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AHL San Diego Gulls

Abbotsford Tops Gulls, 5-1

January 15, 2022 - American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The San Diego Gulls fell to the Abbotsford Canucks 5-1 tonight at Pechanga Arena San Diego.

Lucas Elvenes scored his first goal as a Gull in his San Diego debut at 9:46 of the third period. Brent Gates Jr. earned the primary assist on the play to extend his point streak to three games (1-2=3), matching his career high.

Mike McKenna made his Gulls debut.

Francis Marotte made 18 saves in his second consecutive start.

The Gulls will close out their weekend back-to-back against the Abbotsford Canucks tomorrow, Jan. 15 at Pechanga Arena San Diego (7 p.m.).

POSTGAME QUOTES

San Diego Gulls

Head Coach Joel Bouchard

On the start of the game:

I just think we came in not as assertive as we did the last weekend. That being said, to be honest, we had to juggle a lot of things in the lineup the last few hours. As a coach, as demanding as I am, I have to be realistic. I'm not giving players excuses. When they're not right they're not right. I don't think we had the best start. I would have liked a better start. That being said, there's been a lot of moving parts over the last 24 hours and this is really our third game in a month. I liked the way we responded in the second. I liked the way we responded in the third. I think we had some good looks. We could have had a couple more goals, but we didn't and it's okay. I think we could learn from that, that our start needed to be better. And let's see how we do tomorrow. It's gonna be a bit of a process with the guys. I like the way we respond after a period where they came in fast, we had a tough time adjusting and they're physical and they work hard and they were in sync. I'm more interested to see how we can do tomorrow.

On his team's style of play in the third period:

You want a team that every coach in hockey will tell you 'I want our team to do this. I want our team to..." we're all going to say the same thing. We all want a team that works. We all want a team that does things right and plays the right way. And we always hear the same thing. What I'm happy with is we still, through the adversity, work on some plays or some habits. Obviously a lot of guys coming from everywhere. And I felt we applied them in the second and the third period. So that's what I'm mostly happy about. We didn't get all the results. We weren't as clean or perfect as I would have liked to, obviously. But at least I felt we were striding together and the guys stick together. So as a coach I have to respect that. Like I said, I told them go to sleep, drink your fluids, get some food...we didn't play for a long time, so now let's get back playing. Let's get back on performance and collective and let's see how we do.

On Lucas Elvenes:

He did have some good numbers in the American league in the past years. And sometimes the guy needs a different voice, a different look. It's all the same. It's professional. It's hard, the American league is hard. So for him to score a goal, obviously, would make him feel good. Guys like to score, but there's more to it. For me you have to play an overall game. Our goal is to develop players to be NHL players and make sure that everybody works into that sense here. So we're going to take the time and let him settle in and work with him.

Brent Gates Jr.

On Abbotsford's first period:

They were moving quick. They came out with good jump. I think we took a little too long to get started. You know, it kinda started from the first shift. Where we, for whatever reason, weren't completely dialed in right away and they were. They took advantage of that in the first. I thought we played a better game as the game went on, but for sure in the first they were just moving their feet more than us and winning more battles than us.

On DiPietro's play in net:

He played a good game, you gotta tip your cap. I think there's things that we can definitely do better. Us forwards we can get more traffic at the net and take his eyes away. That's something we talked about before the game. And just kinda having that gritty mentality to get to the net and kind of make him uncomfortable. I think we let him see too many shots and didn't make it necessarily hard enough on him.

On being prepared for the opening faceoff tomorrow:

That's kind of the beauty of it, we get them again tomorrow. It's a new night, starting fresh. For sure I think an emphasis is going to be to come out with more jump and more focus and take it to them in those first five-ten minutes of the game.

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