Gulls Cruise Past Ice Dogs, 6-1
February 14, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release
SAN DIEGO - You'd think that on Valentines Day the San Diego Gulls and Long Beach Ice Dogs would be a little bit nicer to one another. Well... think again. The two So Cal rivals met at the Sports Arena Friday night and love was anything but in the air.
It wasn't a dirty game. It wasn't a nasty game by any means. But it definitely wasn't a friendly game. And like any other game lately between these two West Coast Hockey League combatants, the Gulls were the ones with the knockout blow.
San Diego (30-15-3) built a 3-0 cushion in the first period and never looked back, en route to an easy 6-1 win over the Ice Dogs, before 3,822 at the Sports Arena. With the "W," the Blue and Orange take sole possession of second place, now two points ahead of the idle Bakersfield Condors.
The Gulls scored on three of their seven first-period shots to open up the quick 3-0 lead. Trent Clark got San Diego going with his seventh goal at 3:15. Sylvain Deschatelets took the puck behind the net and centered it to Clark right in front of Mike Buzak. Clark had a little trouble with the pass, but finally kicked it to his stick and beat Buzak five-hole.
Mark Pederson banged in another at 10:40 to give the Gulls a two-goal cushion. Clayton Read skated the puck behind the net and passed to Pederson, who beat Buzak for his first on the night. Cory Cyrenne capped the first-period scoring with four seconds left. Dan Cousineau worked the puck to Cyrenne, who wristed home his 10th tally from the right faceoff circle.
Long Beach (16-29-2) got on the board five minutes into the second period, cutting San Diego's margin to 3-1. Jamie O'Leary flipped a shot from the left point that J.P. O'Connor tipped past Cris Classen for his 13th goal.
San Diego came right back 2:20 later on the power play to regain the comfortable three-goal lead. David Neale skated down the right wing and feathered a cross-ice feed to fellow rookie Mike McGhan, who redirected in his fifth.
Pederson put the nail in the coffin with his second of the game 13:03 into the third period with the Gulls on the power play. Kevin Grant got a pass from Deschatelets and unloaded a slap shot from the point that Pederson tipped home.
But San Diego wasn't done, and neither was Pederson. The Blue and Orange's leading scorer bagged his second hat trick of the week - 30th goal â- at 18:35 with the Gulls on a two-man advantage. Pederson now has three hat tricks this season and seven goals in the last three games.
Notes: San Diego has won six straight against the Ice Dogs and are 8-1-0 against them this season... The Gulls have outscored Long Beach 36-12 this season and 23-5 during the last five games... R.J. Enga, whose wife was giving birth to a baby girl, missed tonight's game. That broke a string of 514 consecutive games played... Trevor Koenig remains out of the lineup with a knee sprain. He's still at least one week away from returning... Samy Nasreddine is still out with a back injury and won't be back for another month... Dennis Purdie remains on injured reserve with a shoulder injury... Dennis Mullen served the final game of his four-game suspension tonight... Mike Garrow remains with the American Hockey League's Utah Grizzlies... Marc Busenburg and Rob Voltera remain with the AHL's Hershey Bears
The Gulls and Dogs square off from the Sports Arena again tomorrow at 7 p.m. Long-sleeved T-shirts, courtesy of Cox Communications and your San Diego County Toyota Dealers, will be given to the first 10,000 fans. San Diego then goes to Fresno for a President's Day affair with the Falcons. All games can be heard live on 1130AM-KSDO with Chris Ello calling the play-by-play. The Gulls' Internet radio show broadcasts live every Tuesday from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. on wsradio.com with Tera Black and Jeremy Zager hosting.
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ECHL Stories from February 14, 2003
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