Cancer remains the second leading cause of death in the United States after heart disease. It is the leading cause of death among people younger than 85 years.
More than 600,000 people died from the disease in 2022 — a rate of 182.5 people per 100,000.
The death rate is higher among men than women.
Breast cancer accounts for 16 percent of cancers, followed by prostate cancer (15 percent), lung and bronchus (12 percent), colon and rectum (eight percent).
The disease doesn’t appear to discriminate. More than 2 million new cases were projected to occur in 2024.
Colorectal cancer was the fourth-leading cause of death among both men and women in the late 1990s and is now first in men and second in women in that age group.
Ninety percent of cancer cases are caused by environmental factors.
The American Cancer Society provides community outreach programs, such as Relay For Life. Susan G. Komen is a well-known breast cancer organization in the United States.
Everyone in every community throughout the United States is involved in fighting this terrible disease.
That includes church groups, school projects, businesses … and professional sports leagues.
The National Hockey League, and many of its American Hockey League development franchises, support the Hockey Fights Cancer charitable initiative that helps raise funds for game-changing cancer research and support for cancer patients and their families. The program, which dates to 1998, had raised more than $14 million through 2015.
It continues going strong.
The San Diego Gulls have been active in his noteworthy endeavor through the San Diego Gulls Foundation, the AHL club’s community outreach arm. Many NHL and AHL teams host team awareness events in November, though the calendar of events can stretch into February.
Last Saturday’s Gulls Hockey Fights Cancer Night attracted 6,947 fans to Pechanga Arena San Diego as the hometown Gulls hosted the Tucson Roadrunners.
As per custom, fans had a chance to lend their personal support in fighting the heart-wrenching disease by filling out placards with the names of loved ones who have either lost their battle with cancer or are currently fighting it. The lights inside the arena dimmed at one point to allow fans to light up the event with their cell phones in a surreal and electric moment.
Gulls players wore specialty-themed jerseys throughout the game. The Gulls Foundation hosted an auction featuring autographed player-worn jerseys that each featured a cancer ribbon patch on the front personally selected by each player to represent the fight against a type of cancer for which they would like to raise awareness.
Ribbon colors include lavender (all cancer), pink (breast cancer), blue (prostate cancer), gold (childhood cancer) and gray (lung or brain cancer).
Gulls elite member Patty Millsap, a 40-year cancer survivor, sang the National Anthem.
An avid observer and scribe, I became an active participant at last Saturday’s event by filling out placards for both my father Bill and my younger sister Jenny. It seemed my solemn duty.
Bill Brents was a longtime assembler at Rohr Industries in Chula Vista; Jenny attended Sweetwater High School.
My father was a smoker whose retirement was cut short by several years, if not by a decade, from lung cancer. My sister also succumbed to lung cancer even though she was not a smoker. She had just reached minimum retirement age. Her biggest regret was not seeing her grandchildren grow up to be parents on their own.
Photographer and Eastlake resident Paul Martinez also filled out a card for his grandfather Paul at the game.
Pain knows no boundaries.
More information, including local offices, can be found at the American Cancer Society’s website at cancer.org.
On a wing
The Gulls have three more home dates in January, including Saturday’s Lunar New Year contest against the Pacific Division-leading Calgary Wranglers and two games against the Toronto Marlies on Jan. 29 and Jan. 31.
GULLS FAIL TO GAIN GROUND ON TEAMS AHEAD OF THEM IN THE AHL PACIFIC DIVISION STANDINGS
If the Gulls are to move up the American Hockey League’s Pacific Division standings, they will have to beat the teams ahead of them. No better opportunity was presented to them than this past weekend’s two-game series Friday (Jan. 10) and Saturday (Jan. 11) against the visiting Tucson Roadrunners.
Friday’s game was the second on a current five-game homestand and followed on the heels of a 5-1 shellacking of the visiting Iowa Wild on Wednesday (Jan. 9).
The Gulls entered the weekend set against the Roadrunners in ninth place in the 10-team division standings — five points behind both the Abbotsford Canucks and Bakersfield Condors. The Gulls concluded the weekend seven points behind the Canucks (seventh place) and five points behind the Condors (eighth place) – and seven points ahead of the Henderson Silver Knights (10th place).
The top seven teams in the Pacific Division qualify for the Calder Cup playoffs.
The Gulls failed to gain ground on both Abbotsford and Bakersfield following the weekend split.
Gulls 3, Roadrunners 2
The Gulls drew first blood at 4:51 of the first period on an unassisted goal by Tyson Hinds, his third tally of the season. The Arizona visitors wasted little time in scoring the equalizing goal at 5:34, just 43 seconds later, as Egor Sokolov put the puck past San Diego start Oscar Dansk. The goal as Sokolov’s 12th of the season, assisted by Artem Duda (his 14th) and Cameron Hebig (his ninth).
