflected off recently acquired teammate Corey Tropp.
The hosts continued to battle for possession of the puck and Nic Kerdiles managed to poke in a loose puck in a goalmouth scramble with 44 seconds to play in the game.
San Diego head coach Dallas Eakins pulled goaltender Matt Hackett with 30 seconds to play but the Gulls couldn’t get the top quality shot they desired on Condors netminder Ty Rimmer and, when the puck floated to the boards, Bakersfield’s Ryan Hamilton picked up the black biscuit and skated in alone on the empty net to finalize the Condors’ win with an empty net tally with just 13 seconds remaining in the game.
Eakins said the game was one of lucky bounces for both teams. “They got theirs in the first period and we got ours in the third period,” he said. “In the third period, we finally found ourselves. I thought the third was probably our most urgent period.
“I think the luck went against us early. You can talk about systems and work ethic and all that stuff in games but there, at times, is an element of luck. I thought early on we were the victim of some bad luck and that’s going to happen because we’ve on a roll for the last 14 or 15 games. I think we had a lot of luck in our favor (in those games) and, at the end of this game, it started to happen again. We were Johnny on the spot and able to make it interesting.
“We’re never out of the fight. I don’t care if we’re down 10-0 … we expect certain things from our group. Even if we’re down, our guys understand that; they believe we have a chance to come back and win.”
However, Eakins didn’t dwell on the setback as he said his team had “bigger fish to fry” the following night (March 19) in Ontario against the first place Reign. The Gulls quickly got back in the winning column with a 4-1 win on hostile ice in front of a near-sellout crowd of 9,169 fans.
The Gulls opened up a 3-0 lead on goals by Tropp (1:25 into the first period), Ondrej Kase (1:33 into the second period) and Laganiere (9:37 into the third period) before the hosts could get on the scoreboard on a goal by Derek Forbort with 8:39 remaining in the final period.
Stefan Noesen finally put the Reign out of reach by tallying an empty net goal with 13 seconds to play in the final period.
The victory was important in that the Gulls have not lost back-to-back games since late January.
The game in Ontario was the first of four consecutive road games for the Gulls to end the month of March. San Diego takes on San Jose in a pair of pivotal contests Saturday (March 26) and Sunday (March 27) at the SAP Center. A weekend sweep wouldn’t push the Barracuda ahead of the Gulls, but it would draw the NHL San Jose Sharks’ top affiliate closer to the third place Texas Stars in the division standings and drop the Gulls back into a wide-open battle for a playoff spot.
San Diego, which now sports a record of 33-21-2-2 (0.603 points-percentage), closes out its four-game road swing with a game in Stockton on March 30. The Heat (27-26-2-2, 0.509 points-percentage) hasn’t been extinguished yet in the playoff race and will be looking to pick up every conceivable point until the curtain finally drops on the 2015-16 season.
Stockton handed the Gulls a 5-4 overtime defeat on March 5 to pick up two valuable points in the standings.
San Jose is 27-21-7-3 (0.552 points-percentage) while Bakersfield is 27-23-6-3 (0.534 points-percentage). Texas is 35-23-6-3 (0.590 points-percentage).
Eakins said the games between all the Gulls’ new California rivals are really too close to call as the teams wage an all-out war for playoff positioning.
“Regardless of where the teams are in the division, coming from the bottom or near the top, all the games have been closely contested,” Eakins explained. “There have been instant rivalries. The pace of the games has been great. It’s been an excellent move for the American Hockey League.”
San Diego, which has already assured itself of a winning season in 2015-16, remains one of the hottest teams in the entire league at the moment. The Gulls improved to 14-3-1-1 in their last 19 games after clinching the season series against the Reign.
While defending Calder Cup champion Ontario remains the team to beat in the Pacific Division, one has to wonder if the Gulls could be in the mix for a league championship in their inaugural season in San Diego.
Mueller, who leads the team in season scoring with 49 points (18 goals, 31 assists) in 56 games, won a Calder Cup championship with the Texas Stars during the 2013-14 season. When asked that question, it didn’t catch him off guard.
“It’s a process, it doesn’t just happen,” Mueller stated up front. “You need depth and I think we have that right now. We need four lines to go out every shift and do their job, understand their role. Sometimes they’re going to be called on to score goals and sometimes they’re going to be called on to shut the other team’s top line down.
“If we can look at each other and establish those roles, if our forwards play responsible, because we know we have the scoring touch, we just have to know we got to play both ends of the ice, help our defense keep their gaps and keep their confidence. Our goalie (Anton Khudobin) is a veteran goalie, so I know he knows what to do.
