Game Preview vs. Fresno

October 23, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Gulls look to rebound from last night's tough loss in Long Beach win a victory tonight in their home opener against the Fresno Falcons.

SERIES HISTORY:
The Gulls and Falcons met 10 times last season with San Diego holding a 7-3-0 series edge. This is the first of nine head-to-head meetings this season.

2003-04 HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES:
11/19/03 Fresno 3 @ San Diego 4
12/16/03 San Diego 4 @ Fresno 2
01/16/04 San Diego 2 @ Fresno 4
02/21/04 Fresno 5 @ San Diego 3
02/25/04 San Diego 5 @ Fresno 2
03/12/04 Fresno 1 @ San Diego 4
03/13/04 Fresno 4 @ San Diego 5
03/19/04 Fresno 1 @ San Diego 3
03/20/04 San Diego 1 @ Fresno 2
03/29/04 San Diego 5 @ Fresno 1

San Diego owns the all-time series match-up, posting a 70-29-6 record against its West Division rival. The Gulls are 39-11-3 all-time against the Falcons at the Sports Arena.

LAST HEAD-TO-HEAD MEETING: (First head-to-head match-up):

GULLS UPDATE:
The Gulls (0-1-0) finished last season with a franchise record and league best 108 points (49-13-10) before being eliminated in the first round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs by the Alaska Aces... Mark Pederson and Sylvain Deschatelets tied for the team lead with 81 points apiece... Pederson led the league with 44 goals last season, was given the ECHL Sportsmanship Award and selected to the All-ECHL Second Team... Deschatelets led the league with a 23-game point streak last season... Trevor Koenig was second in the league with 37 wins and fourth with a 2.17 goals-against average in 2003-04...

OTHER NOTES:
Martin St. Amour will make his home debut as head coach. He served as the club's associate/assistant coach the last four seasons... St. Amour is the second head coach in Gulls history... Jamie Black will make his home debut as San Diego's assistant coach. Black played four full seasons with the Gulls... With the loss in Long Beach last night, San Diego is now 7-3-0 all-time in season openers... The Gulls are 8-0-1 all-time in home openers... San Diego has eight players left-over from last season's roster: Koenig, Pederson, Deschatelets, Evgueni Nourislamov, Darren Partch, Billy Tibbetts, Brian Gornick and Mike Garrow... There are four veterans on the team (players with 288-or-more professional games entering this season): Koenig, Pederson, Tibbetts and Jonathon Shockey... There are five rookies on the team (players with 25-or-fewer professional games entering this season): Sean Murphy, Colin Shields, Nikita Korovkin, Guillaume Fournier and Andrew Canzanello...

FRESNO UPDATE:
Fresno (0-1-0) struggled last season after taking the Gulls to Game 7 of the 2003 Taylor Cup Finals... The Falcons finished sixth in the Pacific Division with a 23-43-6 record, 30 points out of a playoff spot... Fresno, however, was one of only two Pacific Division teams to beat the Gulls at the Sports Arena last season... The Falcons opened their season last night at home, losing 5-1 to the Las Vegas Wranglers...

TRANSACTIONS:
Stephane St. Amour, younger brother of Martin St. Amour, signed today... Scott Borders was acquired from Fresno yesterday... Sean Murphy was placed on the seven-day injured list yesterday with a groin injury... Sylvain Deschatelets was placed on the 30-day injured list on Thursday. He is still recovering from off-season wrist surgery... Nikita Korovkin was signed on Thursday...

FUTURE HEAD-TO-HEAD MEETINGS:
Saturday, Nov. 20 @ Fresno (7 p.m.)
Saturday, Nov. 27 vs. Fresno (7:05 p.m.)
Friday, Jan. 7 @ Fresno (7 p.m.)
Saturday, Jan. 8 vs. Fresno (7:05 p.m.)
Saturday, Feb. 12 vs. Fresno (7:05 p.m.)
Friday, Feb. 18 @ Fresno (7 p.m.)
Friday, March 4 @ Fresno (7 p.m.)
Saturday, March 5 vs. Fresno (7:05 p.m.)



ECHL Stories from October 23, 2004


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