Sports stats



AHL San Diego Gulls

Stockton Edges Gulls, 3-2

December 5, 2021 - American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The San Diego Gulls dropped a 3-2 decision to the Stockton Heat tonight at Stockton Arena.

Brayden Tracey netted his sixth goal of the season and fourth tally in his last five games (4-4=8) to move into a tie for ninth in goal scoring among AHL rookie leaders. Tracey is now tied for the team lead in scoring with 6-9=15 points and ranks tied for sixth in points among AHL rookie leaders.

Hunter Drew scored his first career shorthanded goal, the Gulls second this season, at 10:23 of the first period.

Bryce Kindopp and Nathan Larose each earned assists. Larose's helper marked his first AHL assist and point.

Olle Eriksson Ek stopped 25-of-27 shots in the setback.

The San Diego Gulls will begin a home-and-home series with the Ontario Reign Friday, Dec. 10 at Toyota Arena (7 p.m.)

POSTGAME QUOTES

San Diego Gulls

Hunter Drew

On the team's performance after last night's loss:

I think it was good, it was big for us to show those guys that we could play with them and obviously, show the rest of the league. Like you said, tough game last night on our end, but to come out and respond the way we did tonight even though we didn't get the result we wanted was huge for us.

On what the team can build on from tonight's game:

You just look overall and look at our forecheck and look at our d-zone play and the way we're moving the puck and you know, the way we're grinding in the offensive zone. Going into a big week of practice here, playing a good team next week- that's going to be big for us to have the same mindset and the same mentality.

On scoring the first shorthanded goal of his AHL career:

The puck got rammed around the boards and I saw it hop over a stick and kind of turned the jets on a little bit. You know the ice isn't very good here so I knew I probably couldn't pass and I started wobbling so I just shot and like I said, beat him.

On the message on the bench during the team's time out at the end of the game:

The big message was not to quit. Like I said we need to show these guys we can play with them and I think we did. You know, I said earlier we didn't get the result we wanted, but we're battling in front of the net, we're not quitting.

Head Coach Joel Bouchard

On tonight's game:

Well, it was a good effort. I thought after the first period where it was okay, it was not bad. We were down 2-1, but we had some good moments. I thought the second and third period we played really well. Power play didn't click as much, obviously. They're a good team. They play well. The ice quality's making it a little difficult to execute. That not being an excuse, we had 38 shots. I think it's one of those nights where...like the two nights you kinda gotta tip your hat to the goalie on the other side. He's very good again tonight. Where (else) are you see an AHL goalie play two games in a row and play that well two games in a row? He's stopped, I think, four breakaways over the weekend. He wasn't very leaky. I gotta give credit to the goalie and they're a good team, but I'm proud of the way our young team reacted today. I challenged them after the first and I thought they did very well.

On tonight's focus:

Well, that was the thing we talked after the game yesterday, is the adversity, how we react through it. I thought tonight they reacted like men, even if they're young guys. And I thought yesterday we kinda disconnected emotionally from the challenge and the adversity. I thought tonight we stayed in the moment. Even to go get that goal at 3-1 to make it 3-2 and we had two primary scoring chances at the end there with no goalie with 30 seconds left. We hit the post, both of the posts in the third period with three minutes. It's one of those games where you learn from it, you grow. They hurt, but there was still a lot of good with our young squad. You have to remember, there are a lot of guys that are playing a lot more minutes with the loss of Robinson and Lettieri and that's the reality of the AHL. Now some guys have to step up and I thought we had a bit of a climb in the weekend.

On how they build off the weekend:

You have to be, as a coach, as transparent and honest as you can. And they know I wasn't very happy about a few things last night after the game. But I gotta be proud of the way they reacted today. At the end of the day, if I start coaching scores then it's going to be a little difficult for the player to know where we stand. They have to see the essence. They have to see the structure. They have to see the identity. They have to see everything that we're asking them. You're not always going to get the result. That's why it's so hard to win. But at least you're giving yourself a chance. I feel tonight, in Stockton, back-to-back with a young team, we give ourself a chance to win. Was it perfect? No. Was there stuff we gotta work on? Yes, but I do feel we were much better tonight than we were yesterday.

Check out the San Diego Gulls Statistics

• Discuss this story on the American Hockey League message board...

American Hockey League Stories from December 5, 2021


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.

OurSports Central