Six of the 10 Sweetwater Union High School District roller hockey teams received bids to this year’s Kiwanis Cup/Don Cerone Memorial championship playoff tournament.
Mesa League co-champions Hilltop and Eastlake, along with South Bay League champion Sweetwater, are entered in the 12-team playoff bracket along with Castle Park, Otay Ranch and Bonita Vista high schools.
The top six finishers in the seven-team North County League round out this year’s playoff field.
While Eastlake (20-3) and Hilltop (16-4) finished as league co-champions with 10-2 records, the teams were placed in different seeding positions.
Eastlake received the No. 4 seed and a bye to the quarterfinal round while Hilltop received the No. 8 seed.
All five Mesa League teams are entered in this year’s playoff field.
Castle Park, which finished third in the Mesa League standings with a 6-6 record and is 13-8 overall, is seeded ninth, followed by No. 10 Otay Ranch (4-8 in league, 10-12 overall) and No. 11 Bonita Vista (0-12 in league, 6-15 overall).
Sweetwater, which finished 11-0 in South Bay League play and is 15-6 overall, is seeded 12th.
The opening round of the playoffs will feature four games — two games Tuesday, Feb. 19, at the Castle Park High School outdoor rink and two games Wednesday, Feb. 20, at the Escondido Sports Center.
In games on Tuesday, Hilltop will host Castle Park at 5:30 p.m. while the 6:30 p.m. game features fifth-seeded Patrick Henry (9-8) against Sweetwater.
In games on Wednesday, seventh-seeded Poway (5-11) will host Otay Ranch at 6 p.m. while sixth-seeded Escondido Charter (6-8) will host Bonita Vista at 7 p.m.
First-round winners advance to the eight-team quarterfinals to join the four teams that had received first-round byes.
Eastlake will host the winner between Patrick Henry and Sweetwater on Monday, Feb. 25, at Castle Park High School.
In other quarterfinal games, top-seeded Scripps Ranch (15-0) will host the Hilltop-Castle Park winner, while second-seeded Rancho Bernardo (12-2) will host the Poway-Otay Ranch winner and third-seeded Westview (8-7) will host the Escondido Charter-Bonita Vista winner.
Quarterfinal winners advance to semifinal round games on Feb. 27. The championship and third-place games are scheduled March 4 at the Escondido Sports Center.
During all rounds, ties will be broken by a 10-minute sudden-victory overtime period.
“We’re definitely excited to be in the playoffs this season,” Bonita Vista head coach Keith Quigley said. “My players are very much looking forward to it, especially my seniors. It should be fun!”
Scripps Ranch made history by rolling to a 22-0 record to capture the 2004 Kiwanis Cup championship. The Falcons are bidding for another perfect season.
Scoring leaders include freshmen Ben Ivey, junior Kyle Fraser, freshman Jack Ivey, junior Cody Ayers and sophomore Joon Bae. Senior Thomas Sherman has racked up 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in just three games since joining the team.
Junior Taylor Cady and freshman Tori Fraser have handled the team’s goaltending duties.
With an underclassmen heavy roster, the best may yet be ahead for Scripps Ranch.
Defending Kiwanis Cup champion Rancho Bernardo finished 20-0 to cap the 2015 season. The Broncos lost both league match-ups against the Falcons this season.
“We’ve had some pretty strong games,” Rancho Bernardo head coach Joey Gelsomino said. “We still have some learning to do but we’ve played very good hockey as a team. Our goals are still ahead of us.”
Top returning players for the Broncos include seniors Miles Cook, Nik Thomas, Alex Pang and Ike Frankel, juniors Kiril Yampolsky, Tyler Boggess and Trevor Marquez.
Newcomers to the RB line-up in 2018-19 include freshman Colton Clapham and senior Chris Angelo.
Freshman goaltender K.J. Luna de la Fuente as been a find.
Gelsomino said his team’s overall strength is its team chemistry.
