Gulls-Steelheads Game Preview
Published on October 31, 2002 under ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release
SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego Gulls are looking to right the ship when they face off against the Idaho Steelheads Friday night at the Sports Arena. The Gulls, after starting the season 3-0, have dropped five straight.
San Diego's latest setback came Tuesday night with a 6-4 loss to the defending Taylor Cup Champion Fresno Falcons. The Blue and Orange jumped out to a 1-0 lead before Fresno scored three straight. The Falcons had four two-goal leads during the contest, but whenever the Gulls tried to come back Fresno had an answer. San Diego's offense, which has been all but silent in its previous four games, did come alive however. Dean Tiltgen led the way with two goals and an assist while Trevor Sherban added one goal and one assist.
Even with the offensive output on Tuesday, the Gulls are still allowing too many goals. During its five-game slide, San Diego has been outscored 21-9 and is now in unfamiliar territory - in third place in the West Coast Hockey League. The Blue and Orange trail the front-running Steelheads by eight points and the second place Falcons by one point... Their 3-4-1 record is the worst start in franchise history. The previous low was a 4-2-2 start in 1998-99... San Diego is 3 for its last 40 with the man advantage... Sandro Sbrocca, Clint Cabana and Dennis Mullen rank 1-3 respectively in WCHL penalty minutes...
Idaho, running in the opposite direction, is in the midst of a five-game winning streak, outscoring its opponents 20-8. During their run, the Steelheads have knocked off the Gulls twice and the Anchorage Aces three times... They lead the WCHL with 15 points, seven ahead of Fresno... Idaho has four players tied for fourth in league scoring: Dan Shermerhorn (6g, 3a), Cory Morgan (4g, 5a), Joe Rybar (3g, 6a) and Scott Swanson (0g, 9a)... Morgan is the reigning WCHL Player of the Week... Blair Allison, Goaltender of the Week, has been stellar between the pipes. He comes into Friday's game with a goals against average of 1.40 and .934 save percentage...
The Gulls leave right after Friday night's game and head to Bakersfield, where they'll take on the Condors Saturday at 7 p.m. San Diego then has a week off before hosting Idaho again Saturday Nov. 9. All games can be heard live on 1130AM-KSDO and at www.ksdo.com 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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