Starting the weekend off with the visiting Ontario Reign on Star Wars night the San Diego Gulls received the best injury news they had all year as Chase De Leo and Jacob Perreault returned to the line up.
De Leo was instantly inserted on the top line with Grimaldi and Regenda with Drew dropping down to the second line with Gawdin and Tracey. Brent Gates Jr, Evan Weinger and Austin Strand were the healthy scratches. The later likely due to the veteran rule. Gage Alexander was given his second straight start.
First Period:
The Gulls started well and with some great energy but Ontario came in with a clear game plan – to clog up the neutral zone and force San Diego into making mistakes.
It took just nine minutes for them to do so as Nik Brouillard attempted a carry through the neutral zone but failed to notice he had no support behind him and as he lost the puck attempting to penetrate through the Ontario neutral zone barricade, Martin Chromiak was able to go in alone on Gage Alexander and make him bite on a move that allowed him to slip the puck by him. 1-0 Reign.
Despite the blockade the Gulls were able to see some time in the Ontario zone and on one such foray Rocco Grimaldi and Chase De Leo did some nice work cycling with speed to create space. Passing the puck between themselves they spotted Pavol Regenda in the slot who surprisingly flicked it back to Del Zotto at the point. The veteran defender wisely sending a low shot-pass to Grimaldi who deftly angled his stick to chip it top corner. 1-1 tie game on a beautiful passing play and goal.
The physical rivalry finally made it’s appearance as Hunter Drew caught Nikita Pavlychev with his shoulder and as the Reign player lay prone Sami Helenius stepped in to make Drew answer. As the brief tussle ended the Gulls were put on the penalty kill as the hit was deemed to be interference with Pavlychev technically not in possession of the puck at the time.
Drew Helleson made a key block off the face-off and hobbled around in pain until the Gulls were able to get a clear but his pain was in vain as on the next Reign zone entry a shot-pass across the slot was deflected by Lias Andersson and into the San Diego net off the right post. 2-1 Reign.
The Gulls heading into the first intermission down by one and narrowly trailing in shots 8-7.
Second Period: Ontario Reign 2 – San Diego Gulls 1
San Diego came out with a push and drew a penalty for their efforts as Alan Quine was called for hooking.
Unable to convert with the man advantage the Gulls gained another Power Play moments later when Frederic Allard shot the puck on Gage Alexander after the whistle had blown and he was then immediately swarmed by three Gulls.
Once again San Diego looked dangerous with the extra man but again came up short.
As time shifted to the later half of the period so too did momentum as Ontario were given a Power Play on a make-up call after Regenda was partially slew-footed but held Reign Captain TJ Tynans skate as he went down. Gage Alexander flashed the glove and showed some great reactionary athleticism to deny Fagemo on the Reign’s best opportunity with the man advantage and play returned to five on five.
Chase De Leo and Rocco Grimaldi combined once again to tie things up as time approached the 3/4 mark of the period as De Leo received pass from Del Zotto, held up at the left circle and fired a pass across that Grimaldi once again deflected into the Ontario net. 2-2 tie game.
The Gulls retained possession and even enjoyed another man advantage before time ran out on the period as they went into the second intermission down by one once again but now ahead in shots 21-11.
Third Period: Ontario Reign 2 – San Diego Gulls 2
Once again starting the period well the Gulls kept up the pressure and enjoyed the majority of the high danger chances throughout much of the first half of the period.
The force really did prove to be with him as Rocco Grimaldi spotted a screen forming in the form of Michael Del Zotto and Dmitry Osipov, skated out from the left side boards and into the slot then wired a shot top shelf by Villalta for the hat-trick and a 3-2 Gulls lead.
With just over three and a half minutes left in the period and with the Gulls controlling posssion as well as shots overall the Reign managed to tie things up against the run of play as a TJ Tynan wrist shot handcuffed Alexander and his uncontrolled rebound spun back out in front, where it was then buried by Lias Andersson to bring the visitors back into a tie. 3-3.
The visibly upset rookie net-minder tried to settle back into action but as the Reign continued to press San Diego elected to run down the final few minutes of regulation to earn at least a point and head into the extra session.
Overtime: Ontario Reign 3 – San Diego Gulls 3
Despite San Diego having the majority of the possession in the overtime period and Gage Alexander coming up big on one partial break by Reign danger-man Martin Chromiak he proved too fast and too dangerous and shot a death star blast into the Alderaan of Gulls fans hearts as he used a partial screen to fire a shot by Alexander off of the left wing and take it for the Reign 4-3 moments later.
Post Game Notes:
A more accurate assessment
With the addition of Chase De Leo the Gulls not only received an incredibly more dangerous top line but a much more potent Power Play unit and it finally feels like you can accurately grade this team and its greater parts now that they have a more cohesive unit, better skill and overall greater support. It also gave a glimpse into what life might be like come next year when this next wave of highly touted talent arrives with yet more waves of skill still to follow. What could that glimpse be like? Well take tonight’s opponent…
Simply beat by a better team
I have been saying it for a year or two now but the Kings and by association the Reign – are at a different point in their rebuild than the Ducks/Gulls are. They started theirs years earlier and thus have had a deeper more talented group of players to draw from across both of their clubs for these last two or three seasons. The Ducks have been in full rebuild as of this season and all of their young talent is currently with the big club. Starting end of this season they will have a deeper pool of prospects to draw from as the overall larger group of drafted talent as well as acquired-via-trade players finally arrive. We learned over the last two weeks that one of those players is arriving at the end of his college season while another is not as Jackson LaCombe confirmed he will be signing, while Henry Thrun stated he would not. All is not lost however as that give the Ducks time to now deal Thrun’s rights before the August rights expiry while also feeling secure in the fact that they have the two top scoring defenders of the three CHL leagues in Olen Zellweger and Pavel Mintyukov arriving next season. I know I have said it a lot but I simply cannot say it enough. Don’t worry Gulls fans. Next season will be much, much, much better.
Gaging success
Not to discredit Olle Eriksson Ekk but watching a Gulls game with Gage Alexander in net is a lot less stressful experience. I can’t quite put my finger on it but the kid feels like he is less likely to give up a goal on those 50/50 plays. The partial break. The breakaway. The odd nonchalant seemingly harmless wrister from the top of the circles. Now granted – yes Alexander did give up a goal on a breakaway tonight. But he did also stop one. Which is more than what I can say for Eriksson Ek this season. I still fondly remember when he stand-up style stopped more than a few clear cut breakaways last year – or was it the year before but it feels like he has not made a huge stop like that in a while. Alexander is a breath of fresh air – and potential Calle Clang North American arrival next season aside – I would not be averse to him taking the number one job next season if he was given an experienced partner to split duty with.
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