2024-2025 Game 6: San Diego Gulls at Abbotsford Canucks

Abbotsford, British Columbia. After carrying over their strong play that saw them storm back from a 6-1 deficit to 6-5 in their home-opener and taking out the Condors 3-2 in overtime the very next night, the San Diego Gulls dropped the first game of their four game Canadian swing in Abbotsford – an opponent they hold a 4-12-1 record against. They hoped to bounce back from the defeat suffered the night before.

In a complete line shake-up, Coach McIlvane put both forward lines and defensive pairings into a blender. Yegor Sidorov was promoted to the top line where he joined Captain Ryan Carpenter as well as Carson Meyer. Pavol Regenda, Jansen Harkins and Sam Colangelo formed a new trio on the second line while the only real constant – Judd Caulfield and Nathan Gaucher – were assigned Nikita Nesterenko on their wing. Jan Mysak drew in with Coulson Pitre and Travis Howe flanking him on the fourth line.

On defense Rodwin Dionicio finally came back from a two game banishment and was paired with Drew Helleson, while the veterans Dylan Heatherington and Roland McKeown were placed together, leaving Roman Kinal with Tyson Hinds.

Oscar Dansk was given the start with Calle Clang backing up on the back to back.

Noah Warren was ruled out with illness and Nico Myatovic sat out his straight second game with injury, Josh Lopina was the only healthy scratch.

First Period:

Once again the Gulls started out on the back foot, finding it seemingly physically impossible to hold onto the puck or enjoy any kind of possession whatsoever.

Rodwin Dionicio decided to single handledly turn the tide – causing a turnover in the neutral zone and leading a three on one rush across the Abbotsford blue line, he could and should have likely passed across to Regenda but elected to take the shot himself.

He followed up that play with some very impressive footwork at the blue line, undressing Canucks players left right and center as they tried desperately to dislodge the puck from him. It was very clear he was out to prove something.

As the Canucks tried to respond – knocking over players in the Gulls crease as they desperately tried to get to loose pucks a quick counter attack saw Jansen Harkins lead a rush with Sam Colangelo. The veteran making the smart play and firing a low hard shot that was stopped but sat neatly for Colangelo to deposit into the net. 1-0 Gulls.

Abbotsford made a push back by upping their physical play but were called for tripping as Roland McKeown was sent sprawling in the Gulls zone. On the resulting man advantage the Gulls failed to add to their total but did manage to get some looks despite the overly aggressive Canucks penalty kill.

Time expired with the Gulls taking a 1-0 lead into the first intermission and leading in shots 11-9, the shot map showing San Diego doing a better defensive job in their own zone.

Second Period: San Diego Gulls 1 – Abbotsford Canucks 0

Starting the period right and carrying momentum forward after their end of period Power Play – the Gulls enjoyed the run of play for the first few minutes of the physical and fast flowing middle frame.

The Canucks stemmed and briefly switched momentum through a Power Play of their own as Nikita Nesterenko was called for holding but the Gulls were able to kill the minor and move play back the other direction – getting another man advantage as the Officials finally decided to call one of the many obvious interference infractions the Canucks had been committing.

San Diego were again unable to convert but kept up the pressure and made it 2-0 off a nice rush that saw Yegor Sidorov make a smart play at the top of the circles that lead to chaos in front of the Canucks net and an open Roland McKeown following the play. 2-0 Gulls.

With San Diego continuing to frustrate the Canucks with an almost perfectly executed road game – they drew back to back calls to find themselves on a lengthy five on three advantage. Abbotsford looked as though they might escape unharmed but on a Gulls re-entry and setup the veterans were able to free-up a shooting lane for Jansen Harkins who fired home a one time blast. 3-0 Gulls.

Just over a minute later while still a man up – a nice play by Jan Mysak saw him receive a stretch pass and slow up at the blue line then feed a streaking Jansen Harkins coming down the left side, giving him time to wind up and fire his second goal in as many minutes. 4-0 Gulls.

The Gulls exploding for three goals in the middle frame to extend their lead to 4-0 heading into the second intermission in front of a stunned Abbotsford crowd. Shots were 12-8 Gulls on the period and 23-17 overall. The shot map showing Oscar Dansk being asked to make some big stops in front and the Gulls favoring the left side with success.

Third Period: San Diego Gulls 4 – Abbotsford Canucks 0

San Diego expected an immediate push from the Canucks and it although it did come – it was rather meek.

The Gulls able to keep the home team off the board for the first ten minutes before earning a Power Play as Abbotsford were caught with one too many men on the ice at the 9:52 mark. A fumble at the blue line saw the Canucks Captain Chase Wouters gain a partial break and awarded a penalty shot as he was interfered with before he could get a decent scoring chance away. His one on one move on the penalty shot saw the puck squeak by Dansk to break the shut out as he shifted the puck five-hole. 4-1 Gulls.

The Canucks pulled their goaltender with under three minutes remaining and as they held possession in the Gulls zone they drew an additional interference call on Drew Helleson to set up a six on four finish.

It was a complete team-effort as players sacrificed their bodies to close out the win while Dansk absorbed and held any shots that did get through.

San Diego skating away with a rare but very well deserved team win in Abbotsford to bring them to 2-4-0 on the season.

Post Game Notes:

Vets Lead The Way

Although this was a complete team effort the majority of the offense came from the veterans. Jansen Harkins lead the way with three points, while Carson Meyer and Roland McKeown had two points each to help solidify the win.

This is exactly what the leadership group should be doing in a bounce back road game such as this but it may not have ended up this way if not for a certain Rookie making a big impact early in the game…

The Dionicio Show Starter

Although he was quiet for the rest of the game – there is no doubt in my mind that the play of Rodwin Dionicio in the first period is what lead the Gulls turn around after being outplayed by the home team in yet another slow start. The kid was on a mission to prove to anyone and everyone that he does not deserve to be a healthy scratch. In my mind he deserves a lot of recognition for this Gulls win and as Charlie Meredith pointed out on twitter – would he have even been in the line-up if not for Noah Warrens illness?

Let us hope that the coaching staff saw what I did and the Dionicio Show (TM) stays on the road.

Enjoyable Early Season Trend

The Gulls saw the man advantage take to the ice five times this game and the penalty kill just twice. Adding to what is becoming a very enjoyable early season trend I have noticed. Checking the league stats and I can see they have had a total of 18 Power Play opportunities whilst being shorthanded themselves a total of 15 times. That still isn’t really world beater numbers – good for 29th in the league in terms of time on the man advantage but their much improved discipline has them now 28th in terms of times shorthanded, only the Firebirds are better among their Pacific Division foes with 12.

The Gulls Power Play currently sits tied for 6th overall and tops for the Pacific – clicking at 22.2% while the PK needs a lot of work coming in at second to last in the entire league, killing just 66.7% of penalties.