“The biggest thing is that the players are all friends,” the RB coach said. “They support each other; they’re one big family.”
Frankel led the Broncos with three goals and two assists while Thomas collected two goals and two assists and Cook netted a hat trick in a 9-1 non-league win over Castle Park on Jan. 28.
MESA LEAGUE STANDINGS
(Regular Season)
Hilltop Lancers 10-2, 16-4
Eastlake Titans 10-2, 20-3
Castle Park Trojans 6-6, 13-8
Otay Ranch Mustangs 4-8, 10-12
Bonita Vista Barons 0-12, 6-15
Friday, Feb. 8
Castle Park 15, Otay Ranch 2
Hilltop 8, Bonita Vista 3
Monday, Feb. 11
Eastlake 10, Hilltop 3
Castle Park 8, Bonita Vista 0
Tuesday, Feb. 12
Hilltop 3, Castle Park 1
Eastlake 9, Otay Ranch 5
Bonita Vista 13, Southwest 0 (non-league)
SOUTH BAY LEAGUE STANDINGS
(Regular Season)
Sweetwater Red Devils 11-0, 15-6
Chula Vista Spartans 8-3, 10-10
Mar Vista Mariners 6-5, 7-14
San Ysidro Cougars 2-10, 2-18
Southwest Raiders 1-10, 2-18
Friday, Feb. 8
Sweetwater 3, Mar Vista 1
Monday, Feb, 11
Sweetwater 6, Chula Vista 4
NORTH COUNTY LEAGUE STANDINGS
(Unofficial/Regular Season)
Scripps Ranch Falcons 15-0, 15-0
Rancho Bernardo Broncos 12-2, 13-2
Patrick Henry Patriots 8-8, 9-8
Westview Wolverines 7-7, 8-7
Escondido Charter White Tigers 6-8, 6-8
Poway Titans 3-11, 5-11
Cathedral Catholic Dons 0-15, 0-16
Monday, Feb. 11
Rancho Bernardo 18, Cathedral Catholic 1
Patrick Henry 5, Escondido Charter 4 (OT)
Scripps Ranch defeated Westview, score unavailable
Tuesday, Feb. 12
Rancho Bernardo 4, Westview 1
Patrick Henry 9, Cathedral Catholic 7
SWEETWATER DISTRICT SCORING LEADERS
Final Regular Season
Luke Killeen (Eastlake) 72 goals, 40 assists – 112 points
Braden Mayer (Eastlake) 63 goals, 48 assists – 111 points
Sean Devaney (Otay Ranch) 86 goals, 22 assists – 108 points
Trevor Fune (Hilltop) 63 goals, 18 assists – 81 points
Martin Mari (Castle Park) 57 goals, 10 assists – 67 points
Nick Stark (Bonita Vista) 49 goals, 14 assists – 63 points
Lucio Gutierrez (Chula Vista) 36 goals, 19 assists – 55 points
Cesar Salazar (Sweetwater) 41 goals, 12 assists – 53 points
Kristin Lambertson (Hilltop) 34 goals, 19 assists – 53 points
Adrian Ontiveros (Chula Vista) 34 goals, 13 assists – 47 points
Jose Lopez (Sweetwater) 31 goals, 14 assists – 45 points
Ana Custodio (Bonita Vista) 30 goals, 14 assists – 44 points
Kevin Eagles (Eastlake) 24 goals, 20 assists – 44 points
Jared Fuentes (Castle Park) 28 goals, 12 assists – 40 points
Jovan Macias (Castle Park) 22 goals, 16 assists – 38 points
Isaac Suarez (Mar Vista) 30 goals, 5 assists – 35 points
David Segura (Sweetwater) 18 goals, 10 assists – 28 points
Isaiah Macias (Hilltop) 15 goals, 12 assists – 27 points
Karla Navarette (Eastlake) 9 goals, 18 assists – 27 points
Bryan Mendez (Castle Park 11 goals, 10 assists – 21 points
Justin Sanchez (Hilltop) 13 goals, 5 assists – 18 points
Nathan Castro (Otay Ranch) 10 goals, 4 assist – 14 points
Gabby Sanchez (Southwest) 11 goals, 2 assists – 13 points
Lino Mercelino (Otay Ranch) 6 goals, 6 assists – 12 points
Sylvia Barba (Chula Vista) 5 goals, 6 assists – 11 points
SWEETWATER RED DEVILS TIP CHULA VISTA SPARTANS, 6-4, TO WRAP UP SOUTH BAY LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP
Monday’s triple-header (Feb. 11) at the Castle Park High School outdoor rink easily spotlighted the most entertaining – and meaningful – games to date this season.
