Gulls - Ice Dogs Game Preview
January 23, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release
LONG BEACH, Calif. â Struggling teams love the all-star break. Streaking teams on the other hand... well the all-star break can be somewhat of a disruption. The San Diego Gulls definitely fit the later category and hope to continue their red-hot play when they visit the Long Beach Ice Dogs tonight. Oh by the way... The Gulls are unbeaten in their last 18 games against the Ice Dogs.
San Diego's last regulation loss to Long Beach came Oct. 26, 2002. Since then, the Gulls are 17-0-1 against their Southern California rival, including a 4-0-1 mark this season. The only time the Blue and Orange haven't come away with two points over the last 18 head-to-head games was in a 1-0 shootout loss on Nov. 15.
But it's not just the Ice Dogs the Gulls have had their way with. Try the whole Pacific Division. Overall, San Diego is unbeaten in 15 of its last 18 games (14-3-1), outscoring their opponents 62-39. In 31 games against Pacific Division teams this season, the Gulls are 21-7-3.
They enter the second half third in the division, five points back of the front-running Idaho Steelheads and two points behind the second-place Las Vegas Wranglers. San Diego is two points ahead of the Alaska Aces for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Pacific Division. The Gulls still have four games in hand on Idaho and Alaska and have played three fewer games than Las Vegas. The Blue and Orange have the best winning percentage in the division and fourth best in the entire ECHL.
San Diego's No. 1 line of Mark Pederson, Sylvain Deschatelets and Greg Barber also remain red hot. Pederson is in the midst of an 11-game point streak (14g, 6a), tied for third longest in the ECHL this season. Deschatelets has 18 points (3g, 15a) in the last 11 games while Barber has 10 points (3g, 7a) in the last six games.
The Ice Dogs have won three of their last four games, including a two-game sweep against the Steelheads in Boise, Idaho. Long Beach defeated the Steelheads in two consecutive shootouts last weekend to pick up only its third and fourth road victories of the season.
Overall it's been a struggle for the Ice Dogs, who enter the day tied with the Fresno Falcons for last place in the Pacific Division and 21 points out of a playoff spot.
Offensively the Ice Dogs are last in the ECHL, scoring a league-low 90 goals, which is also a league-worst 2.43 goals a game. Defense has also been a big problem for Long Beach, allowing 3.68 goals a game â 27th among the 31 ECHL teams.
This is the sixth meeting of the season between the Gulls and Ice Dogs, with San Diego outscoring Long Beach 17-6 in the series. The two teams will clash four more times.
ECHL Stories from January 23, 2004
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