Gulls captain Ryan Carpenter put the puck under the pads of Tucson starter Matthew Villalta at 9:34 off a perfect pass from the boards from Travis Howe. Hinds picked up the secondary assist. Pretty goal to push the hosts in front 2-1.
The goal was Carpenter’s seventh of the season while Howe recorded his first assist of the season and Hinds picked up his fourth.
The Gulls had out-shot the Roadrunners 11-4 with 6:14 to play in the opening period and ended the period with a 15-6 advantage.
The bulge was even greater in the second period as the hosts dominated with a commanding 24-8 edge in shots to lead 39-14 in that department through two periods.
The Gulls would hold onto their one-goal lead until Sasha Pastujov scored at 17:14 of the third period, assisted by Meyer and Hinds. The goal was the eighth of the season for Pastujov, the assist the seventh for Meyer and fifth for Hinds, as the hosts extended their lead to 3-1.
Max Szuber made it a 3-2 game with a late goal at 19:31, assisted by Sam Lipkin. The goal was the second of the season for Szuber and the assist the second of the season for Lipkin.
The Gulls otherwise had control of the game, save for a blip at the end.
Hinds earned first star honors with three points (one goal, two assists) while Dansk was the second star with 22 saves on 24 shots. Howe was the third star with one assist.
The Gulls out-shot the Roadrunners 45-24 in front of 6,219 on Educator Appreciation Night. Both teams were 0-for-1 on the power play.
The win pulled San Diego to within three points of Bakersfield, which dropped into eighth place. Abbotsford remained five points ahead of the Gulls in seventh place. The Gulls gained two points on Henderson to soar seven points ahead of the Silver Knights.
“I thought we did a strong job getting ourselves into the position to forecheck,” San Diego head coach Matt McIlvane said. “Tucson is also quite aggressive, and I really feel like that puts big onus on the wingers and our defensemen to be able to get by their pressure and set ourselves up with that ability to hunt. That unlocked our ability to be aggressive. And then from there, we were able to find ways to win pucks back.
“We’ve seen ourselves have some success, and to be able to find something sustainable is what we’re aiming at. We saw it at the beginning of December, and we’ve seen it in our homestand here. Our big focus is to be able to keep our foot on the gas. Hard to play against. Feels cliche, but it’s tangible in our locker room, and we know how it helps us to drive our success.
“Just need guys to step up. It’s the next guy up. Everybody’s got to play a little bit more, a little bit better, a little bit stronger, and that’s what guys are doing. And guys that have been out or in, they’ve taken advantage of the opportunity, and that’s what we have to continue to do.”
The three-point night (one goal, two assists) was a career high for Hinds.
“It’s just right spot, the right time, and then good place, too.,” he said. “From our forwards, I give all the credit to them. D zone, our last goal was beautiful too. It was guys at the right spot. We’re moving our feet and talking on the ice so it’s really helpful for breaking out the puck and making plays so really nice.”
Howe was making a return to the lineup following an injury.
“I think it’s just taking more pride playing in our building.,” he said. “We want to be the hardest team to play against, no matter where we are, but as long as we can start making the steps towards that, and I think we’re definitely doing that at home right now, and I couldn’t be happier with our effort. Everyone’s flying, everyone’s finishing checks, just making it impossible for anybody or any other team to get things going. It’s been fun to watch and I was just happy to be part of it.”
Roadrunners 4, Gulls 2
Saturday’s rematch featured a few lineup changes for both teams. Most notably, Gulls goaltender Calle Clang was injured and replaced by Vyacheslav Buteyets, up from Tulsa (ECHL).
The Roadrunners got on the scoreboard first as Sokolov, crashing the net, beat Dansk at 4:14 for his 13th goal of the season, assisted by Lleyton Moore and Ryan McGregor ss both players collected their third assists of the season.
Szuber scored an unassisted goal at 14:00 to double the Tucson lead. Szuber’s shot came from some distance away and surprised the crowd – and Dansk.
The hosts got one goal back in the dying seconds of the first period as Nico Myatovic scored his third goal of the season with just 11 seconds to play before the horn. Coulson Pitre and Carpenter drew the assists. The assist was Carpenter’s 11thand Pitre’s seventh.
Both teams ended the opening period with nine shots apiece.
There was only one goal scored in the second period despite heavy action (28 combined shots) by both teams. Meyer scored his sixth goal of the season at 13:27, assisted by Hinds and Pastujov, to knot the score at 2-all. The assist was the sixth for Hinds and the 10th for Pastujov.
The Gulls out-shot the Roadrunners 18-10 in the period for a two-period total of 27-19.
The Gulls have played eight overtime games this season. But a goal by Tucson’s Cameron Hebig (his 10th of the season) at 7:39 of the third period appeared to put the Gulls picking up at least one point in the standings in jeopardy. Sokolov picked up the primary assist, his 14thhelper of the season, while Robbie Russo recorded the secondary assist, his 15thof the season.
