Gulls Kick Off Second Half in Tucson

Jan 20, 2026

By Nick Aguilera/SanDiegoGulls.com 

The San Diego Gulls head into the second half of the 2025-26 American Hockey League season tonight, facing the Tucson Roadrunners at Tucson Convention Center Arena (5:30 p.m. PST; TV: AHLTV on FloHockey; Radio: Gulls Audio Network). 

It was a successful first half for San Diego despite recent struggles. With a 16-12-6-2 record through the first 36 games, the Gulls have set themselves up for a big push in the back half of the season. 16 wins are the most wins in the first half of a season for San Diego since 2018-19 and fifth-most in franchise history. Most of that success has come on the road, where the Gulls have an all-time franchise high .625 points percentage. 

"We've played our Gulls brand of hockey," assistant coach Michael Babcock said. "We've done a really good job. We've gone to some hostile environments… Eight days on the road, it's great. It's good time for the guys to get to know each other even more and good bonding that way. And for us, we got four games and they're all crucial."

Special teams have been an emphasis for San Diego this season, ranking third in penalty kill percentage at 85.1%. 17 shorthanded goals allowed are the least the team has allowed through the first half, a testament to improved team defense compared to years past. 

The Gulls will look to shake off a rough 4-0 loss to Coachella Valley on Saturday night, the second time in four games the Gulls have been shutout and third game in four that they’ve been held to one goal or less.  

"I think, offensively, myself included, trying to find different ways maybe to score and produce and help our goalies out, help our D out," Ryan Carpenter said. "Maybe that's on the power play, especially five on five, trying to find ways to score goals."

San Diego will be at it again tomorrow night in Tucson, wrapping up a back-to-back before heading to Abbotsford to continue the four-game road trip.