Gulls Win Brabham Cup With 2-1 Victory over Alaska

April 4, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


SAN DIEGO – Not a bad opening season in the ECHL for the San Diego Gulls. All they did was win the Brabham Cup for the best overall record in the regular season. The Gulls clinched home-ice advantage throughout the Kelly Cup Playoffs Saturday night with a 2-1 win over their first round opponent Alaska Aces, before 10,089 at the Sports Arena.

To win the Brabham Cup though, a win over the Aces wasn't going to be enough for the Blue and Orange. They needed the Wheeling Nailers to lose, which they did in Atlantic City, 4-3. Both San Diego and Wheeling entered the day tied in points, but the Nailers held the tiebreaker with more wins.

Winning the regular season championship wasn't the only thing on the minds of Steve Martinson and company however. They wanted to send a message to Alaska (38-28-6), considering the two are matching up in the first round of the playoffs. The messages was sent as San Diego pulled out the one-goal victory, its eighth straight. If that wasn't enough, the win also gives the Gulls (49-13-10) 108 points, a new franchise record.

It was a back-and-forth first period, as each team traded a handful of quality opportunites. The Gulls, however, were the only ones to light the lamp, taking a 1-0 lead with 37.3 seconds left in the frame. Clayton Read took the puck out of the right wing corner, drew an Alaska defenseman to him and dumped a pass to a wide-open David Neale, who flipped it over Lance Mayes for his ninth goal of the season. Brian Gornick also earned an assist on the play.

Gornick gave San Diego a 2-0 cushion with a power-play goal 10:23 into the second period. Ryan Bast was stuck in the penalty box for cross-checking and the Gulls went to work with the man advantage. After cycling the puck inside the Aces zone, it eventually came to Evgueni Nourislamov at the point. The rookie defenseman's ensuing slap shot bounced off Mayes and Gornick slipped home the rebound for his ninth goal.

The Aces' offense struggled all game long. They didn't get a shot in the third period until 16:33, but they would make it count, cutting the San Diego lead to one. Jordan Cameron busted out of the right wing corner and skated to the front of the net, where he stuffed it past Trevor Koenig for his 17th goal of the season. That's as close as Alaska could get however, as Koenig and his stingy defense shut the door from there.

Notes: Martinson, who coached his last regular season game with the Gulls, was honored before the game... The previous team high in points was 107, set in 1997-98... The Gulls were unbeaten in 18 of their last 19 games (14-1-4)... They lost in regulation only three times in their final 38 games (28-3-7) and six times in their final 54 games (40-6-8)... San Diego closed out the regular season 30-5-1 at home... Mark Pederson returned to action after missing Friday's game with the flu. He won the goal-scoring race with 44 goals... Read finished the regular season with a career-high eight-game point streak (5g, 7a)... Gornick finished the regular season with a career-high six-game point streak and had 14 points (7g, 7a) in his final eight games... Koenig was unbeaten in 28 of his last 30 games (22-2-6)... Kevin Grant, Chris Gobert, Jamie Black and Dennis Purdie all remain on the injured list... San Diego still has three players in the American Hockey League: Billy Tibbetts (Houston), Nick Lent (Springfield) and Josh Gratton (Cincinnati)...

Round one of the playoffs, sponsored by Assil & Flowers Vision Institute and Medical Group, Inc. begins Tuesday. It will be a best-of-five series format with the Gulls holding the home-ice advantage. Games 1 and 2, held at the Sports Arena, will be Tuesday and Wednesday, both starting at 7:05 p.m. The series then shifts to Anchorage, Alaska for Game 3 and, if necessary, Game 4. If necessary, Game 5 would be back in San Diego on Tuesday, April 13.

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 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 April 4, 2004


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