2020-2021 Game 12: San Diego Gulls @ Ontario Reign

With Vinni Lettieri returned to the Gulls and Lukas Dostal shifted to the taxi squad – Anthony Stolarz was given his third start of the season. Antoine Morand was promoted to the veteran line while Matt Lorito was inserted back into the line up to center the fourth line in Morands place. Jeremy Roy drew in at his natural position of defence for the first time this season and perhaps the strangest decision of all – Keegan Lowe and Jamie Drysdale were split up and placed on separate pairings.

It didnt take long for Jeremy Roy to make his presence known on the backend as he and Akil Thomas engaged in a light disagreement after Ontario spent the first two minutes pushing the Gulls back on their heels. The two went for coincidental minors as the Reign continued their strong play – this time on the four on four. Simon Benoit got caught out of position as he engaged with Quinton Byfield and an outnumbered opportunity down-low led to the Reign scoring the games opening goal courtesy of Cameron Guance 1-0 Reign.

The Reign continued to press for the next few minutes but slowly the Gulls began to turn things around, getting some good chances on veteran netminder Troy Grosenick. Eventually tying things up as BO Groulx found himself with space coming down the left wing on a bad change for the Reign. He ripped a wrist shot that appeared to fool Grosenick for his third of the season. 1-1 Tie game.

Play was largely a tight contest of back and forth neutral zone play with the odd foray into the opposite zone for the remainder of the period. San Diego believing they had procured a go-ahead goal when Brouillard made a nice move down the right side off the face-off and fired a shot on net that Grosenick appeared to have covered but the Gulls were able to bat by him after the whistle had blown. The cameras didn’t cover that far side of the rink so replays were inconclusive. Teams skated to the first intermission knotted at one and even in shots 10-10.

The second period began with the Reign getting a shot on the Power Play as Simon Benoit was found guilty of a mistake in the Gulls end and Andrew Agozzino was forced into taking a hooking call to prevent Akil Thomas from getting to a rebound on the outnumbered play that resulted.

The Reign showed some very good movement and looked very dangerous with the man advantage but the Gulls were able to kill the minor. Jamie Drysdale with a great block right at the end of the kill to prevent a pass on the rush. The young rookie would follow that up with some nice moves on transition – shifting the puck through the neutral zone on his own and feeding it to the top line. Ontario stopping the initial rush by De Leo but unable to clear the zone as Sam Carrick intercepted the attempt, the Captain then fed the puck to Chase De Leo as he cut back in – who then one touched it to Perreault down low and the rookie very smartly returned the favour across the front of the Reign net. De Leo collecting the pass and slipping the puck five hole on Grosenick as he moved across the Reign crease. 2-1 Gulls.

Poturalski showed some great skill on his own as he stick handled his way around the Reign zone to find space – stopped and was about to send a pass cross-ice when he fanned on the puck. To add insult to injury he then tripped the Reign player who jumped on the puck after he whiffed on it.

The Gulls were able to kill the minor but Ontario carried forward their momentum and capitalised on some weak defense down low from the Gulls as Arthur Kaliyev moved through a check by Trevor Carrick and sent a puck out front to an unchecked Rasmus Kupari. The Finnish second year pro making no mistake. 2-2 tie game.

The next few minutes were a shooting gallery as the Reign continued to pressure the Gulls zone – peppering Stolarz with shots while forcing San Diego to play chase.

San Diego pushed back through the top line as Jacob Perreault lead and fed the puck to Sam Carrick on a three on one rush. The veteran line followed that up and things got testy as Morand drew the ire of Boko Imama supposedly for high sticking Cameron Gaunce. No call on the play.

Ontario continued to enjoy the better of the play and chances, including a 2-0 break that Quinton Byfield somehow missed wide on – before getting another Power Play opportunity as Jeremy Roy was called for hooking to prevent a scoring opportunity. San Diego again were able to kill the minor but were grateful to see the puck bounce in their favour on a number of opportunities. With less than a minute left in the period the Gulls were awarded their own man advantage as the Reign were assessed a bench minor for having too many men on the ice.

Once again both teams hitting the locker rooms tied up on the scoreboard and shots 31-16 for the Reign.

It should be noted that (thanks to Jason of Locked On Ducks for bringing this up) Matt Lorito appeared to go down in a heap during the period, went to the locker room and did not return. The broadcast did not catch this but Jason was at the game live and saw it happen.

The third began with some more puck luck for the Gulls as Reign Captain Brett Sutter started the Gulls Power play by sending the puck over the glass – giving San Diego a five on three opportunity for 45 seconds. It took back to back face-off wins in the Ontario zone but the Gulls were able to capitalise with the additional two man advantage by moving the puck swiftly around the Reign triangle, Poturalski finding a clear lane across the crease to feed Agozzino at the far side. 3-2 Gulls.

Still on the Power Play the Gulls again controlled the Reign zone, patiently moving the puck and keeping it away from the perimeter of the box. Poturalski again making the Reign pay for complacency as he fired a hard pass into the slot at Sam Carrick who then deftly redirected it over Troy Grosenicks shoulder to make it 4-2.

Instead of carrying play after the two goal tally the Gulls allowed the Reign to come back at them and were found guilty themselves of growing complacent as the Reign got one back through Tyler Madden. 4-3 Gulls.

San Diego continued to let the Reign come at them and found themselves down a man as Drysdale was called for high sticking on Sam Fagemo. The Gulls penalty kill looked very impressive as it prevented the Reign from getting set at all – and it seemed – forced them to spend a lot of time in their own end just trying to break out.

Just as it seemed the Gulls might be able to protect the one goal lead and close out the win the Reign got a lucky bounce in the final seconds of play as a high shot that hit the cross bar bounced into a pile in front and by the sprawling Stolarz to tie things up. 4-4, heading to overtime.

The three on three extra session was an exciting back and forth tilt with Anthony Stolarz making things tense with some risky plays – one of which put Jamie Drysdale under some duress. Then the Gulls followed that with a nice individual play by Brouillard – who suddenly saw the seas part and decided to take the puck from his own zone all the way through to the Reign net, his puck moves faking Grosenick out of the net but unable to finish at the moment of truth. Then Antoine Morand drew a call (Drink!) to force a four on three overtime Power Play. It took the Gulls until the final few seconds of the man advantage but a Trevor Carrick one-timer caused a rebound to drop in front to Chase De Leo as he skated by the Reign net, scoring his second goal of the night to give the Gulls the win.

Post Game Notes:

Ontario Cameras

Apart from the lack of camera on the other side of the rink – the Cameras at Toyota Arena are by far the best I have seen in an away teams building thus far.

Brouillard Coming On

Kevin Dineen has been rewarding players that have elevated their play of late and Brouillard is the latest example. Playing his natural position of defence for the first time this season – he was paired with Keegan Lowe in what would normally be Jamie Drysdale spot. I questioned the decision at the time but can see why Dineen would want to spread the talent across multiple pairs. Brouillard looked much more comfortable as a result and showed some very nice poise and moves with the puck. Have the Ducks/Gulls found another hidden gem?

Developing Drysdale

I mentioned it on the podcast with Jason after this game but Jamie Drysdale is very clearly the Gulls number one defensemen. It is so hard to believe he is just eighteen years old. He is being used in all situations, given the lions share of ice time on the backend and has not made a mistake that I can recall so far. Nine points in twelve games has him still sitting at the top of the scoring race among defenders.