“You’ve got to understand what it takes. At this point of the year, in the playoffs, points individually don’t mean anything — only wins. If a team figures that out, buys into the system, that’s kind of what it takes. Depth is one thing, and we do have that, but we’ve got to just put it together. We’re on a roll here, we’re confident, and that’s what you kind of want to bring into the playoffs. Right now we’re doing the right things.”
But Mueller – with 52 NHL games to his credit with the Nashville Predators, Dallas Stars, New York Rangers and Anaheim Ducks — acknowledged the Stars held many advantages during that 2013-14 championship season, including a top 48-18-3-7 record and league best 106 points.
“That was a special team,” Mueller noted. “We were the best through the entire year. We were in first place, we won the President’s trophy, we won the Western Conference, our division, everything.
“We had some special players, some special goalies and defensemen – a lot of them are up in Dallas right now because of that team and how good it was and how confident they played. But we started hot early. Our power play was good and there was confidence.
“I kind of see the same thing (with the Gulls). We started off great here, then we went through some injuries, now we kind of got our full team, and it’s a confident team. I think once you have that confidence, along with responsibility, you can go a long way.
“With that Texas team, we knew we were going to win every game and, when we didn’t, we weren’t happy. That’s kind of the mindset right now. It took a little bit to get the culture of this is a winning organization. Losing is not an option. It doesn’t matter if we win 10 in a row, if we lose that 11th game that’s not OK. Right now we have that confidence and we have that focus. We’ve got to carry that into the playoffs and we’ll be OK.”
Mueller’s recipe for post-season success would apply to all the other contending teams as well.
The Gulls center also suggested that there really is not much of an advantage for teams, regardless of where they are seeded, once the playoffs face off.
“That first round is a funny round because it’s only five games,” Mueller explained, “so you can’t ease up, you can’t think I’m the No. 1 seed and I’m going to beat the lowest seed. I don’t think there is an advantage. Ontario is one and we’re technically six (in the Western Conference) and we beat Ontario seven out of 10 games.
“In the playoffs — you see that in the NHL, you see that in the AHL — any team can win if you don’t focus, if you don’t bring it, so I don’t see an advantage as far as seeds. But I do believe that we play very well at home. Our crowd is unbelievable. You’ve got to think for the playoffs that they’ll put 11,000 to 12,000 in here and we feed off that energy. If we can climb the ladder to get home-ice advantage that would be the advantage that we would get.
As of yet, however, none of the seven Pacific Division teams has clinched a playoff berth with 10 regular season games remaining for most of the concerned teams.
Ontario is on the brink of becoming the first team in the division to punch its ticket to the Calder Cup playoffs by lowering its magic number to three after recording a key 5-2 win in Bakersfield on Tuesday (March 22).
The Gulls’ magic number to clinch a playoff berth stands at 14 heading into this weekend’s two-game set in the Bay Area. Meanwhile, Texas needs 15 points to qualify for post-season play while San Jose needs 20 points.
Bakersfield and Stockton need more help. The Condors’ magic number to clinch a playoff berth is 23 while the Heat’s magic number is 27. Both teams can still mathematically catch the teams immediately ahead of them, but it would require quite a dramatic ending to the season to accomplish that. Both teams would need to win virtually all their remaining regular season games while a total collapse occurs in San Diego, Texas or San Jose.
The Heat finds itself on the hot seat with three games against Ontario and another against the Gulls in its upcoming four games.
Besides the other California teams to worry about, the five California teams also have to keep track of what the Charlotte Checkers are doing in the AHL’s Central Division. The fifth place team in the Central Division will take the place of the fourth place team in the Pacific Division standings if it has a better points-percentage due to the uneven number of games played.
As of March 23, the Checkers (0.553 points-percentage) would edge San Jose (0.552 points-percentage) by 0.001 percentage-point for the final playoff berth in the Pacific Division. It remains too close to call at present and might come down to the final regular season game to decide just which teams are in and which teams are out.
But stranger things have happened and one might expect the unexpected in this inaugural Pacific Division playoff race.
Top shelf
Ontario’s Sean Backman tops all scorers on the Pacific Division’s five California teams with 52 points on 20 goals and 32 assists. Texas’ Brendan Ranford is the division leader with 53 points on 17 goals and 36 assists. San Antonio rookie Mikko Rantanen has 52 points on 21 goals and 31 assists.
San Diego defenseman Brandon Montour continues to lead all AHL rookies in assists (39) and ranks second among league defensemen with 49 points.
Bakersfield’s Brad Hunt ranks ninth among AHL blue-liners with 37 points (10 goals, 27 assists).
Making the save
Ontario’s Peter Budaj leads all AHL goaltenders with 36 wins.
San Jose’s Aaron Dell has fashioned a 2.37 GAA and 0.923 save percentage in 31 appearances while collecting 13 wins.
