Preview: Gulls Ready To Dance With Wolves
Nov 24, 2023By Morgan Korovec/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls are back home to kick off this weekend’s back-to-back contests with the Chicago Wolves at Pechanga Arena San Diego tonight (7 p.m. PST).
One major difference makes this weekend’s series against Chicago must-see hockey: Gulls captain Chase De Leo is back in San Diego. De Leo missed the first six weeks of the season with an MCL sprain suffered during a preseason game for the Anaheim Ducks and was assigned to San Diego on Thursday.
De Leo should provide an instant boost to the Gulls lineup, as he recorded 9-14=23 points in 22 games last season.
In their Bay Area battle on Tuesday, the Gulls just fell short in the night’s 5-4 loss to the San Jose Barracuda.
Left wing Andrew Agozzino recorded a season-high three points (1-2=3), his third multi-point game of the season, with a power play goal that put the Gulls on the scoreboard in the second on Tuesday.
"I think our power play was really good on our two full attempts," said Agozzino. "Even the one at first, I thought we generated a lot of momentum for our team even though we didn’t score, which is great for the powerplay. I think it was a good night for us. Overall, our play’s been fairly productive this year and I think tonight was another good step forward."
The Gulls played a competitive third, with their efforts rewarded on the scoreboard. Trevor Carrick netted a goal and two assists on the night (1-2=3), marking his third multi-point effort and a team-high 11 assists on the season. Olen Zellweger recorded two assists and holds 1-5=6 points in his last five games. Pavol Regenda racked up his team-leading ninth goal of this season and Nathan Gaucher scored his second goal of the season.
"I think we just got back to playing our style of hockey [in the third]," Agozzino said. "The frustrating part is we weren’t able to do that for 60 minutes. And you know, just the way things are going, playing 40 minutes well unfortunately isn’t going to get us the win."
San Diego’s overall record currently sits at 2-9-3-0 as the team approaches the weekend’s double duels, eager to break their unlucky streak.
"We’re still looking at improvement, still looking at breaking this thing," said head coach Matt McIlvane. "Got a matchup against a strong Chicago team. We’ll be excited to be in front of our own fans but more excited to put together a more complete effort."
In a devoted quest for the lacking component that could help lead the team to seize their first win on home ice, Gulls skaters have echoed the importance of playing a complete 60 minutes of hockey, and how crucial it is that every player is fully present in each period of the game.
"We had several guys that had off nights," McIlvane said. "I think that if you want to win hockey games, it takes every guy, especially the way that we’ve been pushing, and we’re going to need better efforts from some of those individuals.
"Teamwise, you don’t have a choice when things don’t go your way. You have to choose to respond. So that’s the only decision to make."
The Gulls will be back inside Pechanga Arena San Diego tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 25 (6 p.m. PST) for the second leg of their back-to-back against Chicago.