Gulls working overtime

March 8, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


SAN DIEGO –– Three periods hasn't been enough time for the San Diego Gulls lately as they've played five straight overtime games, including all three last week. San Diego dropped two of those extra session games last week, but keep tacking on the points.

The Gulls began the week with a come-from-behind shootout win Friday in Pensacola. Then they hit the road to Beaumont, Texas and lost in overtime Saturday and in a shootout Sunday.

Even with the 1-0-2 record last week, the Gulls maintain the second-best overall record in the ECHL, one point ahead of the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies. The Blue and Orange are now eight points behind the front-running Wheeling Nailers, who won their 10th straight game Sunday afternoon. San Diego is six points ahead of the Las Vegas Wranglers for first place in the Pacific Division and is tied with the Louisiana IceGators for the top spot in the Western Conference. WEEK IN REVIEW:

March 5 @ Pensacola:

The Gulls overcame a three-goal deficit in the third period, then took care of business in the shootout to beat the Ice Pilots 4-3 Friday night. Pensacola opened up a 3-0 first-period lead, thanks to two goals by Tyler Beechey and one by Aaron Phillips. After a scoreless second period, San Diego erupted for three goals in the third. Sylvain Deschatelets made it a 3-1 game before Chris Gobert and Samy Nasreddine scored 1:12 apart late in the frame. Gobert sealed the San Diego victory when he beat Brian Eklund in the fifth round of the shootout.

March 6 @ Texas:

Cory Morgan netted the game-tying goal in the third period and game-winning goal in overtime to lift the Wildcatters to a 3-2 win. Texas jumped out to a 1-0 lead before the Gulls responded. San Diego went ahead 2-1 in the third before the Wildcatters answered shortly after. Nasreddine got charged a holding penalty in overtime and Morgan cashed in the power-play goal for Texas, which went 3-for-3 with the man advantage.

March 7 @ Texas:

Ex-Gull Ryan Fultz scored his first career hat trick and added another in the shootout, leading the Wildcatters to a 5-4 victory and sweep of the two-game series. It was a seesaw battle through regulation. Teams traded goals in the first period before combining for five markers in the second. The Wildcatters were up 4-3 until David Neale notched the game-tying tally at 12:11 of the third. In the shootout, Texas scored twice to San Diego's one.

THIS WEEK:

San Diego returns home to take on the last-place Fresno Falcons Friday and Saturday before playing in Long Beach Sunday, March 14. Friday's game starts at 7:35 p.m. and free beach towels, courtesy of your San Diego County Toyota Dealers, will be given to the first 4,000 fans in attendance. Saturday's contest against Fresno begins at 7:05 p.m. and will feature the final round of the "Hooters bikini contest." Sunday's game in Long Beach is a 5 p.m. start.

Player Notes:

Deschatelets, who had his career-high 11-game point streak snapped on Saturday, has scored a goal in eight of his last 10 games. He has 51 points (14g, 37a) in his last 34 games... Mark Pederson leads the league with 38 goals and has 46 points (27g, 19a) in his last 33 games... Greg Barber has 41 points (15g, 26a) in his last 29 games.... Billy Tibbetts has 15 points in his last eight games (6g, 9a)... Trevor Koenig and Josh Gratton both remain with the American Hockey League's Cincinnati Mighty Ducks. Koenig is expected to return this week... Goaltender Colin Zulianello was acquired from the Long Beach Ice Dogs in exchange for rookie netminder David Burleigh... Dennis Purdie (sprained shoulder) and Kevin Grant (neck strain) both remain on the injured list...

Team Notes:

San Diego's 13 remaining regular season games are against Pacific Division teams, which they have a 33-9-5 record against... The Gulls finished their head-to-head battles against non-divisional opponents, going 4-3-5 (3-0-4 against the Central Division and 1-3-1 against the Southern Division)... San Diego is unbeaten in its last 10 road games (4-0-6)... The Gulls have lost in regulation only twice in their last 25 games (16-2-7) and five times in their last 41 games (28-5-8)... San Diego has gone to overtime in five straight and 10 of its last 18 games... The Gulls are just 26 for 36 on the penalty kill during the last eight games (72.2 percent)...

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, March 8 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 March 8, 2004


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