The Gulls pulled Dansk in favor of the extra attacker with 2:34 to play in regulation in a bid to tie the score and send the game into overtime. The Gulls created several chances while the visitors had two shots at the empty net go wide.
Tucson finally put the game away with 41.1 seconds to play as Kailer Yamamoto scored into the empty net, assisted by former Gull Andrew Agozzino and Austin Poganski. The goal was the 10th for Yamamoto while Agozzino recorded his 15th assist and Poganski his ninth.
The hosts piled up a modest 7-4 edge in shots in a much slower third period and finished the game, a 4-2 Tucson victory, with a 34-23 advantage.
“We weren’t happy with our start,” Carpenter said. “I think you have to give them credit. They came out and they played a really hard game, direct game, and I thought they outworked us, so they kind of deserved that lead. It was a big goal by Nico to get us back in late there in the first that gave us some momentum and some energy. I think that carried over into the second. We had a lot of shots and chances. Nice to tie it up. Disappointing to go into a 2-2 game at home, there’s the ones you want to find ways to get points and force overtime. You have to give their team credit. They played good tonight, too.
“With guys being called up, and just with a young team in general, it seems like there’s been some chemistry developing and a lot of the systems and the messaging that (head coach Matt McIlvane) is implementing with our team is starting to stick a little more and buy in. And so I thought overall, it wasn’t a perfect game, and especially the first but the way we competed, that’s what the messaging has been from the coaches, is making sure we’re hard to play against at home, and we’ll try to do that these next couple games.”
Gulls defenseman Dillon Heatherington played in his 500thcareer AHL game. Pastujov has now recorded points in 10 of his last 11 games (five goals, nine assists).
SDSU Aztecs hope better things in store as they skate into 2025
The San Diego State University Aztecs are set to face off the remaining portion of their respective 2024-25 seasons. They can only hope that the 2025 calendar year is more prosperous than the start.
SDSU has nine games remaining on its schedule and sits 0-14 in its first year in Western Collegiate Hockey League play.
The Aztecs (4-15-0-0-1) have been idle since dropping a pair of home games – 8-0 and 5-2 — at the Kroc Center Ice Arena Dec. 6-7 to the University of Utah. The Utes piled up a 60-23 shot advantage in the first game against two SDSU netminders. Liam Dee stopped 45 of 53 shots while Brody Hsaio smothered all seven shots he faced in 8:40.
Utah led 1-0 after the first period (23-5 shot advantage) before breaking open the game with six second period tallies.
The Utes again dominated the shot count in the rematch with a 68-24 edge. The visitors led 22-8 in shots in the first period but found themselves in a scoreless draw. Mason Brown opened scoring at 7:30 in the second period for a 1-0 SDSU lead, assisted by Marcus Kim. Brown scored an unassisted goal at 11:01 to push the Aztecs to a 2-0 lead.
Utah led in shots in the second period 23-8 and rallied with a pair of power play goals for a 2-2 draw through 40 minutes. Utah scored the only three goals in the third period. Hsiao racked up 63 saves on 68 shots in the setback while winner Lawrence Letey made 22 stops on 24 shots he faced.
Former SDSU goaltender Garrett Fuller did not face his former team in the two games.
Cameron Ferraz continues to lead SDSU in season scoring with 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) in 16 games, followed by Brown with 11 points (six goals, five assists) in 16 games and Lucas Bellig with 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in 20 games. Kim ranks fourth in team scoring with 10 points (one goal, nine assists) in 18 games.
SDSU resumes WCHL play with a pair of games Jan. 17-18 against the University of Oklahoma before traveling to Las Vegas for a pair of contests against nationally-ranked UNLV on Jan. 23-24.
The Aztecs host the University of Arizona Feb. 7-8 and UNLV Feb. 14-15. The final regular season game is Feb. 21 against UC San Diego at the Kroc Center.
UNLV is ranked third in the latest M1 ranking while Oklahoma is ranked 15th and Arizona is ranked 16th.
Several WCHL teams have favorable rankings to qualify for this year’s national championship tournament. Utah is ranked ninth while Grand Canyon University is ranked 13th.
In the least, local hockey fans will get to see some of the top club college teams to showcase themselves in upcoming games at the Kroc Center Ice Arena.
WCHL standings: UNLV 18-4-0-0-1-1, 37 points, Oklahoma 13-5-2-0-0-1, 29 points, Colorado 12-10-1-0-2-1, 26 points, Utah 11-3-0-0-1-1, 23 points, Missouri State 10-10-2-0-0-0, 22 points, Grand Canyon University 9-9-0-0-0-1, 19 points, Arizona 9-10-0-0-1-0, 18 points, Central Oklahoma 8-11-1-0-0-0, 17 points, Colorado State 7-9-2-0-1-0, 16 points, Arizona State 6-11-1-0-0-1, 14 points, SDSU 4-15-0-0-0-1, 9 points
