San Diego Gulls

For other uses, see San Diego Gulls (disambiguation).
San Diego Gulls
CitySan Diego, California
LeagueAmerican Hockey League
ConferenceWestern
DivisionPacific
Founded2000
Home arenaPechanga Arena
ColorsBlack, orange, blue, white
       
Owner(s)Henry Samueli & Susan Samueli
General managerRick Paterson
Head coachMatt McIlvane
CaptainRyan Carpenter
MediaSan Diego Union-Tribune
KGB-AM (San Diego Sports 760)
AHL.TV (Internet)
AffiliatesAnaheim Ducks (NHL)
Tulsa Oilers (ECHL)
Websitesandiegogulls.com
Franchise history
2000–2015Norfolk Admirals
2015–presentSan Diego Gulls
Current season

The San Diego Gulls are a professional ice hockey team based in San Diego, California, that competes in the American Hockey League (AHL). The team plays its home games at Pechanga Arena. The Gulls began play in the 2015–16 season. The team is an affiliate of the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Anaheim Ducks.

History

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On January 29, 2015, the Anaheim Ducks announced that they would purchase their American Hockey League the Norfolk Admirals, and would be moving the team to San Diego as one of five charter members of the AHL's new Pacific Division. The team plays at Pechanga Arena in San Diego, the sixth professional hockey team to play there, following the original San Diego Gulls of the WHL (1966–74), the San Diego Mariners of the WHA (1974–1977), the San Diego Hawks/Mariners of the Pacific Hockey League (1977–1979), the second San Diego Gulls of the IHL (1990–1995), and the third San Diego Gulls of the West Coast Hockey League (1995–2003) and later the ECHL (2003–2006).[1] The team is the fifth hockey team in San Diego to use the "Gulls" name.

The Gulls' name, logo and colors were revealed on February 22, 2015 at HockeyFest.[2][3] HockeyFest was deemed a success, drawing over 8,500 enthusiastic hockey fans.[4]

The San Diego Gulls played their first home game on October 10, 2015, against the Grand Rapids Griffins. The team finished its inaugural season with an average attendance of 8,675, second in the league after the Hershey Bears.[5]

After four seasons and three playoff appearances, the Anaheim Ducks promoted Gulls' head coach Dallas Eakins to the same position with the Ducks.[6] Former Florida Panthers' head coach Kevin Dineen was hired as the next head coach.[7]

Approaching the delayed 2020–21 season, due to COVID-19 pandemic considerations, the Gulls announced they would temporarily relocate and play the season out of the Ducks' practice rink, Great Park Ice & FivePoint Arena, in Irvine, California.[8] The Gulls finished third in the Pacific Division and lost in the semifinals to the second place Bakersfield Condors in division postseason tournament. After two seasons, the Ducks did not extend head coach Dineen, instead hiring former Laval Rocket head coach Joel Bouchard.[9] After a lackluster season under Bouchard, the Gulls would hire long-time AHL head coach Roy Sommer to be their fourth head coach in team history. In Sommer's only season as head coach of the Gulls, the Gulls finished with the least amount of points in the AHL. He retired at the end of the season.[10][11]

Matt McIlvane was hired as the new coach for the 2023–24 season, specifically due to his experience of working with younger players.[11]

Rivalries

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Ontario Reign

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The Gulls consider the Ontario Reign, the Los Angeles Kings' AHL affiliate, to be their chief rivals and advertise games as "Rivalry Night".

The rivalry has been fueled by each teams' respective NHL affiliates, with Ontario being an affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings, and San Diego being affiliated with the Anaheim Ducks. Both Anaheim and Los Angeles share an intense rivalry dubbed the Freeway Faceoff.

Both fanbases of Ontario and San Diego are best known for traveling to away games at the other teams' respective arena, Toyota Arena in Ontario and Pechanga Arena in San Diego on numerous occasions throughout the respective season while firing off chants of "Go Reign Go" or "Let's Go Gulls" while inside the opposing venue.[12][13]

The teams faced each other in the 2016 division finals, where the Reign defeated the Gulls 4–1 in a best-of-seven series.[14] San Diego then defeated the Reign in the 2017 Calder Cup playoffs 3-games-to-2 in the division semifinals. Ontario would one-up San Diego with another postseason series victory after sweeping San Diego 2 games to none during the 2021–22 playoffs.

