Gulls Double-up Ice Dogs, 4-2
Published on March 14, 2004 under ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release
LONG BEACH, Calif. â The Gulls have had their way with the Long Beach Ice Dogs the last two seasons. Sunday night was no exception as San Diego stretched its unbeaten streak to 22 games over its Southern California rival with a 4-2 victory.
Mark Pederson led the way â again â with two goals and an assist, while Sandro Sbrocca and Greg Barber had the other tallies for the Blue and Orange. Ex-Gull David Burleigh, facing his old teammates for the first time since being traded, shined in net for Long Beach, but suffered the hard-luck loss.
With the win, the Gulls (40-12-10) extend their Pacific Division lead to eight points over the idle Las Vegas Wranglers and move within two points of the Louisiana IceGators for the top spot in the Western Conference. The Gulls' last regulation loss to Long Beach came Oct. 26, 2002. Since then, they are 21-0-1 against the Ice Dogs, including an 8-0-1 mark this season.
San Diego dominated the first period, but was foiled time and time again by Burleigh, who was traded to Long Beach on March 2 for Colin Zulianello. Burleigh finished the opening period with 11 saves, a bunch of which came at point-blank range.
The Ice Dogs (21-35-5) fed off Burleigh's hot goaltending and grabbed a 1-0 lead at 12:57 of the first on Jerome Marois' 14th goal of the season. Marois took a pass from Alex Kim, barreled into the San Diego zone and slipped a backhander just underneath the stacked pads of Trevor Koenig.
Burleigh remained hot early in the second, but few goaltenders can stop Pederson when he unloads that patented one-timer from the right wing circle. That's what happened at 2:32, as Pederson tied the game on the power play. Mike Garrow had the puck at the left point and whipped it cross-ice to Pederson, who blasted it past an out-stretched Burleigh for his first goal of the game.
The Gulls continued to chip away and were rewarded again at 7:01 of the second when Sbrocca notched his sixth goal of the year. Sbrocca, Dean Tiltgen and David Neale cycled the puck in the Long Beach zone before Sbrocca pounced on a loose puck in front of the net and jammed it behind Burleigh.
Pederson struck again at 11:49, giving San Diego a 3-1 lead. Despite having two Long Beach defenders draped over his back, Pederson somehow got open and redirected home Barber's centering pass for his second goal of the game â 42nd of the season.
Long Beach was given a golden opportunity to get back in the game when it was awarded a five-minute major power play at 13:20 of the second. Billy Tibbetts and Dan Vandermeer each received fighting majors, but Tibbetts was also issued a match penalty for having his wrist taped and a game misconduct.
It took the whole five minutes before the Ice Dogs were finally able to take advantage, as Nick Ganga registered a power-play marker at 18:19 to make it a 3-2 game. Ganga skated out from behind the net, took a pass from Trevor Read and flicked it over Koenig's shoulder for his 15th goal.
The Gulls had a two-man advantage late in third and Barber put the game away, connecting on setup feeds from Sylvain Deschatelets and Pederson. The goal, which came at 16:16, was Barber's rookie-leading 28th of the season.
Notes: The Gulls are unbeaten in their last nine games (5-0-4)... They've lost in regulation only twice in their last 28 games (19-2-7) and five times in their last 44 games (31-5-8)... San Diego is 36-9-5 against Pacific Division teams and has an overall 15-7-9 record on the road... The Gulls are 35-10-2 lifetime against the Ice Dogs, which includes three seasons in the West Coast Hockey League... Pederson is tied for second in the ECHL with 77 points. He leads the league with 42 goals... Deschatelets has scored a point in 15 of his last 16 games... Barber leads all ECHL rookies with 70 points, 28 goals and 42 assists... Koenig is unbeaten in 20 of his last 21 games (14-1-6)... Long Beach had two goals disallowed Sunday... Clayton Read missed Sunday's game because of food poisoning... Zulianello remains out with a sore groin... Dennis Purdie (sprained shoulder) and Kevin Grant (neck strain) both remain on the injured list... Josh Gratton remains with the American Hockey League's Cincinnati Mighty Ducks...
San Diego returns home Friday to face the Fresno Falcons, with game-time set for 7:35 p.m. The Gulls play in Fresno Saturday at 7 p.m. before coming back home to host the Bakersfield Condors Sunday, March 21. Sunday's game is a 5:05 p.m. start with "Skate with the Gulls" held immediately afterward. All games can be heard live on KPOP 1360AM and www.sandiegogulls.com with Chris Ello calling the play-by-play. The next edition of the Gulls Internet Radio show, hosted by Tera Black and Jeremy Zager on wsRadio.com, will air live Monday, March 22 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. To view pictures from this season, visit www.sdgullsphotos.com and www.zerodogentertainment.com.
ECHL Stories from March 14, 2004
- Ice Dogs fall short versus San Diego, 4-2 - Long Beach Ice Dogs
- Gulls Double-up Ice Dogs, 4-2 - San Diego Gulls
- Lynx Win In OT Over Ice Pilots 4-3 - Augusta Lynx
- IceGators Tamed By Pride 4-1 - Louisiana IceGators
- Chiefs Have Record Setting Win - Johnstown Chiefs
- Pride down IceGators 4-1 - Myrtle Beach Thunderboltz
- ECHL Transactions - ECHL
- Rivermen Win Streak Ends at Nine in 5-3 in Wheeling - Peoria Rivermen
- ECHL Today - ECHL
- Aces rally to win 4-2 - Alaska Aces
- Rosebush is Golden in Shootout Loss - Bakersfield Condors
- Don't Be Sad, 'cause 2 Out Of 3 Ain't Bad - Cincinnati Cyclones
- Steelheads ice Long Beach in OT, 4-3 - Idaho Steelheads
- Falcons' Three-goal Comeback Ultimately Fails - Fresno Falcons
- Gulls find way to win again - San Diego Gulls
- Generals down Gladiators, 4-3 - Atlanta Gladiators
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