Gulls - Aces Game 3 Preview
April 9, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release
This is the third game of the best-of-five Pacific Division Semifinals with Alaska holding a 2-0 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
Game 2 04/07/04 Alaska 4 @ San Diego 3 (OT)
The Gulls are 4-2 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 7:
The Gulls took a 2-0 lead into the third period of Wednesday night's Game 2, but the Aces lit the lamp three times in the third period and put the game away 16:15 into overtime to take a commanding 2-0 series lead. Charles Linglet notched two goals, including the game winner, and Dan Murphy turned away 42 shots to lead the way for Alaska. Mark Pederson scored twice and Sylvain Deschatelets chipped in with two assists for the now do-or-die Gulls.
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... If they can get through Alaska, the Gulls 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 57-29 in the playoffs, which includes a 21-14 record on the road... The Gulls have been done 0-2 in a playoff series four previous times. They came back to win three of those series... The last time it happened was in the 2001 Taylor Cup Finals. San Diego lost the first two games at home before going on to beat the Idaho Steelheads for its fourth West Coast Hockey League Championship... The Blue and Orange are 11-7 all-time in Game 3... Trevor Koenig is 22-13 with a 2.41 goals-against average in the postseason with the Blue and Orange... The Gulls have never been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs... They have also never been swept in a series... San Diego is now 6-7 all-time in playoff overtime, having lost its last four in a row...
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)... 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 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, who finished the regular season with a 38-28-6 record and the No. 4 seed in the Pacific Division, can win their first playoff series in the last four tries with a win tonight... Before this season, Alaska hadn't been to the postseason since 2002 (WCHL) and had lost 12 of its previous 14 playoff games overall, dating back to 1999... Linglet has five points (2g, 3a) in the first two games of this series... Joe Talbot has four points (2g, 2a) in the series... Murphy has stopped 80 of 85 shots (.941 save percentage) in the first two games...
TRANSACTIONS:
Kevin Grant, Jamie Black and Dennis Purdie all remain on the injured list... Billy Tibbetts remains with the American Hockey League'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 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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