San Diego’s Anton Khudobin is 17-6-1 with a 2.48 GAA and 0.918 save percentage.
What’s trending
Stockton’s Derek Grant is back on the ice – and scoring goals again – after nearly a six-week layoff due to a broken jaw. Grant made a triumphant return, in fact, by scoring a pair of goals in a 5-1 win over the Iowa Wild on March 18. Grant opened the season with 23 goals in 30 games with Stockton before incurring the injury. He now has improved that to 26 goals in 34 games – the best by any player on the AHL’s five California teams.
Bakersfield’s Matt Ford is right behind Grant with 25 goals in 54 games while the Heat’s Hunter Shinkaruk has tallied 25 goals in 57 games with both Stockton and Utica this season. Ontario’s Michael Mersch has 21 goals in 42 games.
San Diego had its 11-game points streak snapped in the March 18 loss to Bakersfield. During that span, the Gulls went 9-0-1-1 to collect a valuable 20 points. Included in that stretch were four consecutive overtime games in which San Diego managed to pull out three wins.
The spate of OT games began with a 5-4 loss to visiting Stockton on March 5, followed by a 4-3 win in Bakersfield on March 8, a 6-5 win over the visiting Condors on March 11 and a 2-1 overtime win in Ontario on March 12. Game-winners for the Gulls went to Stefan Noesen, Chris Wagner and Mike Sgarbossa.
San Diego and Ontario are both 8-1-1-0 in their last 10 games while trying to keep pace in the Calder Cup playoff race are San Jose (5-4-1-0), Bakersfield (3-3-4-0), Stockton (4-5-1-0), Texas (3-4-3-0) and San Antonio (2-8-0-0).
Overall, San Diego is 14-3-1-1 in its last 19 games.
Pacific Division standings
Through March 23: Ontario Reign 38-15-4-1, 0.698 points-percentage; San Diego Gulls 33-21-2-2, 0.603 points-percentage; Texas Stars 35-23-6-3, 0.590 points-percentage; San Jose Barracuda 27-21-7-3, 0.552 points-percentage; Bakersfield Condors 27-23-6-2, 0.534 points-percentage; Stockton Heat 27-26-2-2, 0.509 points-percentage; San Antonio Rampage 26-33-8-0, 0.448 points-percentage.
— Phillip Brents
Game report: Gulls 6, Rampage 2
The host Gulls snapped one streak but extended another in sweeping the season series against the Rampage on Wednesday (March 16). The regulation victory snapped a run of four consecutive overtime games by the Gulls (including three wins by San Diego) and pushed the Gulls’ amazing record to 26-0-0-0 when leading after two periods.
The win, coupled with a 4-1 loss by the Texas Stars to the Grand Rapids Griffins, moved the San Diegans into sole possession of second place in the Pacific Division standings by 0.007 percentage points ahead of the Stars.
The Gulls (30-20-2-2) scored the game’s jump goal at the 12:57 mark when Chris Wagner finished off a breakaway by deftly moving the puck from one side of his stick blade to the other to beat Rampage goaltender Reto Berra. Prior passes from Corey Tropp and Brandon Montour set up Wagner’s breakaway.
San Antonio tied game with 4:45 left in the period when San Diego netminder Anton Khodobin stopped an initial breakaway before the puck caromed over to Rampage center Garry Nunn, who then tucked the puck between Khodobin’s skate and the post.
Nikko Rantanen and teammate Dennis Everberg received credit for assists on the play.
Players cleared center ice with 3:47 left in the opening period when the Gulls forward Brian McGrattan and Rampage right wing Daniel Maggio threw off their gloves to engage in a bout of fisticuffs. The pairing was a rematch of their dubious on-ice battle Jan. 20 in San Antonio when Maggio knocked McGrattan out cold.
Rampage fans cheered as McGrattan lay motionless on the ice after being knocked unconscious. McGrattan got the better of Maggio in the return engagement in San Diego.
McGrattan knocked the helmet off Maggio before landing several solid blows to the upper body before Maggio could finally respond. McGrattasn then took Maggio to the ice before game officials finally broke off the skirmish between the two.
Both players received five minutes for fighting, though McGrattan was tagged with an additional 10-minute misconduct penalty. The Valley View Casino Center crowd of 5,934 cheered wildly for their avenging hero.
The Gulls managed to kill off the brunt of a penalty late in the game as the teams skated to a 1-1 deadlock after the first 20 minutes. San Diego held a 13-12 advantage in shots on goal after holding a much wider edge earlier in the period.
The Gulls did manage to significantly widen their lead in the second period by tallying the opening three goals of the stanza against Roman Will, who entered the game after Berra suffered a lower body injury late in the first period.
