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Still in Fourth, but Sitting Pretty

January 12, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


SAN DIEGO –– Yes, the San Diego Gulls are still fourth in the Pacific Division. But if they keep playing the way they are, it's only a matter of time before we start telling you that they're in first.

The Gulls grabbed five of a possible eight points last week and are now five points back of the front-running Idaho Steelheads. They are three points behind the Alaska Aces and Las Vegas Wranglers, who are tied for second place. San Diego, however, has played four fewer games than Idaho and Las Vegas and still has two games in hand on Alaska.

WEEK IN REVIEW:

San Diego began the week with a win over the Texas Wildcatters. The Gulls then traveled to Anchorage, Alaska for a three-game weekend series. They won Friday, lost Saturday and fell in a shootout Sunday.

Jan. 6 vs. Long Beach

Ashlee Langdone made his return to the Sports Arena but Mark Pederson stole the show, scoring two goals, adding an assist and leading the Gulls to a 4-3 victory. After a scoreless first period, San Diego scored two straight power-play goals to go ahead 2-0. Texas cut the lead in half midway through the second and tied it early in the third. Pederson regained San Diego's lead 8:24 into the third before Dan Cousineau added what proved to be the game-winner at 12:06. The Wildcatters drew within one late in the game, but couldn't come any closer.

Jan. 9 @ Alaska

Josh Gratton and Greg Barber each had a goal and an assist, lifting the Blue and Orange to a 4-2 victory at Sullivan Arena. Sandro Sbrocca and Barber gave the Gulls an early two-goal lead before Alaska got on the board 3:39 into the second period. Gratton regained San Diego's two-goal advantage with a breakaway goal midway through the second. Pederson put the game away early in the third period.

Jan. 10 @ Alaska

Dan Murphy turned aside 25 of 27 shots, several coming in the waning moments of the game, leading the Aces to a 4-2 triumph. The Gulls took an early 1-0 lead, but Alaska netted two straight to go ahead 2-1. That's how it stayed until Cliff Loya tied it 7:27 into the third period. Louis Mass, however, gave the Aces the lead for good at 13:09 and Mark Smith added an empty-netter

Jan. 11 @ Alaska

Jordan Cameron scored the decisive goal in the eighth round of the shootout, lifting the Aces to tight 4-3 shootout win. Trevor Koenig stopped 42 shots in regulation and overtime, then another five in the shootout, but it wasn't enough. Alaska took a 1-0 lead before the Gulls came back to go ahead 2-1. The Aces tied it, fell behind again, but deadlocked the game again on Joe Talbot's second goal of the night with 6:32 left in regulation. In the shootout session, Murphy stopped six of eight San Diego shooters.

THIS WEEK:

The Gulls conclude their road trip Friday in Fresno, with game time from Save Mart Center set for 7 p.m. San Diego hosts the Aces Saturday at 7:05 p.m. and Sunday at 5:05 p.m. Floppy hats, courtesy of your San Diego County Toyota Dealers, will be given to the first 5,000 fans on Saturday. "Skate with the Gulls" will be held immediately after Sunday's game.

TEAM NOTES:

Pederson has scored in eight straight games, tying the Gulls' all-time franchise record. Mark Woolf scored in eight consecutive games in 2001-02... Pederson has 15 points (10g, 5a) in the last eight games... The ECHL record for longest goal-scoring streak is 16 games... San Diego is unbeaten in 13 of its last 15 games (12-2-1) and six of seven on the road (5-1-1)... The Gulls are 17-3-2 in their last 22 games against Pacific Division teams... They've outscored their opponents 54-32 in the last 15 games... San Diego has killed 90 of its last 96 penalties... San Diego is 3-3-1 against Alaska this season, including a 1-3-1 mark at Sullivan Arena... Billy Tibbetts remains with the American Hockey League's Springfield Falcons... Dean Tiltgen remains on the injured list...

All games can be heard live on KPOP 1360AM with Chris Ello calling the play-by-play. The Gulls Internet radio show, hosted by Tera Black and Jeremy Zager on wsradio.com, will begin airing live every other Monday from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., starting Jan. 19.



ECHL Stories from January 12, 2004


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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