The performance the San Diego State University men’s ice hockey team pulled off last weekend at the Kroc Center Ice Arena — a two-game sweep of 19th-ranked Colorado State — had been building in recent weeks.
The Aztecs, who compete at the Division 1 level in the American Collegiate Hockey Association club tier, faced off the 2023-24 season with a 6-3 come-from behind win over Loyola Marymount University’s Division 2 team in a cross-over game. SDSU then got into the meat of its second Division 1 season with six consecutive losses for a 1-5-1 start.
But as the season has developed, so has head coach Phil Bateman’s team.
SDSU lost, 1-0, to visiting Arizona State University on Sept. 30. It came on the heels of a 6-2 loss the previous evening. The teams’ four-game series shifted to the Arizona desert for games Oct. 13-14. ASU won the weekend opener, 11-0, but had to go to overtime to eke out a 3-2 win in the closer.
The Aztecs then took flight to the Atlantic coast to engage the United States Naval Academy and George Mason University in back-to-back games Oct. 20-21. SDSU defeated Navy, 7-6, in overtime before coming up a wee bit short in a 2-1 regulation contest to GMU.
The run of games left the Aztecs with three consecutive one-goal games and four one-goal games in a stretch of five match-ups, including two games decided in overtime.
Back in the Southwest, SDSU faced fourth-ranked UNLV in a pair of games in Nevada. The Aztecs lost 6-1 and 8-1 — much improved over last year’s 16-0 drubbing by the Skatin’ Rebels.
SDSU (4-8-1) finally turned the corner last weekend on home ice with a 4-3 win over the Rams on Friday and a 6-2 win on Saturday.
“It was a great weekend for the program,” Bateman acknowledged. “This 2023 Aztec team continues to mature their game. This weekend’s games were exceptional. The detail, work ethic, and determination that they played with were some of the best this program has ever seen. Colorado State was trending upwards coming off of two impressive wins over No. 16 Arizona State the weekend prior.”
The Aztecs scored comeback wins in both games last weekend.
Mason Brown (two goals) and Max Kathol (two assists) keyed SDSU with two points each in the first game while Lucas Bellig’s first goal of the season stood up as the game-winner.
SDSU finished the third period of Saturday’s game with a five-goal flourish. Sean Yeo (four assists) was the high-point man while team scoring leader Cameron Ferraz (three assists), Marcus Kim (two goals, one assist) and Eastlake’s Braden Mayer (two goals) all picked up multiple points.
Returner Luke Desmarais had the OT winner against Navy, his second goal of the game, while Sean Devaney (Otay Ranch) and Kathol each collected a goal and assist.
“It was a good trip east,” Bateman said. “We were hoping for two wins, but we continue to learn as a team to manage games. We also went a little shorthanded unfortunately, so we didn’t get to show our best.”
Goaltender Garrett Fuller (3-7-1, 4.29 GAA, 0.887 save percentage) racked up 74 saves in the two games against UNLV while making 66 saves in the two games against Navy and GMU.
“Projecting forward we are not focusing on wins or losses, but rather making sure the process continues to evolve and refine itself,” Bateman said.
The Aztecs head to Arizona this weekend (Nov. 17-18) for a pair of games against 30th-ranked Grand Canyon University, another opponent from the Western Collegiate Hockey League, then off to No. 21 University of Utah (Dec. 1-2) to finish off the calendar year.
On that note, SDSU was officially invited to join the WCHL to start the 2024-25 season.
“We graciously accepted and are now a proud member of the most competitive conference in the ACHA Division 1,” Bateman said with an air of pride.
The WCHL currently includes 10 teams in two divisions: No. 2 Central Oklahoma (13-1), No. 4 UNLV (11-1), No. 11 University of Arizona (7-5-1), No. 15 Missouri State (7-7-1), No. 19 Colorado State (9-5-2), No. 21 Utah (6-6-1), No. 24 Arizona State (5-4-2), No. 26 Oklahoma (9-5-1), No. 30 Grand Canyon University (6-81) and No. 35 Colorado-Boulder (5-5-0).
Northern Arizona University also joins the WCHL for 2024-25.
SDSU scoring leaders: Cameron Ferraz (4 goals, 8 assists), Mason Brown (5 goals, 5 assists), Marcus Kim (3 goals, 6 assists), Braden Mayer (3 goals, 6 assists), Lucas Bellig (2 goals, 6 assists), Max Kathol (2 goals, 5 assists), Sean Yeo (one goal, five assists), Luke Desmarais (3 goals, 2 assists), Kolby Hessessy (3 goals, 1 assist), Cameron Henderson (1 goal, 3 assists), Logan Okanski (2 goals, 1 assist), Sean Devaney (2 goals, 1 assist), Gavin O’Bryan (1 goal, 2 assists)
AHL Report:
Charlotte checks Gulls, 3-2, in overtime
The San Diego Gulls continue their mission to better last season’s dead-last finish among the 32 teams in the American Hockey League.
It hasn’t been easy.
The Gulls engineered a late flurry to make Wednesday’s game against the Charlotte Checkers exciting but were unable to snap what has now become a nagging 10-game losing streak (0-7-3) following a 3-2 overtime loss at Pechanga Arena.
California native Patrick Khodorenko (San Jose Jr. Sharks, Los Angeles Selects) netted the game-winning goal at 2:47 of overtime after the Gulls had peppered Charlotte starer Ludovic Waeber with 12 shots in the third period, forcing the Charlotte netminder to twist and turn and slide in every conceivable direction to keep the puck from crossing the goal line.
