While the Super Bowl enthralled football fans on Sunday, Feb. 11, the San Diego State University men’s ice hockey team produced its own Super Bowl of Hockey on Friday, Feb. 9, and Saturday, Feb. 10, at the Kroc Center Ice Arena.
The Aztecs swept the season-ending series against the Oregon Ducks by shutout margins of 7-0 and 3-0 to end their second ACHA Division 1 season with a three-game winning streak, their second of what proved to be a much improved 8-14-1 campaign.
“It was an up-and-down season, but we ended it with a blast,” SDSU freshman Sean Devaney said.
Devaney (Otay Ranch High School) and Braden Mayer (Eastlake High School) are part of SDSU’s San Diego County connection. Both had goals over the weekend.
But the shining star proved to be SDSU freshman goaltender Garrett Fuller, who celebrated Super Bowl weekend by leading his team to the pair of shutout wins over the University of Oregon before packed audiences. Fuller recorded a 37-save shutout on Friday and topped that with a sensational 40-save shutout on Saturday.
It was the first time in his career, junior hockey included, that he has posted back-to-back shutouts. His parents were visiting from Canada to take in the history-making event.
The Aztecs closed out their second ACHA Division 1 season on a roll to build on a nascent 1-20-1 finish last year.
The SDSU locker room was roaring with cheers after Saturday’s game — and series sweep against the Ducks.
“It was crazy,” Fuller said. “Kind of everything went on in the games. We had fun. It was close in the second game. It was a great way to end the season.”
It was a total team effort, however. Fourteen players – count them all – registered either a goal or assist in the series opener, including seven different goal-scorers. Seven players combined for points in the series rematch.
Brandon Grant, recovered from an early season injury, provided the impetus for the weekend sweep with one goal and three assists for four points in the two games. Returner Luke Desmarsais (one goal, three assists) matched Grant with four points in the series.
Newcomer Cameron Ferraz, the team’s season scoring leader, tacked on three points (one goal, two assists) while returner Lucas Bellig netted three points on three assists. Fellow newcomer Mason Brown led the group with two goals.
Returners Marcus Kim and Cam Henderson both collected one goal and one assist as did Kolby Hennessy
Mayer, another key newcomer, contributed one goal and one assist as did Devaney.
Returners Gavin O’Bryan, Nolan Conrad and Sean Yeo each had one assist. Patrick Fast also had one assist.
The Aztecs took control of the series opener with two goals in the opening seven minutes and led 4-0 at the end of the opening period. SDSU took a 5-0 lead on a shorthanded goal in the second period and closed out the game with two goals in the third period.
Grant, Desmarais, Ferraz, Devaney, Henderson, Hennessy and Brown each scored goals while Ferraz and Bellig each recorded two assists.
The game was free-wheeling, full of bumps and bruising checks and downright exciting. SDSU fans lapped up the one-sided victory.
The rematch proved to be another game entirely. The first period was scoreless. The hosts took a narrow 1-0 lead with the only goal in the second period, scored by Kim. Mayer doubled the margin early in the third period and Brown scored on a deflection off the goaltender with 8:55 to play in regulation to stake the Aztecs to a 3-0 lead.
SDSU began to play defensively, pulling its forwards back, the final four minutes in the game to help preserve the shutout win — the team’s first back-to-back shutout performance in Division 1 history.
It was nerve-racking as the final two minutes ticked down, and then the final seconds.
“We knew they were going to play harder the second game,” Fuller said. “You lose 7-0 and you have to make changes. But we made changes, too.”
SDSU 7, Oregon 0
- Brandon Grant (Marcus Kim, Luke Desmarais), 1:38 first perio
- Cameron Ferraz (Brandon Grant, Braden Mayer), 4:51 first period
- Luke Desmarais (Sean Yeo), 15:14 first period (PPG)
- Sean Devaney (Gavin O’Bryan, Nolan Conrad), 19:57 first period
- Cam Henderson (Lucas Bellig, Kolby Hennessy), 18:11 second period (SHG)
- Kolby Hennessy (Cameron Ferraz, Patrick Fast), 7:52 third period
- Mason Brown (Lucas Bellig, Cameron Ferraz), 13:36 third period
SDSU 3, Oregon 0
- Marcus Kim (Luke Desmarais,Brandon Grant)
- Braden Mayer (Brandon Grant, Luke Desmarais)
- Mason Brown (Lucas Bellig, Cam Henderson)
All the pieces seem in place for a successful start to next season.