Bakersfield Condors

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In what is more of a rivalry from teams of the past, the Gulls have shared a longstanding rivalry with the Bakersfield Condors, the affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers.

Bakersfield, then known as the Bakersfield Fog from 1995 until 1998 when the franchise was rebranded as the Condors and San Diego were charter members of the West Coast Hockey League from its inception in 1995 until the league was absorbed by the East Coast Hockey League in 2003.

That 2015–16 season saw Bakersfield and San Diego have multiple fights and line brawls broke out during a game played at Mechanics Bank Arena. Each team has scored a postseason series victory over their respective foes.

Notably, on May 3, 2019, in the Pacific Division Finals of the 2019 Calder Cup playoffs, the Gulls defeated the Condors 3–2 in quadruple overtime for the 1–0 series lead. Maxime Comtois scored the game winning goal 4:20 into the fourth overtime period and it ended the game after five hours and ten minutes of gameplay. San Diego would upset Bakersfield by winning the series 4 games to 2. Bakersfield played San Diego during the COVID-shortened 2020–21 Pacific Division playoffs, defeating San Diego 2 games to 1 in the best of 3 series.

Tucson Roadrunners

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The Gulls also share a rivalry with the Tucson Roadrunners, the AHL affiliate of the Utah Hockey Club and formerly the Arizona Coyotes affiliate. San Diego and Tucson's rivalry has been dubbed the "I-8 Border Cup" with the winner of each season's series between the two teams being presented with the "I-8 Border Cup Trophy", which has been in the possession of the Roadrunners since the 2018–19 season. As of the 2023–24 season, the two teams have faced each other 72 times during the regular season, which is the highest number of games that the Roadrunners have played against any opponent. The Roadrunners current record against the Gulls is 38–31–2–1, with the Roadrunners winning the 2023–24 season series 7–1–0–0.

Season-by-season records

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Regular season Playoffs
Season GP W L OTL SOL Pts PCT GF GA Standing Avg. attendance Year Prelims 1st round 2nd round 3rd round Finals
2015–16 68 39 23 4 2 84 .618 208 200 2nd, Pacific 8,675 2016 — W, 3–1, TEX L, 1–4, ONT — —
2016–17 68 43 20 3 2 91 .669 221 178 2nd, Pacific 8,876 2017 — W, 3–2, ONT L, 1–4, SJ — —
2017–18 68 36 28 3 1 76 .559 202 197 5th, Pacific 9,305 2018 — Did not qualify
2018–19 68 36 24 5 3 80 .588 239 221 3rd, Pacific 9,021 2019 — W, 3–1, SJ W, 4–2, BAK L, 2–4, CHI —
2019–20 57 30 19 6 2 68 .596 185 164 4th, Pacific 7,582 2020 Season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2020–21 44 26 17 1 0 53 .602 153 142 3rd, Pacific — 2021[a] — BYE BYE L, 1–2, BAK —
2021–22 68 28 33 4 3 63 .463 197 223 7th, Pacific 6,992 2022 L, 0–2, ONT — — — —
2022–23 72 20 49 2 1 43 .299 180 281 10th, Pacific 6,953 2023 Did not qualify
2023–24 72 26 35 10 1 63 .438 216 245 9th, Pacific 7,249 2024 Did not qualify
  1. ^ The 2021 Calder Cup playoffs were not held; the Pacific Division held a postseason tournament for the division title. The bottom four teams had single-elimination play-in games to qualify for the semifinals (the first two rounds). The division semifinals and finals were best-of-three for the John D. Chick Trophy (the last two rounds).

Players

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Current roster

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Updated November 17, 2024.[15]

