Gulls win 12th straight with 4-2 win
January 5, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release
SAN DIEGO -- The wins keep coming for the San Diego Gulls. The Blue and Orange scored twice with a two-man advantage while Trevor Koenig steered aside 23 shots, leading the Gulls to a 4-2 win over the Long Beach Ice Dogs Saturday night, before 6,357 at the San Diego Sports Arena. The Gulls have now won 12 consecutive games.
San Diego (20-10-1) moves four points ahead of the second place Bakersfield Condors and remains 10 points behind the Idaho Steelheads for first place in the West Coast Hockey League.
The Gulls jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Clayton Read and Trevor Sherban. Read got things started with his 10th goal of the season at 6:38. Dean Tiltgen snapped a shot from the left circle, but Mike Buzak left a fat rebound that eventually caromed off Read's skate into the net. Mike McGhan also earned an assist.
Sherban gave San Diego a two-goal cushion with his fourth goal at 10:20 of the opening frame. With the two-man advantage, Cory Cyrenne whipped a pass to Sherban, who blasted a one-timer behind Buzak. Tiltgen notched the other assist, his second of the game.
Long Beach (12-17-2) was held to three shots in the first (to San Diego's 12), but had a golden opportunity to get back in the game and end Koenig's shutout streak. With less than a minute to go in the frame, Chris Peyton skated in one-on-one against Koenig, but couldn't muster a back-hander past the sizzling netminder.
San Diego capitalized on another two-man advantage midway through the second period, taking a commanding 3-0 lead. R.J. Enga fed Kevin Grant at the point, whose blast was deflected in by Sylvain Deschatelets. It was Deschatelets' eighth goal and fifth in the last seven games.
Tyler Willis tried to spark the Ice Dogs by dropping his gloves with Ashlee Langdone - not a good idea. For the second straight time, Langdone (literally) had the upper hand, much to the delight of the San Diego faithful. The two also squared off last Sunday, where Langdone more than held his own.
Willis got even though getting the Dogs on the board at 15:17 of the second, breaking Koenig's shutout string. Michal Pinc fired a shot that Koenig saved, but Willis was right there to tap home the rebound - his fourth goal of the season. It was the first goal Koenig allowed in the last 175 minutes.
Long Beach crept to within one on Robb Wismer's first tally 5:20 into the final stanza. Jeff Ewasko took the puck, drove around the net and tried to bank the puck off Koenig's pads. He couldn't but Wismer skated in and finally jammed it home. That would be as close as the struggling Dogs could get however. Enga sealed the San Diego win on an empty-netter - 16th tally - with 29 seconds left.
Notes: The longest winning streak in league history is 15, set by the Gulls in 1995-96... Koenig has won a career-high 11 games in a row... He has five shutouts and a 0.94 goals against average during his streak... The all-time consecutive shutout streak remains at 197:13, set by Koenig in 2000-01... San Diego has outscored its opponents 51-14 during their 12-game run... Cyrenne extended his point streak to seven games... Enga needs to play in the Gulls' next two games to reach 500 straight in his pro career... Dennis Purdie remains on injured reserve... 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 continue their homestand Tuesday against the Steelheads at 7 p.m. It will be a Karl Strauss Wild Weekday game. All fans get $1 off parking and discounted Karl Strauss Drafts. 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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ECHL Stories from January 5, 2003
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