In the opener, the Sweetwater Red Devils edged the Chula Vista Spartans, 6-4, to officially lay claim to this year’s South Bay League championship.
In the second game, the Eastlake Titans out-pointed the Hilltop Lancers, 10-3, to pull even in the loss column for the Mesa League lead.
In the nightcap, played under chilly conditions, the Castle Park Trojans raced past the Bonita Vista Barons, 8-0, in a game that went up-and-down the playing court from the opening face-off and was much closer on the scoreboard than the final score indicated.
Red alert
The Red Devils entered the Feb. 11 game undefeated at 10-0 in league play and needed just one more win to sew up this year’s championship.
Sweetwater got on the scoreboard first courtesy of Cesar Salazar but Chula Vista responded with a power play goal by Adrian Ontiveros and a double-assisted tally by Lucio Gutierrez to take a 2-1 lead with 2:43 to play in the second period.
The Spartans were on the cusp of seizing the game’s momentum until the Devils rattled off four unanswered goals, including a shorthanded and power play goal by Salazar, to push Sweetwater in front 5-2.
Salazar scored the opening three goals in the four-goal run while Jose Lopez capitalized on a defensive miscue in front of the CV net to up the SuHi lead to three goals with 6:52 left in the game.
Chula Vista responded with a pair of goals by Gutierrez to trim the Devil lead to 5-4 and make the final 2:14 left in the game heart-pounding for the fans of both teams.
Sweetwater finally put the game to rest with a goal by Lopez with just 2.3 seconds left on the scoreclock.
Salazar spearheaded the Sweetwater victory with four goals and one assist while Lopez contributed two goals. David Segura had one assist to round out the SuHi scoring.
Gutierrez paced Chula Vista with four points on three goals and one assist while Ontinveros had one goal and one assist. Sylvia Barba picked up two assists while Carlo Espino collected one assist.
CV netminder Rafael Garibay played a strong game to keep his team in the running.
“It was a game that both teams fought hard to win,” Sweetwater head coach Brandon Fox said. “Chula Vista has a good team. It was an intense game. I think our captain Cesar Salazar played his best game this season.”
With the win, Sweetwater improves to 11-0 in league play, 15-6 overall, while Chula Vista, last year’s South Bay League champion, dropped to 8-3 in league play, 10-10 overall.
Titanic victory
Eastlake rolled out the 2018-19 season with a 0-2 start in Mesa League play and things appeared rather bleak for the defending champions. But the Titans have since regrouped around team scoring leaders Braden Mayer and Luke Killeen – one of the best tandems in the Metro Conference – and have since gone unbeaten in league play.
Hilltop, needing a win to clinch the Mesa League title outright, fired the first volley as Trevor Fune recorded the jump goal, assisted by Kristin Lambertson, the team’s only senior, to put the Lancers up 1-0.
A late arrival, Mayer quickly tipped the balance in the Titans’ favor after feeding Killeen on the game-tying goal with 5:54 to play in the first period.
It took Mayer nine seconds to score to start the second period as he skated on a breakaway after winning the faceoff. Eastlake would score the opening four goals of the middle period to jump in front 5-1 on the scoreboard.