Team roster
No. Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace Contract
22 United States Ryan Carpenter (C) C R 33 2024 Oviedo, Florida Gulls
28 United States Judd Caufield RW R 23 2023 Grand Forks, North Dakota Ducks
31 Sweden Calle Clang G L 22 2023 Olofström, Sweden Ducks
35 Sweden Oscar Dansk G L 30 2024 Stockholm, Sweden Ducks
29 Switzerland Rodwin Dionicio D L 20 2024 Newark, New Jersey Ducks
17 Canada Nathan Gaucher C R 21 2023 Chambly, Quebec Ducks
3 Canada Dillon Heatherington (A) Injured Reserve D L 29 2024 Calgary, Alberta Gulls
24 United States Travis Howe RW R 30 2022 Hull, Massachusetts Gulls
41 United States Roman Kinal D L 26 2024 Waterford, Michigan Gulls
10 United States Josh Lopina C R 23 2022 Minooka, Illinois Ducks
40 United States Andrew Lucas D R 25 2024 Alexandria, Virginia Gulls
6 Canada Tristan Luneau D R 20 2023 Victoriaville, Quebec Ducks
37 Canada Roland McKeown (A) D R 28 2024 Listowel, Ontario Gulls
18 United States Carson Meyer RW R 27 2024 Powell, Ohio Ducks
21 Canada Nico Myatovic LW L 19 2024 Prince George, British Columbia Ducks
11 Czech Republic Jan Mysak C L 22 2024 Litvinov, Czech Republic Ducks
13 United States Nikita Nesterenko C L 23 2023 Brooklyn, New York Ducks
14 Canada Coulson Pitre RW R 19 2024 Newmarket, Ontario Ducks
12 Slovakia Pavol Regenda LW L 25 2022 Michalovce, Slovakia Ducks
19 Belarus Yegor Sidorov RW L 20 2024 Vitebsk, Belarus Ducks
2 Canada Noah Warren D R 20 2024 Montreal, Quebec Ducks

Team captains

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Team records and leaders

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Scoring leaders

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These are the top-ten point-scorers for the San Diego Gulls in the AHL. Figures are updated after each completed season.[16]

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game;   = current Gulls player

Points
Player Pos GP G A Pts P/G
Chase De Leo C 228 69 117 186 .82
Sam Carrick C 222 86 95 181 .82
Corey Tropp RW 205 64 93 157 .76
Kalle Kossila LW 170 51 90 141 .83
Nikolas Brouillard D 167 22 70 92 .55
Andrew Agozzino LW 103 39 52 91 .88
Jacob Perreault RW 161 32 59 91 .56
Benoit-Olivier Groulx C 145 39 51 90 .62
Brandon Montour D 104 25 64 89 .85
Kevin Roy LW 125 31 57 88 .70

References

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  1. ^ "Ducks Launch American Hockey League Franchise in San Diego". Anaheim Ducks. January 29, 2015. Retrieved January 29, 2015 – via NHL.com.
  2. ^ "Ducks to Hold 'San Diego Hockeyfest' on Sunday, February 22". Anaheim Ducks. January 29, 2015. Retrieved January 29, 2015 – via NHL.com.
  3. ^ "The Gulls Are Back In Town". The San Diego Union-Tribune. February 22, 2015. Archived from the original on July 7, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  4. ^ Loh, Stefanie (February 22, 2015). "Hockeyfest a hit, fans welcome SD Gulls". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  5. ^ "AHL teams establish all-time attendance record". American Hockey League. Archived from the original on 2016-05-22. Retrieved 2016-05-23.
  6. ^ Chiappelli, Kirstie (June 17, 2019). "Ducks hire Dallas Eakins as new head coach". The Sporting News. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
  7. ^ "Ducks Name Kevin Dineen Gulls Head Coach". San Diego Gulls. July 15, 2019. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
  8. ^ "28 teams to participate in 2020-21 season". American Hockey League. January 4, 2021. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  9. ^ "Anaheim Ducks Name Joel Bouchard San Diego Gulls Head Coach" (Press release). San Diego Gulls. July 9, 2021. Retrieved April 23, 2024 – via OurSports Central.
  10. ^ Togerson, Derek (April 15, 2023). "After 60 Years in Hockey, Gulls Head Coach Roy Sommer Announces Retirement". NBC 7 San Diego. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
  11. ^ a b Carter, Ivan (October 12, 2023). "Gulls open hockey season Friday with new coach, roster, expectations". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
  12. ^ "Rivalry Night in San Diego". San Diego Gulls. October 15, 2016. Archived from the original on February 18, 2017. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  13. ^ "Familiarity Breeds Contempt as Reign, Gulls take Rivalry to Playoffs". Ontario Reign. May 4, 2016. Archived from the original on February 18, 2017. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  14. ^ "2016 Playoffs". American Hockey League. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
  15. ^ "San Diego Gulls playing roster". American Hockey League. 2024-11-17. Retrieved 2024-11-17.
  16. ^ "San Diego Gulls - All Time AHL leaders". hockeydb.com. April 16, 2023. Retrieved April 16, 2023.
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