San Diego and Long Beach Enter Day Tied For Second Place

December 16, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


Friday, Dec. 16
SAN DIEGO GULLS (10-8-4) VS. LONG BEAC ICE DOGS (11-11-2)
Time: 7:35 p.m.
Venue: ipayOne Center
Radio: KLSD (1360AM)
TV: B2 Networks (www.sandiegogulls.com)

SAN DIEGO - It will be the battle of second place tonight at the ipayOne Center. The San Diego Gulls and Long Beach Ice Dogs enter the day tied in the Pacific Division and one of the two will skate out with sole possession of the second spot. Both teams are also three points back of first-place Fresno, who play an early game in Johnstown this afternoon.

SERIES HISTORY: The Gulls and Ice Dogs have met twice so far this season with the series tied at one game apiece. The two teams will square off six more times during the regular season, four of which will be in Long Beach.

2005-06 HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES:
11/2/05 San Diego 0 @ Long Beach 5
11/25/05 Long Beach 2 @ San Diego 4

San Diego owns the all-time series match-up, posting a 42-14-2 record against its Pacific Division rival. The Gulls are 24-4-1 all-time against the Ice Dogs at the ipayOne Center. San Diego is unbeaten in 29 of its last 33 head-to-head meetings against Long Beach (28-4-1), dating back to October 2002...

LAST HEAD-TO-HEAD MEETING (NOV. 25 VS. LONG BEACH): After getting blanked 5-0 in the their first meeting with the Ice Dogs, the Gulls wanted some revenge... and they got it with a 4-2 home win against Long Beach Nov. 25. Dan DaSilva led the offensive attack with one goal and two assists, while netminder Tyler Weiman stopped 25 of 27 shots. Guillaume Fournier also extended his career-high point streak to nine games - his streak ended the following night against Stockton.

GULLS UPDATE: San Diego (10-8-4) enters the day with 24 points, tied for second in the Pacific Division with Long Beach and three points back of the first-place Fresno Falcons... The Gulls, however, have two games in hand on the Ice Dogs... San Diego and Long Beach are both four points ahead of the fourth-place Bakersfield Condors... The Gulls have won two straight and are unbeaten in seven of their last eight games (5-1-2)... Alex Kim, who scored both game-winners in Utah, has 13 points (7g, 6a) in nine games with the Blue and Orange, including six in the last three games (3g, 3a)... Jesse Bennefield has assists in four straight games and has six points during that span (2g, 4a)... Richard Keyes has 16 points (5g, 11a) in the last 12 games... Steve Hildenbrand has 17 points (5g, 12a) in the last 12 games...

THE LAST 16 GAMES (9-3-4): Since their 1-5-0 start, the Gulls are 9-3-4 (.688 winning percentage)... In those 16 games, 10 have been decided by one goal and four have been decided by two goals... Seven of the one-goal decisions ended in overtime or a shootout... Only four ECHL teams have better winning percentages over the last 16 games (Alaska, Las Vegas, Idaho and Reading)... The Gulls have scored 58 goals in the last 16 games (3.63 per game) and have allowed 45 (2.81 per game)... Their power play has also clicked at 20.9 percent over that span (23-110)... San Diego has scored multiple power-play goals in eight of those games... Its penalty killing, which at one point was below 70 percent, is 84 percent during this stretch (89-106) and 89.5 percent during the last 13 games (77-86)...

LONG BEACH UPDATE: Long Beach (11-11-2) also has 24 points, tied with San Diego for second place in the Pacific Division... The Ice Dogs just completed a four-game eastern road trip in which they went 3-1-0... Ash Goldie is tied for fourth in the ECHL with three game-winning goals... Christian Larrivee leads the club overall with 23 points (11g, 12a)... Goaltender Greg Hewitt has started 19 of Long Beach's 24 games this season, including eight of the last nine...

TRANSACTIONS: Evan Shaw, acquired from Columbia last week, will make his Gulls debut tonight... Patrick Levesque was signed last Saturday... Doug MacIver (knee), Andy Thompson (wrist), Darren Clark (elbow) and Fournier (concussion) all remain on the injured list... Goaltender Tom Lawson remains with the American Hockey League's Lowell Lock Monsters...

FUTURE HEAD-TO-HEAD MEETINGS (2H, 4A):
Saturday, Jan. 21 @ LBH (7 p.m.)
Saturday, Feb. 4 @ LBH (7 p.m.)
Wednesday, Mar. 1 vs. LBH (7:05 p.m.)
Saturday, Mar. 11 @ LBH (7 p.m.)
Friday, Mar. 24 vs. LBH (7:35 p.m.)
Sunday, Mar. 26 @ LBH (5 p.m.)



ECHL Stories from December 16, 2005


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