This year’s roster featured 30 players. No Aztecs are slated to graduate, with the potential for all players to return.
“With this transition from the first season to this season and to next season to set a solid foundation on what’s coming in the future as the program continues to build, the guys who wore sweaters this season constituted the most important group to ever represent San Diego State,” Aztec head coach Phil Bateman said in closing.
Bateman and staff ran their eight-year record with the program (seven active, plus the inactive COVID season) to 111-66-3.
Bateman took over the program in August of the 2015-16 season.
FINAL SDSU SCORING
Cameron Ferraz 6 goals, 13 assists – 19 points
Mason Brown 9 goals, 6 assists – 15 points
Marcus Kim 6 goals, 9 assists – 15 points
Braden Mayer 5 goals, 10 assists – 15 points
Lucas Bellig 2 goals, 11 assists – 13 points
Luke Demarais 4 goals, 6 assists – 10 points
Max Kathol 2 goals, 6 assists – 8 points
Sean Yeo 1 goal, 7 assists – 8 points
Kolby Hennessy 5 goals, 2 assists – 7 points
Brandon Grant 3 goals, 3 assists – 6 points
Cam Henderson 2 goals, 4 assists – 6 points
Sean Devaney 3 goals, 2 assists – 5 points
Gavin O’Bryan 2 goals, 3 assists – 5 points
Toby Petrus 2 goals, 2 assists – 4 points
Logan Okanski 2 goals, 1 assist – 3 points
Nolan Conrad 1 goal, 2 assists – 3 points
Patrick Fast 0 goals, 3 assists – 3 points
Connor Hennigan 1 goal, 0 assists – 1 point
Nicholas Grigoropoulos 0 goals, 1 assist – 1 point
Jake Abenojar 0 goals, 1 assist – 1 point
Zachary Stroozas 0 goals, 1 assist – 1 point
Goaltending
Liam Dee 0-0 record, 0.00 GAA, 1.00 SPCT
Garrett Fuller 7-13-1 record, 4.14 GAA, 0.898 SPCT
Brody Hsiao 1-1 record, 4.86 GAA, 0.887 SPCT
Nicholas Heinzle 0-0 record, 9.85 GAA, 0.824 SPCT
AHL REPORT
ITS’ STILL NOT AN EASY CLIMB UP THE PACIFC DIVISION STANDINGS: CUDA DROP GULLS, 6-2, AT HOME
Despite piling up a 7-2-1 record in their last 10 games, braced by a three-game winning, streak, the San Diego Gulls entered Wednesday’s home ice game at Pechanga Arena (Feb. 14) against the San Jose Barracuda in ninth place in the American Hockey League’s 10-team Pacific Division standings – six points from a Calder Cup playoff berth.
The Gulls had recorded points in 11 of their last 13 games (9-2-2-0), including five straight games on the road (4-0-1-0), and are 14-7-3-0 over the last 24 games. But the teams ahead of them keep piling up points as well.
It’s as frustrating as it is exciting.
The AHL’s Pacific Division has developed into a super competitive division with nine of the 10 teams sporting 0.500 records of better. Ten standings points separate six teams at the top of the standings while the bottom three teams are separated by 10 points.
Only the top seven teams will advance out of the division into the playoffs.
The Gulls (16-18-7) have finally reached the 0.500 mark and look to make a further climb up the division standings. Since discarding a 13-game winless streak (0-10-3), the San Diegans are 16-8-7 and icing opponents to move five standings points ahead of the 10th-place Barracuda (15-22-8).
Most recently, the Gulls swept a two-game series in Calgary, last year’s regular season division champion, by scores of 5-0 and 7-4.
