Preview: Gulls Ready For Quick Turnaround Against Reign
Dec 28, 2023By Nick Aguilera/SanDiegoGulls.com
After a third straight loss Wednesday night against Coachella Valley, the San Diego Gulls will look to right the ship tonight against the Ontario Reign at Pechanga Arena San Diego (7 p.m. PST).
San Diego tried some new things in their first game out of the holiday break, as Nick Wolff skated as a forward to avoid going with 11 forwards and seven defensemen for a fourth straight contest. The move was likely in response to the absence of Brayden Tracey, who missed last night’s game due to illness.
The move didn’t lead to offense, though, as the Gulls fell to Coachella Valley 3-1 at Acrisure Arena last night. Chase De Leo scored the lone goal for San Diego.
"We just got to simplify, and good things happen," De Leo said. "So, we need to be mad about this right now. But quick turnaround... Short term memory and figure it out tomorrow.
"We're more than capable, you know? It's like it's just the consistency and we got to find a way to do it on a night in and night out basis. And like I told the group, it's a long season. We got to do ourselves a favor here and figure it out because it's not going to be any fun losing games. It's been like this now for a few years here in San Diego. And I mean, we need to get back to winning hockey games and playoff hockey. That's why we're all here."
The Gulls and Reign faced each other three consecutive times to open the 2023-24 campaign, with San Diego earing victories in the first two contests before Ontario won the third. Since then, the teams have been on different paths. The Gulls are still searching for consistent results while the Reign have climbed to fourth in the Pacific division.
"I think I've played against them probably enough times the last few years to hold me over for missing the few this year, but it's always a good matchup and like I said, it's going to be a good test for our group," De Leo said. "I mean, we got to have a good response and what better way to do it than tomorrow, so we'll be ready."
Calle Clang will likely get the nod in net as indicated by Matt McIlvane after Wednesday’s game. He’ll follow Tomas Suchanek, who made a season-high 41 saves last night.
"[The goaltenders are] great," McIlvane said. "It's a great asset with our depth that we have in the net. These last two games didn't need to be this close even if it wasn't for the goalies. We got an opportunity for Calle to go tomorrow and he'll be rested and ready to go against Ontario."
The rest of Gulls won’t get much rest before their next matchup, as the team will travel to Tucson to face the Roadrunners on Saturday night (7 p.m. PST).