Fune scored a shorthanded goal with 3:01 to play in the stanza to make the score 5-2. But Mayer won the third-period faceoff — and five seconds — later put the Titans up 6-2.
Eastlake would increase its lead to 7-2 before Fune struck again for his hat trick goal. But the Titans closed out the scoring in the contest with the game’s final three goals.
Mayer (five goals, three assists) and Killeen (five goals, one assist) accounted for all 10 Eastlake goals while Fune scored all three goals for Hilltop.
Eastlake’s Karla Navarertte and Hilltop’s Isaiah Macias also picked up assists for their respective teams.
Jacob Lopez played well in the Lancer net despite allowing 10 goals.
The Titans (8-2 in league, 18-3 overall) have two games left on their regular season league schedule (both against the Otay Ranch Mustangs) while Hilltop (9-2 in league, 15-4 overall) has one regular season league game remaining against Castle Park.
In the event of a tie for first place in the league standings, Hilltop and Eastlake would share this year’s Mesa League title as co-champions.
“I wouldn’t mind that,” Hilltop coach Paul Tesner said.
“It started out slow for us but we’ve been on a good roll since then,” EHS coach Richard Haislip said. “Hilltop is a great team. There’s been a lot of good competition this season. It was a great game. We eventually wore them down.”
“Braden’s an amazing player,” Tesner offered in tribute.
SENIOR NIGHT
Trojan horse
Castle Park showed why it could play a spoiler’s role in possibly determining the outcome of this year’s Mesa League championship in recording the 8-0 win over the Barons. It was likely the best effort produced by the Trojans this season. If they can duplicate that same effort in Tuesday’s league finale against Hilltop, the Lancers had better be wary.
BV netminder Faith Sunga made a series of point-blank saves to keep Castle Park off the scoreboard in the early going but the Trojans eventually began to find chinks in her armor to post a 2-0 lead by the end of the opening period.
Castle Park zipped around and seemingly danced with the puck all over the rink on Senior Night with a new level of enthusiasm and energy. The Trojans are losing seven players to graduation and they put on a show to be remembered Monday night.
Castle Park led 6-0 at the end of two periods and tacked on two more goals in the final period as goaltender Arial Briones recorded the shutout by making several nice saves, including pad saves on laser beam shots by the BV tandem of Nick Stark and Ana Custodio.
Jared Fuentes was the game’s showman with three goals and two assists while Martin Mari chalked up five goals.
Sunga remains one of the league’s unsung heroines.
The Trojans improved to 6-5 in league play, 13-7 overall. The Barons closed out a winless league campaign at 0-12 and will close out regular season play Tuesday against Southwest in a bid to improve on their 5-15 overall record.
Southwest, which sits 1-10 in South Bay League play, 2-17 overall, will honor its six seniors in Tuesday’s game.
Northern exposure
Rancho Bernardo cruised to a 18-1 victory Monday night against Cathedral Catholic to improve to 11-2 in North County League play, 12-2 overall. Niklas Thomas, Miles Cook and Ike Frankel each scored four goals in the win while Sam Lathus scored the lone goal for Cathedral Catholic.
Scripps Ranch improved to 15-0 on the season by defeating Westivew in another game played Monday at the Escondido Sports Center.
Patrick Henry Rolls to 5-4 OT Victory over Escondido Charter on Senior Night
Patrick Henry jumped out to a 5-2 lead heading into the third period on multiple goals from Matthew Voegel (three) and Ruben Allen (two).
Later in the perioi,Escondido Charter mounted a comeback by netting three unanswered goals to send the game into overtime.
In the OT session, senior Aidan Rion turned away three strong scoring opportunities by the visiting White Tigers that cleared the way for Voegel to net his fourth goal of the game and clinch the victory for the Patriots in dramatic fashion.
