Gulls - Aces Game 2 Preview
April 7, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release
This is the second game of the best-of-five Pacific Division Semifinals with Alaska holding a 1-0 series lead. The Gulls and Aces met 10 times in the regular season, with San Diego holding a 6-3-1 edge.
2003-04 HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES (REGULAR SEASON):
11/11/03 San Diego 1 @ Alaska 8
11/12/03 San Diego 0 @ Alaska 3
11/25/03 Alaska 2 @ San Diego 3 (SO)
12/07/03 Alaska 3 @ San Diego 4 (SO)
01/09/04 San Diego 4 @ Alaska 2
01/10/04 San Diego 2 @ Alaska 4
01/11/04 San Diego 3 @ Alaska 4 (SO)
01/17/04 Alaska 2 @ San Diego 4
01/18/04 Alaska 1 @ San Diego 2
04/03/04 Alaska 1 @ San Diego 2
PLAYOFFS:
Game 1 04/06/04 Alaska 4 @ San Diego 2
The Gulls are 4-1 lifetime against the Aces in the playoffs. They eliminated them in the 1997 West Coast Hockey League Finals to clinch their second Taylor Cup. San Diego owns a 63-17-5 record against its Pacific Division rival during the regular season.
LAST HEAD-TO-HEAD MEETING: APRIL 6:
The Aces exploded for four goals in the first period and rode the hot goaltending of Dan Murphy the rest of the, stunning the Gulls in Game 1 with a 4-2 victory. Joe Talbot led the offensive attack with two goals, while Jordan Cameron and Bret DeCecco also tallied for Alaska. San Diego out-shot the Aces 32-4 after the first period, but Murphy was rock-solid in net and only allowed goals to Chris Gobert and newcomer Nick Lent. Murphy finished the game with 37 saves while Trevor Koenig stopped 13 shots in a losing effort.
GULLS UPDATE:
The Gulls finished the regular season with a 49-13-10 record, tops in the ECHL. Their 108 points is a new franchise record. The previous high was 107 points, set in 1997-98... They will have home-ice advantage throughout the Kelly Cup Playoffs... San Diego was 30-5-1 at the Sports Arena this season and 21-1-1 in its final 23 regular season games on home ice... PLAYOFF HISTORY:
San Diego has an all-time record of 57-28 in the playoffs, which includes eight seasons in the WCHL... The Gulls won five Taylor Cups in the WCHL (1996, 1997, 1998, 2001 and 2003)... Trevor Koenig is 22-12 with a 2.38 goals-against average in the postseason with the Blue and Orange... The Gulls are 36-14 all-time at home in the playoffs...
OTHER NOTES:
San Diego finished the regular season unbeaten in 18 of its final 19 games (14-1-4)... The Gulls were 45-10-5 against Pacific Division teams... They lost in regulation only three times in their final 38 games (28-3-7) and six times in their final 54 games (40-6-8)... The Blue and Orange broke the ECHL record for most wins by an expansion team... Koenig finished second in the ECHL with 37 wins and fourth with a 2.17 goals-against average. He was unbeaten in 28 of his final 30 games (22-2-6)... Mark Pederson was given the 2003-04 ECHL Sportsmanship Award, along with being named to the All-ECHL Second team. He led the league with 44 goals and was tied for sixth with Sylvain Deschatelets, each with 81 points... Greg Barber, who was named to the ECHL All-Rookie Team, was second among rookies with 76 points, 30 goals and 46 assists... Clayton Read finished the regular season with a career-high eight-game point streak (5g, 7a)... Brian Gornick, the reigning ECHL Player of the Week, finished with a career-high six-game point streak and had 14 points in his final eight games (7g, 7a)...
ALASKA UPDATE:
The Aces finished the regular season with a 38-28-6 record and the No. 4 seed in the Pacific Division... They finished 9-9 this season in one-goal games decided in regulation... Alaska hasn't been to the playoffs since 2002 (WCHL) and has lost its last three playoff series... Even with the victory last night, the Aces have lost 12 of their last 15 playoff games overall, dating back to 1999... Alaska finished 10 games over .500 this year, leaving the club exactly one game over .500 in its history...
TRANSACTIONS:
Chris Gobert was activated from injured reserve after missing the previous six games with an upper leg injury... Lent was returned from the American Hockey League's Springfield Falcons Monday... Igor Pohanka was assigned by the AHL's Cincinnati Mighty Ducks Monday... Kevin Grant, Jamie Black and Dennis Purdie all remain on the injured list... Billy Tibbetts remains with the AHL's Houston Aeros...
FUTURE HEAD-TO-HEAD GAMES:
The Pacific Division Semifinals is a best-of-five format. The remaining schedule is as follows...
Game 3 @ Alaska Friday, April 9 (8 p.m. PST)
Game 4 @ Alaska Saturday, April 10 (8 p.m. PST)*
Game 5 @ San Diego Tuesday, April 13 (7:05 p.m.)*
*If necessary
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