Gulls Fall To Third Place with 6-2 Loss
March 22, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release
FRESNO, Calif. ââ What a difference two games can make. Coming into the weekend, the San Diego Gulls had a somewhat comfortable second-place lead in the West Coast Hockey League. But two nights and two losses later, the Gulls find themselves in third place, one point behind the Bakersfield Condors.
Scott Borders netted a hat trick, two goals coming via the power play, lifting the Fresno Falcons to a 6-2 win over San Diego Saturday night, before 7,313 at Selland Arena. The Gulls (40-20-4), who have the second worst road power play in the WCHL, went 1-7 with the man advantage. Fresno (31-27-8) went 3-7 on the power play and ended an eight-game home losing streak.
And while San Diego struggled to its loss, Bakersfield took care of the Anchorage Aces, jumping ahead of the Blue and Orange in the race for the second seed. The Gulls, however, still have three games in hand on the Condors.
David Neale gave San Diego an early 1-0 lead with his fifth goal 11:17 into the first period. Sylvain Deschatelets worked the puck to Mike Garrow, who flipped it to the front of the net. Neale then came from around the net, dove by the left post and swept it past Terry Friesen.
The Gulls got into penalty trouble late in the opening frame and Fresno made them pay for it. Dennis Purdie was assessed a hooking penalty, while Trevor Koenig got whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct. On the ensuing five-on-three power play, Scott Borders grabbed a pass from Jason McBain in the high slot and trickled one by Koenig for his first of the night.
Borders gave the Falcons a 2-1 lead with another power-play goal midway through the second period. Kevin Haupt held the puck in from the point and worked it to Glen Gulutzan in the corner. Borders got open, took a pass from Gulutzan and one-timed home his second of the night at 7:38.
The Gulls had a few power play chances of their own in the second, but came up empty. Fresno found itself with another man advantage late in the stanza and capitalized yet again. Jason Weaver took a pass from Cory Murphy and fed a wide-open David Hass in front of the net, who easily potted his second of the season. The tally came with just 14 seconds left in the second period.
On its seventh power play chance, San Diego was finally able to break through, thanks to Dean Tiltgen's 25th goal. Samy Nasreddine fired a low shot from the point that Terry Friesen saved. The rebound caromed right to Tiltgen, who easily put it in at 4:41 of the third.
Borders and Weaver connected again at 10:16 of the third period to regain the Fresno two-goal lead. Weaver took the puck out of the corner and fed Borders, who one-timed another one in to complete the hat trick â 19th goal of the season. Rob Bonneau then added his second goal at 12:38 while Jordan Landry notched his seventh at 14:39 to cap the scoring.
Notes: San Diego is 32-10-3 since starting the season 8-10-1... Koenig still needs four more wins for 100 in his Gulls career... With his assist in the first period, Deschatelets extended his point streak to seven games... Trevor Sherban had his five-game assist streak snapped tonight... Gulls leading scorer Mark Pederson remains out with a groin injury. He's expected to be out for at least another week... Kevin Grant remains on injured reserve... Marc Busenburg and Rob Voltera remain with the American Hockey League's Hershey Bears... Martin St Amour served the final game of his seven-game suspension tonight...
San Diego hosts the Aces tomorrow at the Sports Arena, with game time set for 5 p.m. It will be the fifth of six "McDonald's Nights" with "Skate with the Gulls" held immediately following the contest. Kids jerseys will be given to the first 2,000 fans ages 14 and under. 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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