Seniors Zach Thurman, Josh Mitchell, Tyler Daniel, Aidan RIon, Allen (two goals), Voegel and Matt Russell anchored the Patrick Henry’s effort as the team finishes up a strong season and heads into the 2019 Kiwanis Cup playoffs.
RANCHO BERNARDO BRONCOS HONOR SENIORS, TOP RIVAL WESTVIEW IN NORTH COUNTY LEAGUE ROLLER HOCKEY PLAY
The Rancho Bernardo High School roller hockey team honored the its five seniors and their parents Tuesday night (Feb. 12) and the Broncos came through with a 4-1 win against North County League rival Westview. Ike Frankel scored two goals to lead Rancho Bernardo while Miles Cook and Colton Clapham each scored one goal to lift the Broncos (13-2) to their 13th win of the season.
Tyler Lee scored the lone goal for Westview, which dropped to 8-7 on the season.
Matt Russell scored five goals and added an assist to lift Patrick Henry over Cathedral Catholic, 9-7, in another North County League game Tuesday at the Escondido Sports Center
Cathedral Catholic started strong, taking a 3-0 lead into the second period. But Patrick Henry was able to tie up the score at 3-3 fueled by a Matt Russell hat trick.
Cathedral added another goal to make it 4-3, but Brett Miller, Ruben Allen and Matthew Voegel each netted goals in a span of six minutes to allow the Patriots to pull ahead 6-4.
Cathedral Catholic pulled within one goal with 41 seconds left in the game, but Patrick Henry answered with an empty net goal to seal the victory.
Cathedral’s strong showing was fueled by balanced scoring as each of the Dons’ seven players scored a goal.
Patrick Henry improves to 9-8 on the season, 8-8 in league play.
In games played Feb. 12 at the Castle Park High School outdoor rink:
Hilltop assured itself of no worse than a Mesa League co-championship after slipping past Castle Park, 3-1, in a gritty season-ending contest. Kristin Lambertson led the Lancers with two goals and one assist while Trevor Fune chipped in with one goal.
Bryan Mendez was credited with Castle Park’s goal and the game remained 2-1 in the Lancers favor for the bulk of the contest until Lambertson, leaving the penalty box, scooped up a timely pass from teammate Justin Sanchez and scored on a breakaway with 1:27 to play in the third period.
Hilltop coach Paul Tesner called his team’s 10th league win of the season a “tough one.”
“They played us real tough,” Tesner said. “They wanted to be the spoiler. We were tired from last night (a loss to Eastlake that leveled the teams in the loss column). The kids did what they needed to do. Our goaltender, Jacob Lopez, was on fire throughout the game.”
The Lancers end regular season play with a 10-2 league record and 16-4 overall record.
The only team that can tie them for the league lead was Eastlake, which improved to 10-2 in league play, 20-3 overall, after holding off Otay Ranch by a 9-5 score Tuesday night and then adding a forfeit win by the Mustangs to their tally from a make-up game.
Luke Killeen, one of 10 seniors honored by the Titans in pregame ceremonies, scored three goals and added one assist. Junior Braden Mayer led Eastlake with four goals and two assists.
Sean Devaney scored all five goals for Otay Ranch.
Killeen will finish his career at Eastlake as a four-year varsity player.
“Every year the team has changed, but we’ve always been competitive,” noted Killeen, who has played three years of varsity ice hockey for the Poway Hawks in the Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League. “I’ve enjoyed playing at Eastlake, most of all playing with friends. We have a lot of first-year players on this year’s team, so I get to play my senior year with my friends. It’s been fun.”
In the nightcap of Tuesday’s triple-header at CPHS, Bonita Vista defeated Southwest, 13-0, in a non-league contest.
Baron players Nick Stark, Ana Custodio and Ayden Mudd were honored in Senior Night festivities before the game and left the court with memories for friends and family. Stark collected six goals and two assists while Custodio netted three goals and four assists. Mudd finished the game with one goal.
Alvaro Ruiz scored two goals and dished out one assist.
