2022-2023 Game 37: San Diego Gulls at Ontario Reign

Trying to rebound and continue their slow climb back toward a playoff spot the San Diego Gulls headed to Ontario for the second half of a home and home that would normally have meant some bad blood would be anticipated to be settled but much like most of this season, wasn’t likely to happen.

As I wrote about in my post game notes, Jacob Perreault was reinserted into the line-up for Osipov – the posted line-up was incorrect as Hunter Drew was indeed in the line-up as was Profaca who was not noted in the above roster configuration either. Beaulieu was the other player noted above as being in the line-up that was not. Meaning his conditioning stint is likely over. Axel Andersson made his return from injury.

Lukas Dostal was finally given a rest with Olle Eriksson Ek starting.

First Period:

Despite the Gulls having a much better start – generating some chances off of a good fore-check and leading in shots in the early goings – it was the home team that jumped out in front early.

A seemingly harmless but broken play started the scoring as Nikita Pavlychev grabbed a loose puck as it slid off Axel Anderssons stick behind the net and swept it in front where it bounced off a Gulls stick and by the stunned Eriksson Ek. 1-0 Reign.

Ontario struck again moments later as Lias Andersson was given too much time and space, beating Luca Profaca with speed then executing a nice forehand to backhand move in front to beat Eriksson Ek. 2-0 Reign.

San Diego settled things down somewhat and play was fluid for the remainder of the period with the Gulls playing conservative with possession while reducing the Reign’s ability to get in on the fore-check.

Glen Gawdin drew a hooking call with just over a minute remaining and the Gulls first unit had two separate forays in the Reign zone – looking a lot better than the night before but still seemingly to be looking for the point shot through traffic as the main strategy.

The Gulls headed to the first intermission down by two but victims of an unlucky bounce and a combination of some great individual skill and a lapse in defense. Shots were 10-8 for the Gulls.

Second Period: Ontario Reign 2 – San Diego Gulls 0

San Diego had a very brief twenty seconds of Power Play to begin the second but lost the center-ice faceoff and thus could not get possession until roughly ten seconds remained in the advantage.

As play returned to five on five San Diego continued to play their conservative possession style but were unable to generate any real high danger chances in close as they were mostly kept to the perimeter in the Ontario zone.

As the halfway point approached the Reign switched momentum and forced Eriksson Ek into making back to back big stops before a too many men penalty on the home team gave San Diego brief respite and an opportunity with the man advantage.

Either the Ontario ice was incredibly bad or the Gulls had all of the worst puck luck in the world as they had near high danger opportunities begin to form only to have the Puck bounce over the stick at the worst possibly moment.

The bad puck luck for San Diego continued as a two on one break for the Reign ended up in their net after Eriksson Ek made the initial stop but saw the puck bounce off the back checking Axel Andersson. 3-0 Reign.

With the bad-blood that is usually so prevalent between these two teams starting to show – owing to a behind the play slash by presumably Travis Howe on Frederic Allard sent the Reign defender to the locker room – the Reign got another on another partial break with Eriksson Ek unable to make the post to post stop on the cross-ice one-timer by Chromiak. 4-0 Reign.

With it seemingly another one of those games that we have seen far too much of this season, the Gulls went to the second intermission down by four and now trailing in shots 23-15 after initially leading.

Third Period: Ontario Reign 4 – San Diego Gulls 0

The third period was again – free flowing and it took until the eight minute mark until a stoppage was finally made after Cal Peterson froze the puck on a glove save.

With San Diego controlling play in the Reign zone for most of that span – ofcourse the Reign would then score against the run of play as Sam Fagemo was left all alone near the blue line and received a pass to go in on Eriksson Ek on a breakaway. 5-0 Reign.

Drew Helleson gave the Gulls a consolotion goal when a Reign clearance bounced off Kindopp and to him at the point where he took the opportunity to wire a wrist shot that beat Peterson through traffic. 5-1 Reign.

Moments later BO Groulx got another one back as his shot from the left circle was initially stopped by the shoulder of Peterson but then trickled in behind him. 5-2 Reign. A comeback? Hope?

The Gulls continued to attack and Michael Del Zotto drew a call as he made a move in on the Reign net but was hooked before he pull the trigger.

San Diego could not convert on the resulting Power Play and then had to kill a minor of their own before tempers flared once again after a sequence that began with a heavy hard hit by Profaca and ended with Madden running over Olle Eriksson Ek. The ensuing chaos saw BO Groulx grab and throw punches with Lias Andersson – winning a clearly emotional fight.

With the Gulls getting a Power Play at the end of all the dished out minutes, San Diego controlled the Ontario zone for most of the man advantage but had to score quickly if they hoped to get back within realistic striking distance. They did not.

Time wound down and the Gulls dropped back to back losses to the rival Reign and drop to 11-26-0 on the season.

Post Game Notes:

What now

I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for the first half of the season but now that players are returning from injury and the Gulls are in “critical to win” mode with time running out for them to claw their way back to a playoff spot, I am starting to sour on Coach Sommer and his lack of overall game strategy as well as his assumed inability to suitably motivate the personnel. Did the Perreault scratch work? Clearly not, he went scoreless again and didn’t really factor into the Gulls chances at all. Is that entirely his fault? No. Perreault is a goal scorer, not a play driver, he needs a play driving Center and/or a quality play-maker on his line. He had one in the form of one Brayden Tracey but Sommer seems to think that putting two kids together is a bad idea. Kindopp is not that kind of player and Weinger could be but Perreault hasn’t been with him long enough for any kind of chemistry to be allowed the necessary time to develop. Sommer needs to stop over thinking and go back to basics – which I believe his directive to and from management has been and the main motivation behind the mid-season acquisitions. For fucks sake – put Perreault and Tracey back together, stop scratching star players because they aren’t performing, deploy a man to man defensive strategy and practice breakouts over everything else. I am hesitant to call it another one and done for a Gulls coach because to be fair he hasn’t been given much to work with – much like Eakins has been given another chance this season in Anaheim; I think it is only fair to see what Sommer can do with the next wave of talent arriving at the end of this season.

Return of the Axel

Andersson looked good on his first game back, he showed only slight signs of rust – resulting in a critical turnover leading to the Reign’s first goal but he was in on the attack and gave another option on the Power Play – something that has been lacking. I forgot he had been injured as a result of a hit from the Firebirds Eddie Wittchow, I am keep a keen eye on the next Firebirds encounter see if anybody tries to settle the score there.

Depressing depth

Just to further and reiterate a previous point from a previous post game note, there is a lot of things wrong with the Gulls this season but I think the main issue is a lack of depth in talent. You can healthy scratch and try to motivate highly touted prospects all you want – they know there is nobody better to take their place. The good news is this is hopefully the absolute bottom of the Ducks remaining mid-tier prospects as the next wave starts at the end of this season and includes more than a few players that have already proven in their respective leagues and in some cases on the international stage that they are more than capable of pushing for big minutes.