San Diego Falls Just Short in 3-2 Battle with Ontario
Feb 24, 2024By Morgan Korovec/SanDiegoGulls.com 
Despite a high-powered push to discover the game-tying goal, the San Diego Gulls ultimately found themselves unable to dethrone the Ontario Reign Saturday Night at Pechanga Arena San Diego as they dropped a tight 3-2 decision on Gulls Fight Cancer Night.
To kick off the action, Samuel Fagemo cashed in on the power play at 8:37 in the opening frame to put the Reign in the score column with the lone goal of the first.
Tensions heightened through the middle frame which saw scuffling, penalties, and a determined San Diego pushing to get on the board, while Ontario’s Martin Chromiak managed to sneak one in at 8:16 to bring their lead to two.
With less than a minute remaining in the middle frame, the Gulls teased the puck around the net but wouldn’t see it get past the goalie to end the second.
To launch the final frame, the Reign continued to put the pressure on with a goal by Charles Hudon, extending the difference to three.
Less than 30 seconds later, Olen Zellweger awakened the arena with a fiery response, tucking in his 11th goal of the season (11-22=33) into the net at 1:00 in the third.
"Felt like that goal gave us some life," head coach Matt McIlvane said. "It was a real shot of energy, get our fans involved in the game, give energy into the building. From there, it just felt like we had a pretty consistent push right up until the very end."
Fueled by that energy, captain Chase De Leo struck on the power play at 3:07, shoveling his 11th goal of the season (11-17=28) past Erik Portillo to bring the Gulls within one.
The remainder of regulation saw no letting off the gas for either team with a strong San Diego push to even the score, against a rival Reign who held onto their one-goal lead, sealing the deal for their second win over the Gulls in five games.
"I think what the team needs is to just stay patient with our game," McIlvane said. "We’re winning quite a bit in the series there, along those wins there’s a lot in our game that we could clean up and keep getting better at. I think that maybe caught up to us a little bit right now."
"Now what we need to do is be able to find that break that gives everybody just that little bit of shot of life. Maybe heading to Texas is exactly what we need."
Gulls goaltender Calle Clang stopped 30-of-33 Ontario shots on the evening.
Andrew Agozzino picked up two helpers on the night, giving him his team-leading 28th assist (13-28=41).
Glenn Gawdin recorded an assist on the night (16-21=36).
The Gulls next gear up for a road trip as they will square off with the Texas Stars in back-to-back contests at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park on Tuesday, Feb. 27 (5 p.m. PST) and Wednesday, Feb. 28 (5 p.m. PST).