Game 32: San Diego Gulls @ Ontario Reign – Jan 6

With the addition of Dotchin, Holzer and Ben Street from the Ducks it meant Johno May and Adam Cracknell were moved to the wing to make room in the forwards, while Sustr and Schenn sat on the blue line. The only call I find questionable there is sitting Schenn and possibly not Thompson, but perhaps that was a ‘total vets allowed’ rule thing.

San Diego had the better of the chances to begin with but an interference penalty on Cracknell allowed the Ontario power play to get some good looks on Boyle and the 2nd year pro made some huge stops during the disadvantage as his defence uselessly waved their sticks in too-large passing lanes.

San Diego killed the penalty, and in turn had their own multiple attempts with the man advantage,but failed to convert on the two opportunities awarded to them during the first period. With the addition of Street, both units were changed up with Street put on the point with Megna on the second unit.

With less than a minute left in the opening period, the Blandisi line finally got one by Budaj when Troy Terry intercepted a pass near the right hash mark, stick handled toward Budaj and then fed the puck to Steel at the back post who potted it in for the lead.

San Diego would add another less than twenty seconds into the middle frame when a potential icing was negated by good hustle from Jones who then won the puck back to Carrick who bought some time on the off-wall and dished a no-look pass to Jones in the high slot that the former London Knight one-timed home for the 2-0 lead.

The Gulls piled it on from there, getting chances from both the Jones and Blandisi lines as well as one opportunity from Gazinc and Dostie. They also had another powerplay and at the 11:29 mark managed to have a full-minuted thirty-five of a five-on-three advantage when noted shithead Kurtis McDermid took a penalty during the penalty kill assessed to Matt Moulson for slashing Sam Steel’s stick in half.

They had one huge chance down low as Adam Cracknell seemingly had a wide open net with a rebound just sitting there, but Petr Budaj somehow managed to get across in time to make the stop. Kevin Boyle, not to be outdone, made a similar post to post save on a shorthanded chance just seconds later. Budaj made several more huge saves as the Gulls continued to pressure.

With five minutes left, Adam Cracknell was assessed a tripping penalty as he missed a pokecheck and took out the Reign forward Morrison coming through the neutral zone and the Reign struck with the man advantage to make it 2-1.

Ontario carried momentum for much of the rest of the period, but San Diego held firm on good defensive plays from both returned Dotchin and Holzer and the period ended 2-1.

The Gulls were determined to take things into their own hands as the third started and they did just that; peppering Budaj with shots. Sam Carrick eventually getting one through on a rebound to make it 3-1.

The Reign appeared to be skating through quicksand as the Gulls stifled any form of attack and, as per the norm, they unleashed their frustrations. Noted shithead Kurtis McDermid slashing Chase De Leo and getting caught doing so to send the Gulls to the man advantage. Troy Terry wasted no time taking the puck on the right hash marks and firing it high glove side on a hard wrist shot to extend the lead to 4-1 with just over six minutes remaining.

From there San Diego put on a clinic, eventually only allowing two shots on Boyle for the entire period (dubious, I counted maybe four) and the game ended with noted shithead McDermid finishing a check on Dotchin and Luke Gazdic (who was still feeling the effects of a shot block just seconds before) going after him at the buzzer. Perhaps telling of the difference between the two teams morale: the entire Gulls’ bench was on the ice to break up the skirmish, while only six or seven Reign stood around, with the exception of McDermid and Imama trying to start things.

San Diego extended their win streak to six games and their points streak to eleven.