Game 54: San Diego Gulls vs Stockton Heat – March 6

Stockton Heat players celebrate a goal in their 7-5 defeat of the San Diego Gulls. Credit San Diego Gulls.

With both Steel and Larsson getting called up since the weekend, the Gulls elected to sign Steve McParland and Ryan Tesink to PTOS. McParland was inserted into the line up on the second line with De Leo being moved to Center. Kevin Boyle was also absent from the line-up and appears to be out with a finger injury.

San Diego knew what they were up against and knew they had to control the game early so they came out all guns blazing. Getting in on Heat goaltender Gillies on almost every shift. But the 6’6″ goaltender snagged everything that got close and it was the Heat who struck first on a rare shift of sustained pressure in the Gulls zone.

San Diego fought back and drew a penalty when Kalle Kossila proved too much for the Heat to handle as he spun within the Heat offensive zone, drawing a holding call in the process.

On the next face-off the Heat gained possession and tried to clear but Adam Cracknell sealed it off and hammered a slap shot from the right point by Gillies to tie things up.

Justin Kloos drew another call as he received a pass with pace heading into the Stockton zone and Juuso Valimaki was given a tripping penalty as he got a stick in the lane to bring Kloos down.

San Diego had several good looks including an almost point blank Corey Tropp one-timer but it took a Kloos zone entry with speed and a great pass to Kossila who then sent a high shot over Gillies in tight to put the Gull in front with another power play marker.

Immediately after the TV timeout Kloos and Kossila almost connected again when Kloos threw a beauty of a pass to a wide open Kossila down low at the far post but Kossila hit iron

With just over a minute left in the opening period the Heat got even when Scott Sabourin came back to haunt his old team by throwing a puck on net from an angle so bad he was practially on the goal line and it snuck by Glass on a goal he very probably would like to have back. Teams entered the first intermission tied 2-2 and shots even at 13-13.

The second period began with Sam Carrick taking a pass coming through the Stockton zone, forcing Gillies to make a huge glove save on the glorious opportunity. San Diego continued to pressure the Heat and the chippiness began to pick up, culminating in Sieloff laying a heavy open ice hit that drew the ire of two seperate Heat players and when the scuffles were finally over, San Diego found themselves on a full two minute two man advantage.

The first unit were unable to convert but part way through the power play Andy Welinski stepped into a perfectly placed pass from Kossila to give the Gulls the lead.

The Gulls still had a minute of power play left and once again Kossila and Kloos almost got another one together as Kossila took the space given to him on the zone entry and went right to the net with Kloos driving the right side along with him but his shot did not create a rebound.

The chippy play edged in again as Kalle Kossila took a high hit in the bottom left corner but no call was made and the Finnish third year pro went gingerly to the bench.
After the TV timeout, Adam Cracknell blocked a shot took the puck up the left side and brushed off a check from Valimaki with ease then measured a shot high over Gillies left shoulder.

Stockton fought right back and took advantage of some bad San Diego play when they had chances to clear under pressure in their own zone but gave it away too easy and the Heat set up Ryan Lomberg in front that Glass could not get a glove to.
The Gulls had a few more good chances over the next few minutes including some good speed and skill plays from Jack Kopacka, one creating his own partial breakaway on the penalty kill and another chasing down the puck to negate an icing and then slipping the puck inside Valimaki to get to the net but was unable to get a shot off.

Just as it seems the Gulls had the game in hand with the one goal lead, the Heats relentless fore-check in the San Diego defensive zone resulted in yet another turnover and the Heat tied the game 4-4 with four minutes left in the middle frame.

Another Heat power play had the Gulls scrambling with just under two minutes left and despite Jeff Glass making a lunging poke-check to get the puck out of harms way the San Diego penalty killers failed to clear the zone on six separate opportunities, the youngster Dillon Dube eventually putting them out of their misery by skating around defenders and sending a shot by Glass from the right hash-marks while the depleted penalty killing unit looked on helplessly.

San Diego began the third a man down as Kiefer Sherwood was assessed a minor for unsportsmanlike conduct at the end of the middle frame.

Killing the minor they had to weather a few more flurries from the Heat before being able to slowly push momentum back the other way.

Adam Cracknell drew an interference penalty with a drive into the Stockton zone but the San Diego power-play unit gave up a bad pass at their blue line and the Heat came back the other way to pad their lead by two goals shorthanded.

Dallas Eakins pulled Glass with almost four minutes left and the Gulls drew a penalty on the very next shift but the Heat were able to harry and pressure the San Diego power-play units until eventually springing a shot from their own zone into the empty net.

Adam Cracknell did get another one by Gillies with less than forty seconds left but it was all over and the Gulls lost 7-5 in front of their home crowd in a disjointed overall effort.