But disaster continues to lurk around the corner. An ill-timed loss, or even worse, losing streak can undo much of the good the Gulls have achieved over the past couple months.
SAN JOSE 6, SAN DIEGO 2
The Gulls scored a power play goal just 1:46 into the contest courtesy of Olen Zellweger, with assists to Glenn Gawdin and Andrew Agozzino. The goal was the rookie’s 10th to the season and 32ndpoint.
For his eight points (two goals, six assists) in the two games in Canada, Gawdin earned recognition as the AHL Player of the Week. He entered the Feb. 14 game second in team scoring with 33 points (14 goals, 19 assists) in 42 games.
It took a replay review to award the Barracuda the game-tying goal at 9:42. Ethan Cardwell was credited with the goal, his 14th of the season, with a single assist to Tristen Robins.
The Cuda scored its second goal of the period with 6.9 seconds left to take a 2-1 lead. Nathan Todd beat the buzzer for his 14thgoal of the season, assisted by Cole Cassels (his 26th of the season).’’
San Jose out-shot San Diego 11-6 through the opening 20 minutes.
The Barracuda scored on its second shot of the second period to take a 3-1 lead. Shakir Mukhamadullin recorded his sixth goal of the season at 4:02, assisted by Kyle Rau (his 12th) and Thomas Bordeleau (his 11th).
The Cuda added a weird one with 5:36 remaining in the second period as San Diego starter Calle Clang appeared hand-cuffed on a shot by Rau. Bordeleau and Nikolai Knyzhov recorded the helpers.
4-1 San Jose.
The third period opened with a fifth unanswered Barracuda goal as Jacob Peterson notched his seventh tally of the season at 6:52, assisted by Bordeleau (his 13th assist), to push the visitors in front 5-1 to the chagrin of the 4,744 in attendance.
Rookie Ben King scored his 10th goal of the season for the Gulls at 10:55 to trim the San Jose lead to 5-2. Pavol Regenda picked up his ninth assist while Chase De Leo recorded his 15th assist for San Diego.
But the Cuda had the last word with an empty net goal by Peterson t 17:15. Rau and Knyzhov picked up the assists.
Rau (one goal, two assists) earned first star of the game honors while Bordeleau was the second star with three assists.
The Gulls had plenty of time to get back in the game with six powerplay opportunities but only scored on their first attempt. San Jose out-shot the hosts 26-21.
The loss allowed the Cuda to move within three standings points of the Gulls, who remain six standings points out of a playoff spot.
The Gulls will host the Henderson Silver Knights (21-21-2-4) on Saturday. The Silver Knights, the team immediately ahead of San Diego in the division standings, is five points clear of the Gulls while sitting in eighth place.
Points are key for both teams, as Henderson is just one point out of a playoff berth.
“We just came out flat,” Gulls assistant coach Jason Clarke said. “I mean, we’ve been playing really good hockey for a very long time and sometimes you’re going to have games like that. First 10 minutes, we looked real good and then I think that goal with six seconds left to go in the first period was a little bit of a back-breaker for us. We were just flat. When you’re playing as good of hockey as we have for that long of time, we just got to turn the page. Tomorrow is a new day, and we just need to get ready for Saturday.
“We’re in a race to make the playoffs, right. If you are in the playoffs, you’re going to win and lose games. I think we’ve got to be able to have that mentality today of just turn the page. Tomorrow is a new day, learn from this game and take it into our game on Saturday. The quicker we can forget about the loss and get back to the structure and habits we had that made us successful over the last 12 games, then we’ll be fine.
“I think all 20 guys would like to turn the page on this one and move on. I think that’s the message after the game and have a nice day off tomorrow, be our first day off since the break. I think we’ll be a well-oiled machine on Saturday after the break.”
“I think we’ve been consistent as a team the last month or so, really on a good stretch,” King said. “I think tonight we came out good, played how we wanted, and then a couple penalties and then we just let off and they kind of played their game and we let them do that. So, in the past, I don’t think we were doing that. We were playing our game and were really taking control, so I think that’s the difference.
