So Cal Rivals Meet For The Final Time In San Diego

March 24, 2006 - ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


SAN DIEGO - The San Diego Gulls will get Alex Kim back in the lineup and just in time, as they open another busy weekend tonight against the second-place Long Beach Ice Dogs. San Diego will host Phoenix tomorrow, before playing its third game in three nights Sunday in Long Beach.

SERIES HISTORY: The Gulls and Ice Dogs have met seven times this season with Long Beach holding a 4-2-1 series edge. The two teams will square off one more time during the regular season, Sunday 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 12/16/05 Long Beach 3 @ San Diego 1 1/21/06 San Diego 3 @ Long Beach 2 (OT) 2/4/06 San Diego 2 @ Long Beach 3 3/1/06 Long Beach 2 @ San Diego 3 3/11/06 San Diego 2 @ Long Beach 3

San Diego owns the all-time series match-up, posting a 44-17-2 record against its Pacific Division rival. The Gulls are 25-5-1 all-time against the Ice Dogs at the ipayOne Center. San Diego is unbeaten in 31 of its last 38 head-to-head meetings against Long Beach (30-7-1), dating back to October 2002...

LAST HEAD-TO-HEAD MEETING (MARCH 11 @ LONG BEACH): Christian Larrivee's short-handed goal with 7:10 left in regulation broke a 2-2 tie and gave the Ice Dogs a 3-2 victory over the Gulls at the Long Beach Arena. Michael Lambert gave the Ice Dogs an early 2-0 lead with a pair of goals in the first period. J.F. Soucy put the Gulls on the board 7:09 into the second period converting a two-on-one with Bobby Cunningham. Jesse Bennefield tied it at the 12:28 mark of the second on a breakaway made possible by a beautiful pass from Mark Wires. Tyler Weiman made key save after key save down the stretch, but could not stop Larrivee from putting in the rebound off of Mike Woodford's shot at the 12:50 mark in the third.

GULLS UPDATE: San Diego (29-27-5) enters the day with 64 points, nine behind the third-place Bakersfield Condors... The Gulls have already clinched a berth in the Kelly Cup Playoffs, marking the 10th time in 11 years that they have qualified for postseason play... San Diego is unbeaten in 10 of its last 14 games (9-4-1) and has won a season-high three straight games at home... Out of its last 24 games, 16 have been decided by one goal... The Gulls have only allowed three power-play goals in the last eight games and have killed 139 of 154 in the last 28 games (90.3 percent). They are just 2-for-28 on the power play in the last seven games (7.1 percent)... San Diego is 17-9-4 at home this season...

PLAYER NOTES: Alex Kim, who missed the last 31 games due to a broken collar bone, will return to the lineup tonight. He has 27 points (12g, 15a) in 18 games this season and leads the Gulls with three shorthanded goals and a plus-minus rating of +13. Before getting hurt, Kim was in the midst of a club-high 12-game point streak... Pierre-Luc Sleigher has four points (2g, 2a) in the last three games... Michael Mole has played the third-most minutes in the ECHL (2,802) and has the second-most saves (1,369)...

LONG BEACH UPDATE: Long Beach (33-22-9) starts the day with 75 points, 12 behind the front-running Fresno Falcons and two ahead of Bakersfield. The Condors, however, have played two fewer games... The Ice Dogs have also clinched a playoff spot for the second straight season... Long Beach is winless in four of its last five games (1-3-1)... The Ice Dogs are tied for the fifth-most road wins in the ECHL (19)... They are 19-9-5 on the road and 14-13-4 at home this season... Long Beach has not won a season series from the Gulls since 2001-02... The last four head-to-head meetings have been decided by a 3-2 score...

TRANSACTIONS: Kim was activated from the 30-day injured list, while R.J. Enga re-signed today... Erik Johnson was placed on the seven-day injured list Tuesday with a sore knee... Sebastien Fortier was activated, then released on Tuesday... Kris Mayotte signed and Richard Keyes was transferred to the 30-day injured list Monday... Kelly Askew was placed on the seven-day IR Sunday...

FUTURE HEAD-TO-HEAD MEETINGS (0H, 1A): Sunday, Mar. 26 @ LBH (5 p.m.)



ECHL Stories from March 24, 2006


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