Game 33: San Diego Gulls @ Stockton Heat – Jan 9

No Mahura (but it was later mentioned in the broadcast that he was a scratch) despite being sent down and at the same time as Street – who did make it into the line up. Korbinian Holzer also made his second straight appearance while Luke Schenn was reinserted back into the line-up with the recall of Dotchin.

Game began with a lot of open ice and good flow . The Gulls jumped on an opening early when Troy Terry smoothly took a pass from Blandisi behind the goal line and fed Sam Steel in front who wasted no time roofing it high glove side just 18:34 in.

The heat hit back two minutes later when Boyle was unable to completely cover a rebound as he dove forward to grab it.

Matt Berry had a breakaway just before the midway mark as he was the benefactor of a smart alley-oop pass but hit the post.

Soon after killing a penalty to Jo Blandisi, the Gulls had their own chance to score with the man advantage when Troy Terry drew a hooking penalty cutting across the circles. The Gulls power play unit kept possession and kept the Heat guessing until a seam opened up that Korbinian Holzer wired through traffic for the 2-1 lead and his first of the season.

With under five minutes left the Heat caught a lucky bounce when a shot from the point that was going wide appeared to hit off the back leg of Korbinian Holzer and passed Kevin Boyle to tie things up once again.

Stockton rode the momentum of the game tying goal by immediately getting into the San Diego zone on the very next shift, executing a give and go play off the right boards before firing a perfect shot by Boyle to take the lead.

The Heat controlled play for the remainder of the opening period but for one opportunity afforded to Ben Street and San Diego went into the first intermission down by one after a period that they probably should have a better outcome from.

The beginning of the second saw the Gulls pressuring early and they were rewarded by a follow up from Korbinian Holzer, his second of the night. The thirty year old German defender accepted a perfect drop pass at the top of the circles and ripped it over the right shoulder of Gillies to tie things back up. This was the culmination of back to back great shifts in the Heat zone.

Moments later Alex Dostie took a penalty for hooking but a Heat fumble at the blue line led to an Adam Cracknell breakaway who forced a hard shot through the five hole of Trevor Gillies to score short handed and take the lead once again.

The Heat went straight back to the attack, hounding the Gulls and gaining momentum with increased zone time, forcing Boyle to make some spectacular saves before eventually drawing a call on Benoit. The Gulls penalty kill could not come through however and Stockon struck once again to tie it up.

Scores remained tied for the rest of the middle frame but not for lack of trying – both teams exchanged opportunities and the hitting began to pick up. Simon Benoit plastering a Stockon player against the glass in the Gulls zone followed by Troy Terry getting caught with his head down in front of the Heat net and being sent flying (thankfully there wasnt any head contact on the hit).

The third was a little untidy to begin and we approached the midway point with scores still level despite the teams exchanging power plays. It should be noted that the fourth line of Dostie, Thomson and newcomer Jared Thomas appeared to be used sparingly up to this point. With just under nine minutes left Max Jones drew another penalty but the Heat were able to kill the minor.

With under two minutes left in regulation and with scores still tied, it looked like both teams might stubbornly claw their way to an overtime session. But an odd man zone entry between Adam Cracknell and Chase De Leo ended in a De Leo scoring his eigth of the year to take the lead from a beautiful slap-pass fake-shot feed from Cracknell.

Clearly the directive from Eakins was to finish it as the Gulls came right back into the Heat zone off the center ice face-off, winning puck battles and throwing it on net until Sam Carrick got to a loose puck in front to send home a rebound to pad the lead at two.

The heat pulled their netminder with just over a minute left and it didnt take long for Jo Blandisi to get to a loose puck and throw it in for the empty net goal. Finishing the game off at 7-4, giving Dallas Eakins the most wins as a Ducks affiliate head coach.