“I think just when we have a bad shift or two, just bounce back, and get the pucks deep and just play our game, ground game, and I think that’s the thing we’ve got to do on Saturday. Quick turnaround and that’s what we’re looking forward to.”
The Silver Knights are 4-4-1-1 in their last 10 games.
Coachella Valley (27-12-4-2) has inched back into first place, taking a one point lead over the Tucson Roadrunners (28-15-2-1) and a five point lead on both the Wranglers (25-126-3-2) and Colorado Eagles (25-16-4-1).
Coachella Valley is 7-1-1-1 in its last 10 games while Colorado is 8-2-0.
Oh, Canada
The Gulls two-game foray north of the border was notable on several fronts:
In the 5-0 afternoon win, goaltender Tomas Suchanek stopped all 38 shots faced for his second shutout of the season. He became the fifth goaltender in Gulls AHL history to record multiple shutouts in a season and the second rookie to achieve the feat (Lukas Dostal with two in 2021-22). Suchanek, who improved to 6-0-1 in his last seven starts, moved into second place among qualified AHL goalies in save percentage (.931) and third in goals-against average (2.13).
Also in the matinee contest, Chase De Leo scored twice and added two assists to give him 97 assists and 160 points (63 goals, 97 assists) as a Gull, surpassing Sam Carrick (95) for most assists in franchise history and Corey Tropp (63-94 —157) for second-most points in franchise history. The four points matched his single-game best in his AHL career.
“It was awesome,” De Leo recounted. “Honestly, it was such a good team effort up and down the lineup. Coming off a break, you never really know what’s going to happen, but I thought we picked up right where we left off. Talk about keeping the good vibes rolling here after the break and on to the playoffs.
Glenn Gawdin closed out the series opener with a power play goal and two assists. He tacked on a career-high five points (one goal, four assists) in the rematch the following night to give him eight points (two goals, six assists) in the two games.
The five-point outburst in the Feb. 10 matchup tied him with Carrick for most points in a single game in Gulls AHL history. Carrick recorded three goals and two assists in a Nov. 25 game in Stockton. Gawdin also tied Kalle Kossila and Nikolas Brouillard for most assists in a game. Kossila chalked up four assists in a Jan. 3, 2018 contest at Texas while Brouillard tallied four assists in a Dec. 14, 2022 game against Abbotsford.
The Gulls won the rematch despite being out-shot 49-18, 25-5 in the first period (allowing two goals).
The Gulls scored five power-play goals on the night, setting a new franchise record for most power play in a single game. The Gulls also killed eight of nine penalties, tying the franchise record for most penalties killed in a single game. San Diego negated 47-of-47 consecutive penalties (spanning 11 games) before allowing a power play and did not allow a power play in 10 consecutive games prior to the Feb. 10 game, both team records.
De Leo netted his 10th goal of the season, his 64th in his Gulls career, moving him into a tie for second-most in Gulls AHL history alongside Corey Tropp. He also posted his 14th assist of the season, giving him multiple points in three straight contests (four goals, four assists).
Andrew Agozzino scored twice to stretch his season-long point streak to nine games, his second multi-goal game of the season. Agozzino recorded 10 points (four goals, six assists) in that span.
Zellweger scored a goal and earned two assists (1-2=3), giving him nine points (there goals, six assists) in his last six AHL games.
Suchanek stopped an AHL career-high 45-of-49 shots, giving him his seventh win in his last eight games (7-0-1) and 10th overall (10-2-2). He now co-leads all qualified AHL goaltenders in save percentage (.930)
Force not with Gulls in 2-1 loss to Silver Knights, playoff climb stalled
HENDERSON 2, SAN DIEGO 1
With the teams separated by just five points in the standings, Saturday’s game on Star Wars Night (Feb. 17) was important to both teams. The Force was with the visiting Silver Knights in a 2-1 win to drop the Gulls seven points down from their adversary.
Las Vegas native Gage Quinney scored his eighth goal and 27thpoint of the season to stake the Silver Knights to a 1-0 first period lead. Assists went to Sheldon Rempal (his 13th) and Dysin Mayo (his 12th).