The happiest Baron of them all, however, was Gloria Ing, who scored to make the score 2-0, assisted by Ruiz. Ing danced and shrieked with delight all the way back to the team bench.
Molly Murphy and Isabelle King each picked up assists.
Ice chips:
Gulls starting to build momentum again as rush for playoff positioning faces off
Both the San Diego Gulls and Tucson Roadrunners have pushed toward the top spot in the American Hockey League’s Pacific Division standings this season, both reaching as high as second place before falling back.
The Gulls are in better position at this point of the season with a 28-16-3-3 record and 62 points to occupy a tie for second place in the division standings while the Roadrunners dropped to 25-17-4-2 with 56 points in fourth place after the Gulls topped the Roadrunners, 5-2, Wednesday (Feb. 20) at Pechanga Arena San Diego.
San Diego entered Wednesday’s high stakes division contest coming off a club-record six-game road swing with a 3-2-1 record that featured wins in Ontario, Colorado and San Jose. Meanwhile, Tucson had won just two of its last nine games and was 3-5-1-1 in its last 10 games.
Both teams have undergone day-to-day roster shuffling due to call-ups to NHL parent clubs, injuries and even a trade that sent Giovanni Fiore from the Gulls to the Roadrunners for Trevor Murphy.
The Bakersfield Condors, buoyed by a club-record 15-game winning streak, have shot to lead the Pacific Division with a 31-15-2-1 record and 65 standings points. The Condors’ .663 winning percentage ranks second in the 31-team AHL.
The top four teams in the division standings qualify for the Calder Cup playoffs. Just nine points separate Bakersfield and Tucson. Fifth place Colorado is four points behind Tucson and 13 points below first place, so every game now in the final third of the season becomes critical in terms of earning as many standings points as possible.
The Gulls can relate to that after missing the playoffs last season due to a tiebreaker after tying San Jose for fourth place.
San Jose, which led the division until just recently, sits three points behind Bakersfield with a 28-12-2-4 record and 62 points. San Diego split with the Barracuda in the Bay Area in last weekend’s holiday slate.
Game log
The Gulls notched the first goal in Wednesday’s game as Adam Cracknell beat Tucson netminder Adin Hill. Kalle Kossila and Jack Kopacka drew assists on the goal at 1:35.
However, the Roadrunners bounced back with a shorthanded goal by Hudson Fasching on a breakaway at 5:21 to tie the score 1-1.
The Gulls proved turnabout was fair play when Sam Carrick scored his 26th goal and 47th point of the season on a power play at 11:52 of the first period. Josh Mahura and San Diego goaltender Jeff Glass collected assists on the go-ahead 2-1 goal.
Sam Steel rubbed salt into the wound with a shorthanded breakaway goal at 14:26 to make the score 3-1. The goal, Steel’s 15th of the season, was assisted by Jacob Larsson and Chase De Leo.
The first period ended with the Gulls holding a 20-12 advantage in shots. De Leo, Korbinian Holzer, Carrick and Matt Berry each had three shots to lead the hosts.
The Gulls scored just prior the midway mark of the second period as Kossila fired a point-blank shot between Hill’s legs to up the lead to 4-1. Cracknell and Murphy delivered the assists on the play at 8:34 to the delight of the 6,222 in attendance.
The hosts weren’t finished as Kiefer Sherwood added to the Gulls’ goal glut with an even-strength tally at 13:39, assisted by De Leo and Ben Thomson. Shots at the end of the second period favored San Diego by a 30-22 margin. The scoreboard was in agreement with a 5-1 edge for the hosts.
The Roadrunners cut the Gulls’ lead to 5-2 with the first goal of the third period. The goal, scored by Jeremy Gregoire, came quickly at 1:09. Assists went to Dakota Mermis and Michael Bunting.
Glass stopped a point-blank shot by Fasching at just under the 10-minute mark to keep the hosts in a three-goal lead.
