San Diego Faces Bakersfield For First Time in 2026-27
Nov 13, 2026By Ashley Rubin/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls are heading to Bakersfield to take on the Condors for the first time this season at Dignity Health Arena (7:10 p.m. PST; TV: AHLTV on FloHockey; Radio: Gulls Audio Network).
Tonight’s matchup will mark James Hamblin’s debut against his old club. Hamblin spent six seasons with the Condors appearing in 282 games, the entirety of his AHL career, before moving to San Diego. In his time there, the forward logged 88-84=172 points, 108 PIM and a +62 rating. He appeared in 16 playoff games with Bakersfield, finding 3-2=5 points, two PIM, and a -9 rating.
San Diego holds an all-time record of 46-34-3-4 against Bakersfield including a 23-18-2-1 record on the road. Last season, the Gulls went 6-2-0-0 over the Condors. The clubs will once again meet eight times this season with their second contest occurring on Wednesday, Nov. 18 at Pechanga Arena San Diego. The Gulls now stand with a 6-5-2-0 record and 15 points. This places them sixth in the Pacific Division, four spots ahead of the Condors who take 10th place with a 4-7-1-0 record and nine points.
The Gulls are coming off a big win from Wednesday as they powered past the San Jose Barracuda in a 4-1 victory. The win came to be from a multi-goal effort by Anton Wahlberg alongside goals from Corey Schueneman and Hamblin with Damian Clara protecting the crease.
"I think the full team effort tonight," Wahlberg said. "I thought we played good hockey for 60 minutes. We stuck together for 60 minutes, so that was good. And also, how we pressured the puck today. I thought we won a lot of battles, pressured the puck good. We’re trying to build on it. It's going to be fun with two new games this weekend. Trying to get two wins and climb in the standings."
Following tonight’s contest, the Gulls will play once more on the road before heading back home for their second four-game homestand this season. The last homestand resulted in a 2-1-1-0 record while the team has found an overall 4-2-1-0 record at home. The road record stands at 2-3-2-0 as the Gulls look to add four more points this weekend. Coming off a win at home helps the team enter this weekend with more momentum.
"You got to take the good and you got to learn from the bad," assistant coach Kelly Buchberger said. "But same thing, it's always nice winning that last game at home and then going on the road makes it a lot more fun. And hopefully, we get some confidence from this win and move on from there."
Tomorrow night the Gulls will head over to San Jose to once again compete with the Barracuda, this time on their home ice at Tech CU Arena (6 p.m. PST).