Long Beach Romp Gulls, 8-1

March 19, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


SAN DIEGO – The tables were certainly turned Friday night at the ipayOne Center at the Sports Arena. The San Diego Gulls have flat-out dominated the Long Beach Ice Dogs the past three seasons. But this time Long Beach did the dominating, crushing San Diego 8-1.

Joe Cardarelli led the offensive attack for the Ice Dogs with three goals and two assists, while Christian Larrivee also earned three points with two goals and three helpers. Matt Shasby chipped in with three points, while three others also had multipoint games. Netminder Sebastien Centomo, who was acquired earlier in the day from the Las Vegas Wranglers, finished with 29 stops.

The Gulls (31-24-6) have now lost two straight and are now nine points back of the Fresno Falcons for the fourth and final playoff spot in the West Division. They also remain six points behind the fifth-place Idaho Steelheads with only 11 regular season games left. San Diego is now 26-2-1 in its last 29 head-to-head meetings against its Southern California rival, dating back to October 2002.

Long Beach (36-18-8) moves to within five points of the first-place Alaska Aces and stays three points back of the second-place Bakersfield Condors.

The Ice Dogs jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead, thanks to goals by Cardarelli and Shasby less than five minutes into the contest. Cardarelli dented the scoreboard first at 1:20 with his first goal of the night. After making a nice move around Gulls defenseman Evgueni Nourislamov, Cardarelli skated in all alone and punched a shot past goaltender Eddy Ferhi.

Shasby lit the lamp next at 4:46, converting on Chris Kenady's nice setup feed. Kenady grabbed the puck at the bottom of the right wing circle and threaded a cross-ice pass to Shasby, who tapped it past Ferhi for his third marker.

San Diego cut the lead in half at the 14:20 mark of the first period, taking advantage of a lucky bounce off the boards. After Nikita Korovkin dumped the puck into the Long Beach zone, it caromed off the end boards right into the slot, where Nicolas Corbeil beat an out-of-position Centomo. It was Corbeil's 14th goal of the season, first with the Gulls.

Cardarelli regained Long Beach's two-goal cushion, knocking in his second of the game just before the first period buzzer went off. With 2.4 seconds left on the clock, Marco Rosa won a faceoff deep in the Gulls' zone right to Cardarelli, who beat a screened Ferhi for his 18th goal of the year.

Long Beach opened a commanding 6-1 lead with three more goals in the second period. Kenady notched his team-leading 28th tally at 6:30, perfectly placing a wrist shot into the top right corner of the net. Ferhi, who finished with 12 saves on 16 shots, was then pulled in favor of Mathieu Chouinard.

That didn't stop the Ice Dogs, however, as they came calling again 30 seconds later. This time it was Larrivee who lit the lamp, weaving his way to the slot before burying a wrister for his first marker of the night.

Larrivee's second – eighth of the season – came at 11:40 of the middle frame, as he found himself all alone in front of the San Diego net. The Long Beach winger, wide-open in the slot, took a pass from Cory Urquhart and beat Chouinard with a rising backhander. The shot appeared to clank off the crossbar, but referee Max Middendorf ruled the puck fully crossed the goal line. Cardarelli assisted on both of Larrivee's goals, picking up his third and fourth points of the game.

The Ice Dogs weren't done, as they netted another 5:09 into the third period. San Diego's Wes Rypien was called for a major charging penalty and Evan Cheverie scored on the ensuing power play. Rosa and Larrivee assisted on the goal, which was Cheverie's 22nd.

Cardarelli ended the scoring barrage at 19:35 with his hat trick goal, wrapping around the net and banking a shot off Chouinard's pads. Larrivee earned his fifth point and Shasby recorded his third point with assists on the play.

Notes: Seven of San Diego's remaining 11 games are at home... The Gulls have four head-to-head games left against Idaho and two left against Long Beach... The Gulls' last regulation loss to the Ice Dogs was on Opening Night this season. The other loss came in a shootout last season... San Diego is 22-3-1 this season when scoring four-plus goals in a game, but just 9-21-5 when scoring three or less... The Gulls have only out-shot their opponents four times since the all-star break (24 games)... Since the all-star break they are 5-3-1 at home and 5-9-1 on the road (10-12-2 overall)... Nourislamov returned to the lineup after missing the last 23 games with a broken thumb... David Karpa (groin) and Nick Ganga (knee) both remain on the injured list...

San Diego continues its homestand with two more games this weekend, both against the Las Vegas Wranglers. Saturday's game, which begins at 7:05 p.m., is "80s Night" and the first 6,000 fans will get a Gulls tank top, presented by San Diego Fitness. Sunday's contest, which is a 5:05 p.m. start, is Kids Night, featuring "Skate with the Gulls" immediately following the game. The Gulls close out their homestand Friday, March 25 against the Ice Dogs.

All games can be heard live on KLSD 1360AM and www.sandiegogulls.com with Chris Ello calling the play-by-play. All home games and all but one remaining road game (March 26 in Long Beach) can 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.



ECHL Stories from March 19, 2005


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