Tucson mounted a furious third-period rush with a 14-7 edge in shots but was unable to crawl closer to the Gulls on the scoreboard.
With the win, the Gulls move into a second-place tie with San Jose, with each team boasting 62 points. The Barracuda start a road trip in Iowa on Thursday with a chance to break the standings deadlock.
The Gulls now lead the Roadrunners by six standings points.
In another Pacific Division game on Wednesday, the host Ontario Reign slipped past the Stockton Heat, 4-3, to further dim the Heat’s playoff hopes.
Stockton (21-25-4-1) still leads last place Ontario (16-24-5-2) by eight points in the standings.
MEDIA NOTES:
The Gulls have seven wins their last 11 games (7-3-1-0) and in 17 of their last 23 (17-5-2-0), and have earned points in 24 of their last 28 games overall (20-5-2-2).
The Gulls have matched the best start in club history on home ice through 24 games by posting a 15-7-1-1 record and 32 points (also 15-7-1-1 in 2016-17). San Diego also continues to lead the AHL in goals-per game (3.64) while the 180 goals this season (excluding shootout goals) is the most through 50 games in club history.
Wednesday’s contest marked the 2,000 game for an Anaheim Ducks primary affiliate. Since 1993, beginning with the San Diego Gulls of the International Hockey League (IHL), Anaheim’s top affiliates have combined for a 927-813-166-94 record.
MEDIA QUOTES:
“Coming off of a tough loss in San Jose, we didn’t play our best hockey,” Cracknell said. “We knew after a 8-3 win, a team is going to come out firing. We had to respond coming back tonight, especially being at home. We haven’t been home in a while. It’s a good team over there, I think we just overwhelmed this with a lot of forechecks, good speed and puck management. We got away from it in the third a little bit, but (Jeff Glass) played a hell of a game for us and that’s what you need to be successful. We gave them a couple power-play looks that could change the game and that’s something we want to tighten up.
“I think it’s a completely different team than what we had at the beginning of the year. Ever since December rolled around, we are a completely different team. Our mentality of taking it to teams every night, especially at home. The way we played tonight, especially the first two periods and a little bit of the third, that’s what we have to be to be a championship team. When you play teams like San Jose and Tucson, you’re going to have to play them in the playoffs. We want to establish dominance and play a hard game.”
“It felt like we were on the road forever,” De Leo added. “Playing in California, we’re fortunate to be able to live here during the hockey season and come to work every day. It’s definitely good to be back home in front of our fans and back in San Diego.
“I think we’re just rolling right now. When we stick to our system and stick to the plan, we don’t get away from it. When we start over-complicating things, that’s when we get into trouble. With the depth scoring, we have guys throughout the whole lineup that can step up and contribute so that is definitely a good thing.”
Gulls head coach Dallas Eakins lauded his team’s balanced attack in Wednesday’s outing.
“It’s how we’re constructed,” Eakins said. “We have four lines that can all chip in. All of our defensemen are more than capable of moving the puck and getting involved in the offense. We want to keep it that way.
He was very happy with his team’s effort on special teams.
“We had a couple of big kills,” Eakins said. “I think our penalty kill is slowly improving. We’ve changed some things on it and I think we’ve been rewarded for it. The power play was good. We got one and also had a couple of really good looks. That’s important. If you can go into the game and get one on the power play and give up nothing on the penalty kill, you’re going to have good nights.”
Glass stopped 34 of 36 shots to win his ninth game of the season. The 14-year veteran also earned an assist, his second assist of the season and first as a Gull.
“He’s a great teammate and he works extremely hard,” Eakins noted. “He’s had a quite a journey from where he was at in Toronto to getting here, to really supporting Kevin (Boyle) when he was on a roll, and now he’s getting his chance. It’s always good to see a guy play well and the guys play hard in front of him in games like that.”
