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San Diego Looks To Close Out Season On High Note

April 9, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Gulls look to end their season with another home win as they again host the last place Victoria Salmon Kings at the ipayOne Center at the Sports Arena.

SERIES HISTORY: The Gulls and Salmon Kings have met six times so far this season with San Diego holding a 4-2-0 series edge. Tonight is the last game of the season for both teams.

2004-05 HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES:
12/17/04 San Diego 2 @ Victoria 1
12/18/04 San Diego 5 @ Victoria 4
12/20/04 San Diego 2 @ Victoria 3
2/22/05 San Diego 3 @ Victoria 5
2/23/05 San Diego 4 @ Victoria 1
4/8/05 Victoria 2 @ San Diego 3

LAST HEAD-TO-HEAD MEETING (APRIL 8 VS. VIC): Max Birbraer notched a goal and an assist and goaltender Simon Lajeunesse stopped 28 of 30 shots, leading the Gulls to a tight 3-2 win over Victoria. San Diego opened a 2-0 lead halfway through the game before the Salmon Kings cut the deficit to one late in the second period. The Gulls quickly responded, however, and made it 3-1 heading into the third. Victoria scored midway through the final stanza, but that was as close at it would come, as Lajeunesse and company made the one-goal lead stand up.

GULLS UPDATE: The Gulls (35-29-7) have been eliminated from the playoffs for the first time in their 10-year history... They will finish sixth in the West Division... San Diego broke a four-game winless streak with last night's win... The Blue and Orange have dropped four of their last five games (1-3-1) and five of their last seven overall (2-4-1)... The Gulls are 23-8-4 at home and finished 12-21-3 on the road... Their 23 home wins is tied for sixth most in the ECHL... San Diego has outscored its opponents 122-97 at home but was outscored 119-79 on the road... The Blue and Orange are 9-4-2 at home and 5-13-1 on the road since the all-star break (14-17-3 overall)...

OTHER NOTES: San Diego is 29-4-2 this season when scoring three-plus goals in a game, but just 6-25-5 when scoring two or less... The Gulls have only out-shot their opponents seven times since the all-star break (34 games)... They are just 19 for 167 on the power play (11.4 percent) since the all-star break and 0 for 24 in their last five games... Birbraer (19g, 29a) and Brett Draney (18g, 30a) are tied for the club lead with 48 points apiece...

VICTORIA UPDATE: Victoria (14-52-5) has also been eliminated from the Kelly Cup Playoffs and enters the day with 33 points, last in the entire ECHL... The Salmon Kings, who played their last home game on March 12, are finishing the season with a 12-game road trip... Victoria, which allows the most goals per game, has no one on its current roster with a positive plus-minus rating... The Salmon Kings have lost four straight and seven of their last eight games... Seth Leonard has seven points (3g, 4a) against San Diego this season... The Salmon Kings are 8 for 26 on the power play against the Gulls this season (30.8 percent)... They have killed 23 of 26 San Diego power plays (88.5 percent)...

TRANSACTIONS: Veteran defenseman Jason Courtemanche was signed yesterday... David Karpa was assigned to the American Hockey League's Syracuse Crunch Wednesday... Rookie defenseman Chet Ferreira was signed Wednesday... Brian Gornick was recalled to Syracuse on Monday... Curtis Brown was placed on team suspension Saturday, April 2... Yuri Moscevsky was signed Saturday, April 2... Andrew Canzanello was recalled to the AHL's Cincinnati Mighty Ducks on Friday, April 1... Sean O'Connor and Nick Ganga, both recovering from knee injuries, remain out of the lineup...

FUTURE HEAD-TO-HEAD MEETINGS: Last regular season match-up

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