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San Diego Gulls

Gulls Postgame Notes & Quotes: San Diego Wins Over Grand Rapids 6-2

October 14, 2022 - American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The San Diego Gulls opened their 2022-23 regular season with a 6-2 win over the Grand Rapids Griffins at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan. San Diego now owns a 5-3 all-time record in season opening contests, including a 2-0 mark against Grand Rapids in the season's first game.

Chase De Leo - named the fifth captain in Gulls AHL history earlier today - posted a multi-goal game (2-0=2), including the game-winning tally at 11:56 of the second period. De Leo has collected 4-3=7 points and three multi-point efforts in his last four season-opening games with the Gulls.

Nikolas Brouillard racked up a team-high three-points (1-2=3), while Hunter Drew (1-1=2), Brayden Tracey (0-2=2) and Benoit-Olivier Groulx (1-1=2) also posted multi-point games.

In his Gulls debut, defenseman Olli Juolevi tied a career high with two assists (ninth time, last: 1/17/20 w/UTI vs. HFD).

Justin Kirkland scored the team's first power-play goal - and his first extra-man marker of the season - with 6:55 remaining in the second period.

Austin Strand, Glenn Gawdin, Axel Andersson and Jacob Perreault also picked up assists in the victory. It marks the first points in a San Diego sweater for both Strand and Gawdin.

Lukas Dostal stopped 25-of-27 shots in the victory and is 2-0-0 with a 1.50 GAA and a .947 SV% in two season-opening starts with San Diego.

The Gulls will close out their weekend series against Grand Rapids tomorrow, Oct. 15, at 4 p.m. PT.

POSTGAME QUOTES

San Diego Gulls

Head Coach Roy Sommer

On his overall impression of the game:

Good start, you know, getting the first goal, especially on the road in a home opener is always a good thing to have. It kind of helps you relax a little bit instead of them getting it, but a lot of penalties tonight. I think there was 11 or 12 total, we killed a 5-on-3, a five-minute (penalty). I thought or goaltending was excellent tonight. He (Lukas Dostal) made key saves at key times during the game. If he didn't, it would've been a tie game and then we'd go down and get a goal so I've got to give a lot of kudos to him. You know, a lot of good things, but stuff to work on. Hey, it's a tough building to win in and like I said, their home opener so you've got to give the guys credit for coming in and sticking to the game plan.

On the team's excellent start:

You kind of look at it like when you open up on the road, the other team they're nervous and full house and everything else so it's kind of harder on them than the visiting team. They're a little more relaxed, but I liked the outcome. I thought special teams was pretty good, I thought we did a pretty good job killing, a couple power-play goals. A big goal there on the 5-on-3 from Kirkland, but overall, a pretty solid effort. You can't (complain) a lot when it's a 6-2 win.

On what he'd like the team to improve on:

Our wall play could be better in our own end. We could make some more direct passes coming out. A little more pace on our power play at times because we have the personnel to be like that and I think we should be like that every time the other team takes a penalty with the personnel we have. I thought our neutral zone was all right. Those are kind of things that are kind of easy fixes. We did a pretty good job of keeping the play to the outside and being aggressive when we needed to be in our own end, but there was times there when I thought we gave them too much room. Those are things, again, that you can clean up.

On his first win as the Gulls head coach:

It feels good, but glad to get it out of the way now than wait a couple games like a win wasn't going to come. It was good; I knew we were going to play pretty well because I thought we had, like I was telling you before, really solid practices. The guys were attentive, they worked hard, they were into it. You could tell they were just chomping at the bit to play games. It was good to get it out of the way and especially to get a win. We'll feel better going into tomorrow's game.

On Chase De Leo being named team captain:

We looked, it was kind of a hard decision, but he was the guy that kind of stood out in main camp for us and even when he came down. He's vocal when he needs to be, he's got great leadership qualities, he takes care of himself. You know, he leads by example - you're not going to find a harder working guy. He speaks, he was on the bench tonight, he speaks up when things were bad, when things were good. That's kind of the thing you look for in a leader and we got the right guy. All the picks and assistance too today. Actually, we did it the democratic way. I've done it where I've picked him and we voted and he was one of the guys that had the most votes so we knew the players were behind the decision too.

Hunter Drew

On the 6-2 victory over Grand Rapids:

I think it was good. Obviously, first one of the year, so a little sloppy at times. A lot of penalty trouble for both teams, but 5-on-5, power play, I think we were real good. Penalty kill was good, too. So, no complaints.

On finding success early on the penalty kill:

I think a big thing is blocking shots. When you put your body on the line, the boys love it, the fans love it, and everyone respects it. When you're blocking shots out there, you're saving goals. That obviously helps.

On fine-tuning the team's play:

We have a good group in there and a good coaching staff. I think we will sit down in the morning and look at that game, but I don't think any of us are worried about any mishaps. We're going to figure it out and have a good run this year.

On tomorrow's game

Another victory would obviously be good. Lots of shots is good. We got to test them It's their opening weekend at home, so all of the pressure is on them. They lost tonight so obviously they will be coming hard tomorrow so we just got to answer.

On coming out strong in their home opener

It's obviously exciting. The building is loud and they're obviously flying out there, but I think if we're physical early and get in their face, obviously scoring early helps, so I think we put ourselves in a good situation.

Nikolas Brouillard

On controlling his emotions during the game:

That's the thing I need to work on. Sometimes, I let my emotions get the best of me, and I think today I did pretty well with that. Obviously, I thought about going in, but I stayed calm, I relaxed, and that's why I had such a good game.

On how the team found success on the power play:

Our power play was shooting the puck. We had good net-front presence. We had a 5-on-3, which always helps to get goals, but a lot of power-play (time) in the first game is good; it's good to get the power play going. We worked on the power play probably the past week and a half. It showed tonight.

On the chemistry on his power-play unit:

Our power-play unit - me, Danny (O'Regan), Drewsie (Hunter Drew), JP (Jacob Perreault), we were all here last year, and Dels (De Leo) was there two years ago, so we all played with each other. We kind of know each other and know where everybody is, and I think it clicked pretty well today.

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