GULLS GET BACK ON WINNING TRACK WITH 6-4 WIN IN ONTARIO TO FACE OFF SIX-GAME ROAD SWING
San Diego Gulls head coach Dallas Eakins is never one to play up his own individual milestones. Rather, his focus is on the team and the players he coaches.
However, it is worth noting that with the Gulls’ 6-4 win in Ontario on Feb. 8 that Eakins became the 21st head coach in American Hockey League history to reach 300 wins.
In 560 career AHL games as a head coach, Eakins has a 300-199-27-34 record with San Diego (2015-present) and Toronto (2009-13). Eakins has led San Diego to a 143-85-12-8 record in 248 games to lead the Pacific Division in all-time wins, points (306) and points percentage (.617) since the division’s inception in 2015.
The Gulls improved their record to 25-14-2-3 (.625 winning percentage). San Diego has posted wins in 14 of its last 18 games (14-3-1-0) and collected points in 20 of 23 contests (17-3-1-2), in addition to points in 12 of their last 13 road games (9-1-1-2).
The win against the arch-rival Reign faced off a club-record six-game road swing for the Gulls. It made amends for a 6-3 home ice loss to the same Ontario team on Feb. 6.
Corey Tropp earned first star of the game award in the Feb. 8 contest in front of 8,927 fans at Citizens Business Bank Arena by netting two goals and adding an assist for his 44th career multi-point effort.
Chase De Leo also scored two goals while Max Jones and Jack Kopacka each collected a goal and assist.
Tropp scored the game’s jump goal at 2:24 of the first period and later potted the game-winning goal at 12:25 of the third period.
Del Leo’s goals were his 12th and 13th of the season as he upped his season point total to 33 points (13 goals, 20 assists).
Kopacka scored his fourth goal of the season at the 2:03 mark of the final period and later picked up an assist for his first career multi-point game. Kopacka has picked up three goals in his last five games.
Jones scored his 14th goal of the season 8:34 into the second period and added an assist for his ninth multi-point game of 2018-19.
Meanwhile, Sam Carrick picked up his team-leading 42nd point on an assist to set a new career high (22 goals, 20 assists) to surpass his previous of 41 set in 2017-18.
Justin Kloos added an assist on De Leo’s first goal to push his point and assist streaks to four games (five assists). Kloos has picked up six assists in seven games with San Diego and has 14 points (two goals, 12 assists) in his last 15 games overall.
Andrej Sustr, Kalle Kossila and Kiefer Sherwood each added assists.
Jeff Glass stopped 29 of 32 shots to record his third win as a Gull in his 200th career AHL game.
The Gulls play at Bakersfield on Saturday, Feb. 9, to continue their road trip.
“We needed that one,” De Leo noted. “Obviously we weren’t happy with our last game and we have pretty high expectations. I think it was definitely a good bounce back and we can enjoy it for a few minutes here before we forget about it and move on to Bakersfield.”
“The bounce-back was good,” Eakins said. “I thought Ontario played a real good period in the first. I thought we had a great start and it started to fall away from us. We were trying early in the second, but it was going against us, but again, the resilience of the group to stay in the fight. Through that resilience, we were able to get a win.”
The Gulls piled up a 39-32 advantage in shots, including 15-4 in the third period in which the visitors racked up a 3-1 scoring edge.
“All the periods are critical, right from the first second to the last of the game,” Eakins elaborated. “When you can shut down these teams in the third period and give them very little, you’re chances are going way up to close out these games.”
The Gulls weathered a rough start to the game after being out-shot 17-9. The game was tied 3-3 through two periods after the Reign erased a 2-1 first period San Diego lead.
Eakins called the first-period showing by Glass “unbelievable.”
“He kept us in it when we needed him,” the San Diego coach said. “I thought overall it was a really good night for him. He’s another guy that’s had to work through adversity not playing a whole lot. He’s been an excellent teammate, a good-character guy and he’s worked his tail off waiting for his opportunity and here it is.”
