Gulls Rein In The Ontario Reign For 4-3 OT Win

Dec 28, 2023

By Morgan Korovec/SanDiegoGulls.com  

At last, the San Diego Gulls steadied the ship for their final home game of 2023 as they captured a 4-3 victory over the Ontario Reign in overtime Thursday night at Pechanga Arena San Diego. 

The Ontario Reign made a statement early tonight, opening the scoring before the five-minute mark of the first frame as Samuel Fagemo threw the puck into the net, depositing his thirteenth goal of the season at 4:42. 

Less than a minute later, Ontario continued that momentum by tacking on a second goal, netted by Samuel Helenius.  

Olen Zellweger awakened the Gulls’ offense shortly into the second as he snuck the puck in from the side of the net at 1:13 for San Diego’s first goal of the evening, collecting his sixth goal and 21st point of the season. 

Minutes later, Trevor Carrick raced the puck down the ice before Josh Lopina jumped in on the action and fired the equalizing goal into the net past Erik Portillo at 6:16, earning his sixth goal and tenth point of the season. 

"I think we had a really good start," Lopina said. "They just happened to get two goals on us. We didn't bury our chances. The message was stay on it. Keep playing our game. We'll eventually get rewarded, and we did."

The scores remained tied until Ontario’s Brandt Clarke put the Reign on top with their third goal at 11:57 in the second period. 

With only a few minutes left of the second period, Lopina beat the clock as he shoveled in another clean goal at 17:17, his second of the game, before gliding on his stomach across the ice in delight. 

The final frame presented no new action in the net, forcing the 3-3 contest into sudden death overtime. 

Finally, at 4:36 in OT, Glenn Gawdin locked in the game-winning goal as he flicked one into the net to seal the Gull’s hard-fought victory over the Reign. Gawdin also picked up an assist on the night. 

"You know, when we play our game, we find ways to win and you know, we’re consistent through sixty minutes and that’s our identity and I think we showed that tonight, that it’s on us to do that every night," Gawdin said.  

"We have faith in the group in there that we can win games, we score in bunches… We just had faith and didn’t give up," he added. 

In addition to his pair of goals, Lopina also recorded an assist for a career-high 2-1=3 points, his first career multi-goal game. 

"Last two games, the game before break and the game against Coachella, wasn't us," Lopina said. "So the message was bring good energy, get back to our game and just have fun with it. I think we had fun tonight. We worked hard. It's nice to get a result at home in front of the best fans in the league."