PREVIEW: Gulls Host Wranglers On Fan Appreciation Night
Apr 8, 2023By AJ Manderichio/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls host the Calgary Wranglers in the team’s annual Fan Appreciation Night tonight at Pechanga Arena San Diego (7 p.m. PT; TV: AHL TV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).
The first 7,000 fans in attendance will receive a limited-edition Lukas Dostal bobblehead, with ten signed figurines randomly placed across all entrances. The festivities will kick off with a pregame tailgate in the North VIP lot from 5-7 p.m. featuring animal adoption opportunities from The Animal Pad, a local shelter partnered with Second Chance Beer Co.
Throughout the night, randomly selected seat locations will win additional Gulls, Anaheim Ducks and sponsor prizes including a pair of tickets to Young the Giant and Milky Chance at the Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre, a brewery tour and private tasting for 10 people provided by Second Chance Beer Co., tickets to Stagecoach Music Festival, a Mini-Murf E-Bike provided by Indian Motorcycle of San Diego and a variety of player-autographed items.
The Gulls will continue their tradition of the 'Jersey Off The Back' experience, where 20 lucky fans are invited down on the ice after the game and will meet a Gulls player and receive their autographed game-used jersey.
"Hopefully with two points," Gulls defenseman Michael Del Zotto said yesterday when asked about his expectations for tonight’s game. "Hopefully the same effort (as) tonight, just with two points. You know, the support we've gotten here, even though the results haven't been I think what anyone's liked. The overwhelming support we've had here has been fantastic. These fans are amazing. They come night in, night out, so hopefully tomorrow we get the two points and salute them for their support this season."
San Diego looks to snap its winless skid against Calgary, entering tonight 0-7-0-0 against their Canadian foes. In addition, the Gulls failed to secure a point against a Calgary Flames AHL affiliate – the Wranglers or the now-defunct Stockton Heat - in their last 10 meetings. Despite a strong effort last night, San Diego fell 4-2 to the Wranglers last night on home ice. Glenn Gawdin and Dylan Sikura scored in the loss, while Calle Clang stopped a career-high 30 shots.
"I liked our game," Gulls captain Chase De Leo said. "Starting off with (Dmitry) Osipov getting us going and then (Jacob) Perreault standing up for our teammates and, obviously, we like to see a win on the on the scoreboard, but it goes almost further, I think. in the scheme of things when you're standing up for each other out there. I mean, we have a tight group. Hasn't been the season we wanted, obviously, success-wise, but I think it's just going to be pretty important, these last three games, to show our character and stick together."
One area the Gulls will look to exploit is special teams. San Diego’s power play went 1-for-5 last night, recording six power-play goals over their last 15 man-advantage opportunities and 10 power-play goals over their last 10 contests (10-for-39). In addition, the team’s penalty kill stopped all six Calgary power-play chances, holding a top-15 man-advantage unit scoreless.
"I thought (we) did a pretty good job of keeping them to the outside," Gulls head coach Roy Sommer said. "I thought Jason (Gulls assistant coach Jason Clarke) put a good game plan together tonight. They didn't really have a lot of really good looks. I think through the neutral zone and their entries, they had a hard time getting in at times and when we had an opportunity to clear the puck, we got it down 200 feet which you know, when we were having trouble, we weren't doing that before."
Expect a physical contest between the two teams. Last night’s game featured several big hits, plenty of net-front scrums and two fights.
"It's kind of all part of the game guys having each other's back and I thought we did a good job of that tonight," Sommer said of the team sticking up for one another last night. "They're a physical team and they've got players on the other side that know what to do with that and it was good that we answered the bell."
San Diego’s focus is ending the home portion of it’s regular-season schedule with a win.
"Yeah, you know, it's been a tough year, like I said, so I think we owe it to our fans," De Leo said. "It'd be nice to get a win. Going into the summer for them and just for them sticking with us all year. I know it's been kind of a tough one. Lots of ups and downs, but they've stuck through with us and stuck through it all. So, they're America's finest fans for a reason and we love their support. So I think we owe them a win tomorrow."