Idaho Sweeps Gulls, 5-2
April 2, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release
BOISE, Idaho â First the good news... the San Diego Gulls have finished the road portion of their schedule. Now the bad news... they lost another one on the road Saturday night, as the Idaho Steelheads completed a three-game sweep with a 5-2 win at the Bank of America Centre.
The Steelheads (41-21-7), who also picked up wins Wednesday and Friday, outscored the Gulls 13-4 during the series. More importantly they are now unbeaten in their last 17 games (13-0-4) and 24 of their last 25 games overall (20-1-4). Their last loss in regulation came against the Gulls Feb. 27 at the ipayOne Center at the Sports Arena.
San Diego (34-29-6), already eliminated from the playoffs, has now lost three straight and four of its last five. The Blue and Orange have also dropped their last four games on the road. They will finish the season with three home games next week.
Max Birbraer gave the Gulls an early 1-0 lead 7:56 into the first period with his 18th goal of the season. After a give-and-go with linemate and former Steelhead Brett Draney, Birbraer went to his backhand and shoved a shot in between the pads of Idaho goaltender Frank Doyle.
Darren Clark put San Diego ahead 2-0 with his 11th marker at 12:15 of the first, but from there it was all Steelheads. They quickly erased the deficit with two goals in a 1:21 span and never looked back.
Scott Burt started the Idaho barrage with his 23rd goal 18 seconds after Clark lit the lamp, wrapping around the net before knocking home his own rebound behind Gulls netminder Eddy Ferhi. Then Tim Verbeek made it 2-2 at the 13:54 mark of the opening frame, faking a slap shot before snapping a wrister five-hole on Ferhi.
Idaho kept the momentum and notched two more goals early in the second period, taking a 4-2 lead. Warren Peters nailed his 21st score on a Steelheads power play 1:10 into the stanza, poking the puck off Ferhi's skate and into the net from a sharp angle. Mike Stutzel, who assisted on Peters' tally, came right back at 5:26 with his fifth goal, converting on his own rebound from the right wing side.
Verbeek put the game away with his second goal of the night â eighth of the season â 17:31 into the third period, backhanding home a shot from the slot. It was his fifth goal against San Diego during this week's three-game series.
Notes: The Gulls are 3-4-0 against Idaho this season, with one more head-to-head game remaining... San Diego is 22-8-3 at home and finished 12-21-3 on the road... The Gulls are 28-4-2 this season when scoring three-plus goals in a game, but just 6-25-4 when scoring two or less... Since the all-star break, they are 8-4-1 at home and 5-13-1 on the road (13-17-2 overall)... NHL veteran Curtis Brown has opted not to play for the remainder of the season... Sean O'Connor, out with a sprained knee, remains on the injured list... Nick Ganga (knee) remains on the injured list, but is close to being activated... Andrew Canzanello was recalled to the American Hockey League's Cincinnati Mighty Ducks Friday... Joel Stepp was also recalled to Cincinnati earlier in the week...
San Diego closes out the season with a three-game homestand, which starts Wednesday against the Steelheads at 7:05 p.m. It will be the last "Wacky Wednesday" of the season, featuring "Pooch Party III." All fans are invited to bring their dog to the game!!! The Gulls will then host the Victoria Salmon Kings for the first time on Friday and Saturday, April 9. The first 5,000 fans at Friday's game will receive a special "Faces of Champions" Gulls picture, presented by zerodogentertainment.com. Saturday's game features a hat giveaway, presented by Dynamic Physical Therapy, to the first 10,000 fans and a post-game jersey auction, which will be held inside the ipayOne Center Arena Club.
All games can be heard live on KLSD 1360AM and www.sandiegogulls.com with Chris Ello calling the play-by-play. All remaining games can also be viewed on the Gulls' web site, courtesy of B2 Networks. Click the B2 Networks link on the home page for a list of the upcoming telecasted games. To view pictures from this season, visit www.sdgullsphotos.com and www.zerodogentertainment.com.
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ECHL Stories from April 2, 2005
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