Gulls Blank Long Beach, 2-0
March 26, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release
SAN DIEGO â The roster changed drastically this week for the San Diego Gulls, deleting four players and adding three new ones. Personnel shake-up and all, they were still able to notch a must-win and keep their playoff hopes alive, blanking the Long Beach Ice Dogs 2-0 Friday night at the ipayOne Center at the Sports Arena.
One of those newcomers was Brett Draney, who came over in trade with the Idaho Steelheads at Tuesday's ECHL trade deadline. Draney supplied all the offense needed and goaltender Eddy Ferhi did the rest, turning aside all 37 Long Beach shots en route to his second shutout of the season.
The Gulls (33-25-6), who only have eight games left in the regular season, pick-up two more precious points. They, however, trail Idaho by 10 points for the fourth and final playoff spot in the West Division. San Diego is now six points back of the fifth-place Fresno Falcons, who fell in overtime to the Steelheads Friday.
Long Beach (38-19-8) had its three-game winning streak snapped. It's magic number to clinch a playoff spot, however, is now nine (the combination of points gained by Long Beach and points lost by Fresno totaling nine).
Teams skated to a scoreless first period, even though the Gulls out-shot the Ice Dogs by a 13-7 margin. Long Beach kept the Blue and Orange off the scoreboard thanks in large part to netminder Olivier Michaud, who had a bunch of saves that came from point-blank range.
San Diego's offensive attack continued in the second, but so did Michaud's clutch goaltending. Michaud couldn't stop everything, however, as Gulls newcomer Draney lit the lamp with a power-play marker 11:16 into the frame.
Draney, after taking a pass from Nicolas Corbeil, had the puck at the bottom of the right wing circle and perfectly placed a shot that beat Michaud low to the ice. It was Draney's 17th goal of the season â first as a Gull â and extended his personal career-high point streak to eight games. He has 15 points (7g, 8a) during that span.
Meanwhile, Gulls backstop Eddy Ferhi remained perfect in net. He wasn't as busy as Michaud, but was more than equal to the task when called upon. Ferhi had a two-period total of 17 saves, many of which were low-percentage shots.
Ferhi was extremely busy in the third period, stopping 20 Long Beach shots. A handful of those came from tight quarters and in the waning moments of the game, but the 6-foot-3-inch, 197-pound netminder completely shut the door.
Joel Stepp sealed the San Diego victory with an empty-netter at the 19:26 mark. It was his seventh goal since joining the Gulls 10 games ago.
Notes: Of San Diego's eight remaining games, four are at home... The Gulls still have four head-to-head games left against Idaho... They are 27-2-1 in their last 30 head-to-head meetings against Long Beach, dating back to October 2002... San Diego is 23-3-1 this season when scoring four-plus goals in a game, but just 10-22-5 when scoring three or less... Since the all-star break the Gulls are 7-4-1 at home and 5-9-1 on the road (12-13-2 overall)... They are just 17 for 131 on the power play since the all-star break (13.0 percent)... Draney was acquired Tuesday from Idaho for Evgueni Nourislamov... Aaron Forsythe was acquired Tuesday from the Peoria Rivermen for Ian Forbes... Simon Lajeunesse was acquired Tuesday from the Dayton Bombers... Sylvain Deschatelets was traded to Bakersfield Tuesday for future considerations... Goaltender Mathieu Chouinard was released on Wednesday...
The Gulls will play in Long Beach Saturday at 7 p.m. before hosting the Gwinnett Gladiators Sunday at 5:05 p.m. The first 2,000 kids 14 and under at Sunday's game will receive a special youth Gulls T-shirt. San Diego will then play four straight games against the Steelheads, with the first three being in Boise, Idaho.
All games can be heard live on KLSD 1360AM and www.sandiegogulls.com with Chris Ello calling the play-by-play. All home games and all but one remaining road game (Saturday in Long Beach) can be viewed on the Gulls' web site, courtesy of B2 Networks. Click the B2 Networks link on the home page for a list of the upcoming telecasted games. To view pictures from this season, visit www.sdgullsphotos.com and www.zerodogentertainment.com.
ECHL Stories from March 26, 2005
- Gators chomped by Wolves 7-2 - Louisiana IceGators
- Rivermen Shut Out Wheeling 3-0 at Home - Peoria Rivermen
- Ice Pilots score four in first en route to win - Augusta Lynx
- Everblades knock off Salmon Kings 5-2 - Florida Everblades
- Titans Down Royals 6-2 - Trenton Devils
- Pride drop second straight in Texas - Myrtle Beach Thunderboltz
- Skating on Fumes - Victoria Salmon Kings
- Mather's Hat Trick Propels Bullies Over Chiefs 5-3 - Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies
- Storm Keep Pace In Playoff Race With Win Over Dayton - Dayton Bombers
- Falcons Sign Rookie Out of Minnesota-Duluth - Fresno Falcons
- Peverley Recalled to Portland - South Carolina Stingrays
- Beckford-Tseu & Maiser Reassigned to Worcester (AHL); Chouinard Signed - Peoria Rivermen
- Gwinnett Can Clinch Playoff Berth with Win Tonight - Atlanta Gladiators
- ECHL Today - ECHL
- Aces Corral Wranglers, 3-1 - Alaska Aces
- Columbia shuts out the Checkers 2-0 - Charlotte Checkers
- Condors can't hold on against Gladiators - Bakersfield Condors
- Gladiators Fly By Condors, 3-2 in Overtime - Atlanta Gladiators
- Falcons' Three-Goal Comeback Ultimately Falls Short in OT - Fresno Falcons
- Sea Wolves Sink IceGators 5-1 - Mississippi Sea Wolves
- Gulls Blank Long Beach, 2-0 - San Diego Gulls
- Steelheads withstand late Fresno rally, win 6-5 in OT - Idaho Steelheads
- Rivermen Edge Wheeling in a Shootout 2-1 - Peoria Rivermen
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