Ondrej Kase made it 2-1 San Diego 3:47 into the period when he capitalized on passes from teammates Chris Mueller and Nic Kardiles.
Montour then ripped off a laser shot just inside the blue line at the 7:17 mark to extend the Gulls’ lead to 3-1. Assists went to Jaycob Megna and Antoine Leganiere.
Kardiles may have scored the prettiest goal of the rampage when he netted a shorthanded goal with 5:56 to play in the period to increased the Gulls lead to 4-1
Teammate Matt Bailey, sneaking in to the circle to Will’s right, had his initial shot blocked. But the puck bounced back to Kardiles at the left post, who promptly put the rebound away. Shea Theodore also picked up an assist on the goal.
Tropp had been serving penalty for goaltender interference and San Antonio ripped off five shots when its power play resumed. However, defensive clears by Kardiles and Montour denied the visitors from finding the cage.
The Gulls had a chance to build on their lead even further when they went on the power play but couldn’t pick a corner despite several scoring chances.
Continued pressure paid off in the third period as the hosts deposited two more goals into the San Antonio net to extend their lead to 6-1.
Chris Mueller wasted little time by scoring a power play goal just 59 seconds into the third period to log his 18th goal of the season.
McGrattan concluded a memorable night by tipping in a shot at the 3:51 mark of the period off passes from Andrew O’Brien and Antoine Laganiere.
San Antonio scored a power play goal by Cody Corbett with 7:30 left to trim the hosts’ lead to four goals, but it was much too little, much too late to rescue the division-dwelling Rampage.
McGrattan received the No. 1 star of the game honors while Kerdiles was voted the No. 2 star and Montour was named the game’s No. 3 star.
“It was nice to get one of those games when you can breathe behind the bench,” San Diego head coach Dallas Eakins summed up after the game.
— Phillip Brents
Game report: Bakersfield 7, Gulls 5
The visiting Condors (27-22-5-2, 0.545 points-percentage) clinched the season series between the teams – 15 points to 10 – and also temporarily moved into fourth place in the division standings with 12 regular season games to play. Zach Boychuk earned first star of the game honors with a goal and assist while Philip McRae, who scored what proved to be the game-winning goal on a breakaway – a backhanded shot under the crossbar – received the game’s No. 3 star.
The visitors led 5-1 at the end of the second period but had to sweat out a late charge by the hosts, who scored twice in the final minute to close to within 6-5 on the scoreboard. Andrew O’Brien, who scored two goals for the Gulls, earned the game’s second star. Mike Sgarbossa, Corey Tropp and Nic Kerdiles each scored single goals for San Diego. Tropp’s goal, his first as a Gull, came on a deflected blast by rookie Brandon Montour with 59 seconds to play; Kerdiles then tipped in a loose puck 15 seconds later to make it a one-goal game and electrify the home fans.
The Gulls pulled their goaltender with 30 seconds to play but Bakersfield’s Ryan Hamilton scored into an empty net with 13 seconds left to seal with win for the Condors.
The teams combined for 66 shots, with San Diego holding a 34-32 advantage despite ending up on the losing end.
Bogdan Yakimov, Josh Currie, Matt Ford and Rob Klinkhammer also scored for the Condors, who improved to 3-1-2 over their last six games. Bakersfield improved to 6-2-2-1 in games against the Gulls with one regular season match-up between the teams remaining in San Diego on April 6.
— Phillip Brents
Game report: Gulls 4, Ontario 1
San Diego netminder Anton Khudobin out-dueled Ontario’s Peter Budaj, the top netminder in the 30-team AHL, by making saves on 22 of 23 shots. Khudobin, who improved to 17-6-1 on the season, received support from teammates Corey Tropp, Antoine Laganiere and Ondrej Kase, each of whom scored timely goals to stake the visitors to a 3-0 lead early in the third period.
The Gulls out-shot the Reign 28-23, with Budaj (36-11-1) making stops on 24 of 27 shots faced.
Reign makes history as first California team to secure Calder Cup playoff berth
Ontario became the first team in the Western Conference to clinch a playoff berth when the Gulls sank San Jose, 3-1, on March 27, thus assuring the Reign no worse than a fourth-place finish in the Pacific Division standings.
Ontario, with a record of 39-16-4-1 (83 points, 0.692 points-percentage), joins the Toronto Marlies as the first two teams to secure Calder Cup playoff berths. Fourteen more spots are up for grabs with three weeks remaining in the AHL’s regular season.
The Reign becomes the first California-based team to advance to the Calder Cup playoffs in league history after the move west from Manchester, N.H,. as the Los Angeles Kings’ top affiliate. While in Manchester, the then Monarchs qualified for postseason play 13 times in 14 years, winning last spring’s Calder Cup championship.
