Preview: Gulls Soar into Battle Against Firebirds
Jan 10, 2024By Morgan Korovec/SanDiegoGulls.com 
Fresh off of an extra few days to tune up their game due to a couple of postponements, the San Diego Gulls are back and ready for their third clash of the season with the Coachella Valley Firebirds Wednesday night at Pechanga Arena San Diego (7 p.m. PST).
"We’re kind of making the best of it, doing some things in practice to tune up, because you don’t always get a week off for games," said Ben King. "They’ve been working us hard and we’ve been battling out there, as teammates and as buddies, so it’s been good.
"It may be a blessing in disguise, and we’ll work towards Wednesday night."
While the Firebirds swap the desert heat for the coastal breeze this week, the Gulls will be the ones looking to bring competitive fire in the fight for their first win over Coachella Valley this season.
"I mean, two times in their building, they’re a strong team and a transitional team, and they capitalize on their chances," King said. "So, I think we’ve just got to play our game and kind of limit them to the transitions and our turnovers, and we’ll be alright. Should be a good one on Wednesday."
In San Diego’s latest matchup on Jan. 3 at Henderson, Chase De Leo kicked off the new year by netting the Gulls’ first goal of 2024, while Jaxsen Wiebe recorded his first professional goal in the third period.
Wiebe’s goal was enough to tie the game until the Silver Knights took advantage of power play opportunities, which ultimately led to the Gulls’ demise.
With three more home games at Pechanga Arena San Diego this month, the Gulls will continue to capture hold of the fresh start that the new year signifies, in their quest for luck on home ice.
Presented with an unexpected week absent of games, the Gulls hit the ice hard in practice, working towards capitalizing on any opportunity to play at home in front of hockey’s finest fans.
"Try to keep the pace as high as you can, the competitiveness as high as you can," head coach Matt McIlvane said. "We’ve got a few guys that are looking to get ready to return to a lineup, so you know, it’s trying to get the competitive parts into the practice that they can simulate some game action, and trying to also make sure the guys are enjoying this."
"We’ve got such a great development staff. [Anaheim Ducks Player Development Coordinator Ryan Getzlaf] brings his own unique vision and his skillset, which fortunately for us, is one of the best of all time. Any little nuance that he can help the guys with, if it's faceoffs or little scoring things, he picks up details that maybe not the average eye does. It’s so, so great for us when he can be here."
Heading into tonight’s contest, the Gulls aim to bring increased energy, emotion, and offense than in their last game played at Coachella Valley just before the new year.
"We’re going to need to limit their space a little better than we did. They get driven by their depth and their skill… We need to make it harder to play against them and we think that limiting their space is the easiest way to do that." McIlvane said.
The Firebirds are set to migrate to the Gulls’ ice again in March for a pair of contests, before their final few matchups together in the last month of the regular season.
The Gulls will have one day to prepare for back-to-back battles with the Iowa Wild, as they welcome the opponent to Pechanga Arena San Diego for a Friday night showdown on Jan. 12 (7 p.m. PST) and for San Diego’s Country Night on Saturday, Jan. 13 (6 p.m. PST).