AHL San Diego Gulls

San Diego Bests Ontario, 6-4

October 15, 2023 - American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


San Diego Gulls' Judd Caulfield celebrates with team
San Diego Gulls' Judd Caulfield celebrates with team
(San Diego Gulls)

The San Diego Gulls defeated the Ontario Reign 6-4 Sunday afternoon at Toyota Arena, their second straight win to open the 2023-24 AHL season.

Ben King scored his first career American Hockey League (AHL) goal and point in his professional debut. Travis Howe and Tyson Hinds also collected their first career AHL points, as both recorded assists on the play.

Judd Caulfield also scored his first career AHL goal at 11:25 in the second period. Nathan Gaucher tallied the first assist of his AHL career with the lone helper.

Calle Clang set a new AHL career high in saves, stopping 35-of-39 shots to earn his first win of the season.

Jacob Perreault scored the game-winning goal with his second in as many games (2-0=2) to open the season.

Andrew Agozzino scored his first goal of the season, a power-play tally at 15:17 in the first period.

Olen Zellweger recorded his third assist in two games (0-3=3) to open the year. Including playoffs, Zellweger has assists in three straight games (0-4=4) to start his AHL career.

Glenn Gawdin tallied two assists to give him points in back-to-back games to open the season (1-2=3).

Trevor Carrick and Colton White each recorded an assist, giving both assists in back-to-back games to start the campaign.

Josh Lopina scored his first goal of the season, an empty-net goal at 19:59 of the third period.

The Gulls will return to Pechanga Arena San Diego and face the Reign at the Home Opener presented by Cal Coast Credit Union on Friday, Oct. 20 (7 p.m. PT; TV: AHL TV; Radio: Gulls Audio Network).

POSTGAME QUOTES

SAN DIEGO GULLS

Center Ben King

On scoring his first AHL goal in today's win:

Obviously, it's nice to get that one early in the year and kind of give me some confidence, and it was awesome playing tonight and getting the win, obviously, at the end, a good four points against a really good team. It was a fun game for me and for the whole team.

On how he scored the goal:

The puck went to the point and I was in the corner and just tried to get to the net and then, fortunately enough, the puck kind of came my way and just got a stick on it. So, it's a lucky bounce, but I'll take it.

On the performance of the team's young players:

Yeah, I think (Gulls head coach) Matt (McIlvane) and all the coaches do a big job of that, and I think the older players, too, like Gawds (Gulls center Glenn Gawdin) and Aggie (Gulls center Andrew Agozzino) up front for me, especially. They're just kind of helping me out along the way. Gawdin, before the game, just kind of telling me to enjoy it. So, I think that's a huge part and gives us confidence. It kind of shows us the way to play.

On the team holding off Ontario in the third period:

It shows a lot of character, I think, within that group that we have. I think that's kind of, that's the stuff you need to be on a winning team and we got it early in the year, so we just got to keep on going with that.

Defenseman Trevor Carrick

On sweeping the weekend series with Ontario:

It obviously feels good. You know, it's been a long few weeks with training camp, and the guys have been working hard. But we felt good coming into this weekend, and it feels it feels good being rewarded, especially against, you know, a rival like that and it'd be nice to get another one next weekend and finish them off three in a row.

On the rivalry between the two teams:

Yeah, I forgot about it. You know, coming back to this division, a couple of hours down the road. It's always been, you know, pretty intense. But that's why you play, right? You play for those rival games and, you know, when you see each other quite a few times during the season, you pick up on you know each other and the games get tight and, you know, they make for some fun hockey games.

On the team holding off Ontario in the third period:

It's a good start, right? You know, we knew that they weren't going to fold over, especially in their own own building, and they got some some really talented players over there. When you get a little undisciplined, you know, especially myself, and they're gonna make you pay on the power play there. They've always had a good power play, you know, with a couple of those guys. We kind of shoot ourselves in the foot there, but, you know, I think we got a lot of character in that group and you know, especially being so young. You know, when they get one, we didn't we didn't stop. We kept pushing and you know, it's, it's a testament to them.

On the break before they face Ontario next week in San Diego:

Yeah, to be honest, it'd be nice to have a game in a couple more days just you know, with all these practices and stuff, you kind of you get excited for the game. It'll be a good, you know, let the bodies rest and, you know, fix a couple things in practice this week. Of course, we see them again next weekend. We know they're not going to be happy and they're gonna bring all their best effort. And we're in front of our fans, so it's gonna be it's gonna be another good one.

Head Coach Matt McIlvane

On winning both games of the weekend series with Ontario:

We got a lot of respect for this team over here. I thought that they (Ontario) were better today. They clearly made some adjustments and had a good plan. You know, and they've got a really potent, dangerous power play, and we got to practice a lot of penalty killing this weekend. With that being said, there's so much that you can find that's good from a team perspective. And, you know, I think that's where we got to keep our mind right now and keep celebrating that. (The) story has to (have) something to do with (Gulls goaltender) Calle Clang. I thought he was really strong and net for his first game of the season.

On the performance of the penalty kill:

Yeah, it's not easy to get that done early. You know, I'm sure that (Gulls assistant coach) Jason (Clarke) will look at and say there's some room to grow yet, but I think that, you know, there's a lot of positives. Bottom line, we don't want to be having to use it that often. But, you know, we had a bunch of warriors that were blocking a lot of pucks and, obviously our goalie was excellent.

On the performance of the team's young players:

Huge. I mean, you know, we've got two goals here - to develop and win. We know that if we don't develop, we don't have a chance, and there were two or three of our first-year players that I thought had their best game that I've seen from them so far, including Rookie Tournament, including main camp, including the start of the season, and it's fun. You know, it's good to see those guys have some success, because they're going to carry a lot of the ball for us.

On the team's third-period play:

Well, I think it was Reggie's (Gulls forward Pavol Regenda's) goal that got us the two-goal lead. So, that was a big play. And then what I liked was, you know, we do have a youthful team, but the veteran guys on the bench, when the game was tight, reminded everybody just to take a breath and stay focused, which helps everybody so much. And, you know, I thought we gutted our way through it.

On the break before Friday's Home Opener presented by Cal Coast Credit Union:

Yeah, first things first, let's get some rest. Let's get home. And let's go have a day off tomorrow, because these guys deserve it. And then we've got an opportunity this week to, you know, develop. We've got good practices and we can't wait to see our fans at Pechanga this weekend.

Please contact either AJ Manderichio (amanderichio@sandiegogulls.com ) and Nick Aguilera (naguilera@sandiegogulls.com ) of the Gulls Communications Department with any questions.

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San Diego Gulls' Judd Caulfield celebrates with team
San Diego Gulls' Judd Caulfield celebrates with team
   



American Hockey League Stories from October 15, 2023


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