“Great first period,” San Diego head coach Matt McIlvane said. “I like their start a lot. We didn’t show up for the second period and our guys had a big response in the third. The third was our best period by a lot. Had a lot of chances, scrambles, to be able to finish the job before overtime. Good looks in overtime, once it gets there it’s a bit of a skills competition. Exchanged two-on-ones and they finished at the end of one of theirs. Great first, even better third. The points were given away in the second period.”
The Gulls, who faced off the season with back-to-back road wins against the Ontario Reign, fell to 2-7-3 on the young 2023-24 season to remain at the bottom of the 10-team Pacific Division standings.
Charlotte, which improved to 3-0 against the Gulls this season (all with overtime wins), hiked its record to 8-4-0.
While the rain kept the turnstile count down (a 4,717 announced crowd), the pucks rained down on the ice in the midweek contest.
The teams had met twice in North Carolina in the opening weeks of the new season (Nov. 3-4). The host Checkers won both games in overtime, 4-3 and 5-4, as the Southern California visitors picked up two points in the standings.
The Gulls are playing seven home games in November and got off to a 0-2 start with losses to the Calgary Wranglers (8-3 on Nov. 10) and Colorado Eagles (5-2 on Nov. 11). The Checkers entered Wednesday’s game with a 7-3 record in their previous 10 games but with a 5-1 loss in San Jose on Sunday.
The first period appeared as it might end scoreless until Gulls rookie Ben King proved to be the right man at the right place at the right time when he pounced a puck that had taken a fortunate bounce off the side boards and slapped it past Waeber face-on with 1:27 to play in the period. The goal was King’s third of the 2023-24 season.
1-0 San Diego.
The hosts owned a narrow 8-6 edge in shots in the opening period but the visitors turned around the momentum with a 13-5 edge in shots in the second period. The Checkers took a 2-1 lead riding that wave with back-to-back goals from Rasmus Apslund (10:18 from Gerry Mayhew and Lucas Carlsson) and Patrick Giles (14:55 from Casey Fitzgerald and Will Lockwood).
The Gulls drew even at 2-all on what in soccer would be called an own-goal. San Diego skater Pavol Regenda received credit for the goal that deflected off a Charlotte player defending the near post. Trevor Carrick and King were credited with assists. The goal was Regenda’s team-leading eighth of the season while Carrick picked up his team-leading ninth assist.
The third period ended scoreless but not for a lack of effort. The Checkers finished with a 27-25 edge in shots through regulation, necessitating a five-minute three-on-three sudden-victory overtime period or shootout to determine a winner.
Khodorenko proved to be the right man in the right place at the right time as he netted the game-winner 2:47 of the extra period. Teammate Zac Dalpe picked up a loose puck near the blue line and fed Khodorenko on a two-on-one break.
Khordorenko earned first star of the game in notching the winning goal. King (one goal, one assist) earned second star recognition while Regenda was voted the game’s third star.
Waeber (3-0-0) stopped 24 of 26 shots to post the win between the pipes while San Diego goaltender Calle Clang (1-4-2) stopped 27 of 30 shots in the loss.
The teams rematch Friday, Nov. 17, at Pechanga Arena at 7 p.m.
Carrick, who has moved into the team scoring lead (one point over Regenda) said the Gulls need to focus on what they have done right in recent games in order to get out of their current funk.
“We have glimpses of, you know, what we do best, and I think we saw that firsthand in the third, but we got away from it in the second. You know, when you do that, it’s tough to come back from that. I even thought we had a good first. We came out hard and working and it’s hard to win games, especially in this league when you only play two periods.
“We see it some days (the ability to bounce back), we don’t give up on it. I think, you know, we have some strong character in the room, especially being a younger group. But one of these days, we need to see a result. Right now, it’s frustrating and, you know, when you have a young group, you have to learn. We just have to find a way to get it done. And ultimately, that’s our biggest goal right now.
“I think we match up good with Charlotte. Obviously, we’ve lost three games to them in overtime. I think we played them well. You know, they’re a good hockey team, but we just have to take what’s good from that and build off that third period and just take it into the next game. Just do what we do best, and that’s compete hard, work hard and get heavy on the forecheck. We know that’s when we have success when we’re doing that best. And we just have to bring that every night and just keep building off that and building off of it into each and every game.
“The last few days, it’s been a lot of talking and just trying to figure out what to do. I think the main thing is just sticking with each other. It’s 10 games now we’ve dropped, it’s frustrating and I think just all we can do is help each other out, get out of it. No one’s going to come in here and save the day for us. It’s just stick with each other, build each other up and just keep building every day and keep coming to work because it’s a lot of hockey left. Like I said, no one’s going to come here and get us out of it. It’s in that room and we just have to keep positive and just build off what we do best.”
Summed up McIlvane: “I think if we take a really good look at our third period, that’s a great map.”
Ice chips
The Checkers roster features two players born in California – goaltender Matt Zenzola from San Diego and Khodorenko from San Francisco.
Khodorenko started his youth career with the Los Angeles Selects 14U-AAA team. He played four seasons at Michigan State University before playing four seasons with the AHL Hartford Wolf Pack, recording 27 points (10 goals, 17 assists) in 66 games in 2021-22.
This is his first season with the Checkers.
Zenzola (6-5, 220) began his youth career locally with the San Diego Jr. Gulls 14U-AA team in 2010-11. He alternated between the Southern Professional Hockey League and ECHL for five seasons before signing with the AHL Abbotsford Canucks last season.
He appeared in seven playoff games with the Pensacola Ice Flyers (SPHL) in 2015-16 with a 2.14 goals-against average, 0.903 save percentage and 7-0 record. The Ice Flyers won their third President’s Cup in four seasons by sweeping the Peoria Rivermen 3-0 in the finals. In 16 regular season games, Zenzola compiled a 9-4-2 record with a 2.51 GAA and 0.917 save percentage.
Military Appreciation Night
Photos by Phillip Brents
