Condors Make Munce Meat Out Of Gulls, 4-1

January 22, 2006 - ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


SAN DIEGO - Ryan Munce stopped 37 shots, as the Bakersfield Condors beat the short-handed San Diego Gulls for the first time this season, 4-1 Sunday at the ipayOne Center.

Mike Hofstrand added two goals to send San Diego (18-16-4) into the All-Star break with a loss. Bakersfield (15-14-5), meanwhile, moved above .500 and is now just five points back of the third-place Gulls in the Pacific Division.

The Condors won for only the fifth time in 17 games on the road.

The outcome also marked Bakersfield's initial victory over San Diego in six tries this year. During the first five match-ups between the two clubs, the Gulls out-scored the Condors 30-11 - including 21-4 in three matches at the ipayOne Center. But that all changed Sunday, when San Diego couldn't figure out a way to get a shot past Munce.

The Gulls got off to a rough start by digging themselves an early first-period deficit they could not overcome. They actually out-shot Bakersfield 14-3 over the first 13-plus minutes, but Munce turned away each chance. Bakersfield responded with goals on back-to-back shots to turn a scoreless match into a 2-0 Condors advantage with 5:35 left in the opening period. The goals came only 42 seconds apart, giving Bakersfield a pair of tallies on its first five shots.

For the frame, San Diego out-shot the Condors 19-8 and 38-22 for the game.

The Gulls did get on the scoreboard when Pierre-Luc Sleigher went top-shelf to finally beat Munce at the 1:10 mark of the second period. But that's all the goaltender would allow to improve his record to 13-7-4 this year. Bakersfield added an empty netter with 54 seconds left to cap the win.

San Diego had eight power-play chances but only scored once on 17 shots.

Notes: The Gulls are now 17-11-4 since starting the season 1-5-0... During the last 11 games, they have killed 76 of 86 penalties (88.4 percent)... Sleigher has points in 10 of the last 12 games and has 18 points in that span (7g, 11a)... Jesse Bennefield has 29 points (15g, 14a) in the last 20 games but had none Sunday. On Wednesday, he will play in the ECHL All-Star Game in Fresno as the Gulls' lone representative... Seven Gulls are now out of the lineup with injuries: Nikita Korovkin (bruised ankle), Kelly Askew (broken foot), Alex Kim (broken collarbone), Alex Rogosheske (torn ACL), David Svagrovsky (tear in finger), Guillaume Fournier (concussion) and Andy Thompson (wrist surgery)... To fill in for all the injuries, Rob Flynn signed Saturday, while Matt Kunsman and Justin Silver signed earlier in the week...

San Diego will take a few days off for the All-Star break before returning to action with a pair of home games next weekend. The Gulls host the Stockton Thunder at 7:35 p.m. Friday. It will be the second "Pooch Party" of the season, which means fans can bring their dog to the game. The Stanley Cup will also be here and fans may get their picture taken with hockey's most coveted trophy. Saturday the Fresno Falcons will be in town for a 7:05 p.m. game and the first 7,000 fans will get a free Gulls T-shirt, presented by Coast-to-Coast Tax Service (this was original supposed to be Boxer Shorts Night).

All games can be heard on KLSD 1360AM and www.sandiegogulls.com with Chris Ello calling the play-by-play. Most games can also be viewed on the Gulls' Web site, courtesy of B2 Networks (All upcoming games CAN BE VIEWED). Click the B2 Networks (Watch the Game Live) link on the home page for a list of the upcoming telecasted games. To view pictures from this season, visit www.zerodogentertainment.com.



ECHL Stories from January 22, 2006


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