Game 14: San Diego Gulls v Stockton Heat – Nov 23

Maxime Comtois played in what would be his last game with the Gulls and Sideroff drew back in for Dostie. The newly returned Andy Welinski replaced Forney among the blueline and was paired with Sustr.

San Diego controlled play for much of the first three minutes and were rewarded when Thomson and Fiore came in on a two on one, with Fiore firing a hard wrist shot by the Heat goaltender for the opening score.

Stockton enjoyed the run of play for the next few minutes but the Gulls came close to scoring again when Devon Sideroff made a nice in and out move on the left wing to setup Blandisi but the pass was deflected at the moment of truth.

The visitors again regained momentum and held the Gulls’ zone, keeping San Diego hemmed, until a point shot eventually made it through Coreau to tie things up.

San Diego struck three minutes later after Simon Benoit lead the rush – getting the puck deep where Tropp recovered and got it to Steel, who drew the defense and fed Tropp in front of the net.

San Diego poured it on again under two minutes into the third when Max Comtois drew a roughing penalty from Prout with some strong puck protection in the Stockton zone. The Gulls wasted no time in converting with a perfect cross crease pass from Terry to Tropp at the back door for the easy 3-1 score.

On a seemingly innocent zone entry four minutes later, the Heat got one back as a low wrist shot from the top of the right circles got through Coreau, who had traffic from two rushing Heat forwards in front.

Less than a minute later the Heat scored again to tie things up via a hard wrist shot from the point that again Coreau could not see through traffic.

San Diego responded ferociously and retook the lead on a 3-1 on breakaway where Steel held the puck for the entire rush and delayed long enough for the Heat defenders stick to move out of the lane where he then fed Blandisi for an easy tip in goal.

On the very next shift Luke Schenn intercepted a breakout pass and fed to the slot for Sam Steel, who hammered a one timer by the Heat goaltender for a quick 5-3 lead.

The third began without much charge, but Stockton quietly began to generate momentum until they drew a penalty on the Gulls and converted to bring the lead back to 5-4.

The Gulls’ top line attempted to respond but were unable to convert and play was back and forth until the final four minutes when Stockon converted – again from a wristshot from the point. Tie game.

With a minute left, Troy Terry drew a penalty and on the ensuing power-play. The Heat scored a heart breaking short handed goal with 11 seconds left to take the game 6-5.