The Gulls out-shot Henderson 9-7 but Silver Knights starter Jiri Patera stopped everything thrown at him, including a San Diego power play late in the period, to keep the host team off the scoreboard.
The second period featured no scoring with an 8-6 edge in shots going to the visitors. The hosts held a narrow 16-15 advantage in shots through two periods.
Henderson weathered an early power play by the Gulls to start the third period. The Silver Knights rolled the dice on a power play of their own to double their lead to 2-0 at 4:27 by Rempal, assisted by Grigori Denisenko and Kaeden Korczak.
The goal was Rempal’s 22nd of the season.
The Gulls wasted little time in bouncing back as Tyson Hinds netted his second goal of the season for the hosts to reduce the Henderson lead to one goal at 2-1. Assists went to Drew Helleson (his eighth) and Pavol Regenda (his 10th).
The teams, playing in front of an crowd announced as 12,523, remained separated by one goal to the end of the game despite the Gulls pulling Tomas Suchanek with less than two minutes to play. The Gulls clearly put the pressure on the visitors with a 10-6 edge in shots in the final period. Patera had to scramble in his crease on at least three occasions to keep his team in the lead.
But the Nevada visitors could not get the empty net goal to ice the game.
Patera finished the game with 25 saves on 26 shots while Suchanek made 19 saves on 21 shots as the Gulls held a 26-21 edge in shots in the loss.
“I thought that was a very competitive effort from us,” San Diego head coach Matt McIlvane said. “I thought that right from the beginning the intensity was consistent throughout the game and it led to zone time. It led to shot generation. It led to chances, second chances. We were around their net a lot, posts. It was a competitive game, and it was unfortunate that it didn’t fall for us.”
Henderson swept the teams’ four-game season series. The teams had met three previous times this season – all wins for the Silver Knights (4-2, 2-1 and 6-3).
The Gulls didn’t gain on any of the eight teams ahead of them in the standings and lost ground to San Jose, which picked up two huge points in their 7-3 win at Bakersfield on Saturday to move within one terrifying point of the Gulls.
The Pacific Division appeared to have developed into three distinct tiers over the past week. There are four teams at the top within seven standings points of one another: Coachella Valley (64 points), Tucson (61 points), Colorado (59 points) and Calgary (57 points).
Four teams occupy a mid-zone – all within just one standing point of each other: Ontario (51 points), Abbotsford (51 points), Bakersfield (50 points) and Henderson (50 points). Then there is a third tier with the bottom two teams: San Diego (43 points) and San Jose (42 points).
The Gulls are seven points from a playoff berth while San Jose is eight points. Bakersfield and Henderson are just one point out.
San Diego travels to Bakersfield on Tuesday for a huge road game that could have ramifications for the playoffs should the Gulls fail to pick up a point.
“I thought that was a very competitive effort from us,” McIlvane said. “I thought that right from the beginning the intensity was consistent throughout the game and it led to zone time. It led to shot generation. It led to chances, second chances. We were around their net a lot, posts. It was a competitive game, and it was unfortunate that it didn’t fall for us.
“Some games where you’re going to play real well and score a lot, and some games you’re going to have to be real patient with it and be real stingy because the puck doesn’t fall. Today, it was one of the games where it didn’t fall. Unfortunately, they were able to put two in on us. It obviously becomes the difference in the game. So, the intensity, that part of the game, our competitiveness, that is something we will want to keep and build on against Bakersfield (on Tuesday).
“When you airball as bad as we did against San Jose, so many pieces were off. That sometimes it takes a little bit to rebuild your game and to be able to find it. If you score real early in the games, then those can get lopsided in a hurry. The big thing for us is that the ingredients for our success were more apparent today and from there we just have to keep staying patient with our process and keep staying hungry to find the reward at the end.”
Puck drops
Star Wars Night benefits Rady Children’s Hospital and remains one of the Gulls’ highest grossing nights of the season.
Chula Vista Hills Cheetah Chanters, active in the community for more than 20 years, sang the national anthem during pregame ceremonies.
The Gulls will host Hockey Fights Cancer Night on Feb. 24 against the Ontario Reign.
