2022-2023 Game 39: San Diego Gulls at San Jose Barracuda

Staying on the road, the San Diego Gulls headed to San Jose for a Friday night encounter with the team that currently occupied the final playoff spot and hoping to move on from back to back to back losses to their bitter rivals the Ontario Reign followed by an uninspiring affair with the Condors in Bakersfield.

There were no changes to the roster from the previous loss to Bakersfield – just some line shuffling with Grimaldi moving up to the top line and Regenda dropping to the left on the second line to form a new second line combination with Weinger and Gawdin. Brayden Tracey joined Kindopp and Drew on the third line while the forth line remained intact.

Lukas Dostal was given the start.

First Period:

Despite drawing a call early the Gulls once again did not have a great start as Rocco Grimaldi was high sticked coming out of the Gulls zone – losing the puck in the process while expecting the clear-cut call to be made. Kyle Criscuolo then jumped on the loose puck, executed a forehand to backhand move to beat Dostal. 1-0 San Jose.

Adding insult to injury Hunter Drew was called for tripping as the period continued on – an obvious call but so was Rocco Grimaldi receiving a two by four to the face.

The Gulls were able to kill the minor thanks to some stellar saves from Dostal and as play returned to five on five – Travis Howe attempted to spark his squad by engaging San Jose tough guy Montana Onyebuchi. The heavyweight bout was a good one with Howe getting the edge.

Tensions continued to build as Hunter Drew was boarded dangerously by Adam Raska – which was going to give the Gulls their second Power Play of the night before Brayden Tracey cross-checked the San Jose agitator on a drive-by and Drew then followed that by getting up and rag-dolling Raska to the ice. The end result – a Gulls penalty kill.

After killing the minor – San Diego enjoyed some of the best offensive zone time and chances generated all game as they kept the Barracuda zone and aimed to create chaos in front of their net via shots from the point with bodies creating traffic.

San Diego headed to the first intermission down by one but at least looking like they had a game plan, something not seen in a long while and a welcome development. Shots were 13-4 for San Jose.

Second Period: San Jose Barracuda 1 – San Diego Gulls 0

Looking to continue on the brief run of momentum they enjoyed toward the end of the period the Gulls once again fell flat as they got caught watching William Eklund who was allowed too much time and space in the left corner to shift and shimmy behind the San Diego net before sending backhand pass out front to Andrew Agozzino who buried it by Dostal. 2-0 San Jose.

The Gulls did not appear to remember how to get back to the basic shots-from-the-point-hockey and although managed to generate some more chances on the San Jose net, could not solve Eetu Makiniemi.

Dmitry Osipov made himself public enemy number one with a huge hit on CJ Seuss and gave the Gulls a Power Play as Will Riedell attempted to make him answer for it.

Minutes later San Diego had some chances in the Barracuda zone but surrendered yet another goal against the run of play as San Jose were able to get loose on a partial break. Lukas Dostal unable to make the stop on the high slot shot fired by him with a Barracuda player providing a screen on a fly-by. 3-0 San Jose

The Gulls taking a three to zip deficit into the third period while trailing in shots 11-19. They did out-shoot the Barracuda on the period 7-6.

Third Period: San Jose Barracuda 3 – San Diego Gulls 0

I didn’t watch the third.

The Gulls surrendered three more goals and went down 6-0 and it appears tempers got out of control again with Hunter Drew getting a match penalty for spearing and Brayden Tracey a ten minute unsportsmanlike conduct along with Viel.

I dont have much else to say.

I once had hope but now no longer do.

This is a lost season and drastic changes need to be made.

Post Game Notes:

Create Chaos

As noted at points in the recap, at least the Gulls appeared to have a game plan tonight, or at least they did until they abandoned it for whatever reason. Actively looking to get shots on net and creating chaos in front. It’s simple hockey but it works. It is something the Gulls have should have gone back to doing ever since the first length losing streak. Teams can try to plan against it all they want but you cant really predict and by association prevent chaos. If they had just stuck with it they might have at least scored some goals tonight?

Tracey gets physical, physical

I meant to note after previous games, but Brayden Tracey has definitely picked up his physical game. If you hadn’t noticed – he is actively looking to finish hits and throws his entire 186lb weight into it when he does. It is nice to see and something he has clearly understood as needed in his game if he is to progress to the next level or at least get noticed. A lot of his hits bare the trademarks of BO Groulx and I wouldn’t be surprised if he is learning under his tutelage. I didn’t see what happened to lead to the misconduct tonight so this entire point could be moot but I do like that he has clearly bulked up and his accustomed to the physical side of the game now.

Sommer knows he is out?

The most recent Gulls Report featured an interview with Coach Sommer and one interesting quote he said in response to speaking on his time in San Jose went along the lines of – he has been back since the new arena as they played the rookie tournament there and he thinks its great, he would like to get a win there this weekend because it might be the last time he goes there. The last time? Does he not expect to be back next season? Did he already have plans to just sit in on this season as an interim for the Gulls or does he know the writing is on the wall and no coach would survive after results like this? More and more I am leaning towards the latter.