Preview: Gulls Ready to Rock the Ice Against Rockford IceHogs
Dec 8, 2023By Morgan Korovec/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls are eager to bring the heat for their final two contests of an action-packed road campaign.
Tonight, the team will face the Rockford IceHogs, American Hockey League affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks, in an electrifying showdown at BMO center in Illinois (5 p.m. PST; TV: AHLTV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).
This evening’s matchup marks the opening of a four-game series between the teams, which will continue into tomorrow, Saturday, Dec. 9.
The Gulls head into Illinois in high spirits after scooping up a win Wednesday night in a 5-2 victory over the Milwaukee Admirals, their second win of the five-game road trip.
"To me, age doesn’t really matter. I mean, all the players are so good in this league," assistant coach Jason Clarke said. "Whether you’re a veteran guy or a young guy… At the end of the day, it all washes itself out, right. So, it’s just whatever team is going to play within themselves the best and whatever team is the best version of themselves within their structure, then I think that’s the team that’s going to win."
"It’s been a long road trip… Rest is a weapon so I’m sure the guys will be resting up for tomorrow and this is a good team that we’re playing. Got a lot of real good players and some good structure, so we just got to be able to make sure we worry about ourselves and if we play our game, I think it’ll give ourselves a chance to win."
In Wisconsin on Wednesday, Andrew Agozzino matched his season-high points in a single game with 1-2=3 points. The left wing has scored all four of his goals this season away from home ice.
Olen Zellweger also netted his fourth of the season, now leading all AHL blueliners with three power-play goals and co-leading AHL rookie defensemen in power-play points (3-5=8). He matched his season-high with 1-2=3 points on the night.
Josh Lopina gathered his fourth assist, setting a new AHL single-season career high. Glenn Gawdin recorded a goal and an assist on the night, giving him his first multi-point effort of the season (1-1=2).
Goaltender Tomas Suchanek stopped 32-of-34 shots and has helped San Diego earn standing points in each of his three first AHL starts (2-0-1).
"We got off to a little bit of a slow start the first couple of minutes, and get a couple real key saves from Tomas," San Diego’s assistant coach added. "Then our specialty teams kind of took over. Once you get a good couple of specialty teams power-play goals, it kind of lit a fire under us. After that, I think we controlled most of the game. I thought the goaltending and our power play was really the key to our success in the first seven or eight minutes of the first period."
San Diego has now earned standing points in four of its last five games (3-1-1-0).
"I think that was probably one of our best games to date," Gawdin said. "I think that showed our consistency through 60 minutes and that’s how we have to play every night, especially coming into this weekend."
The IceHogs are fresh off a four-game road trip that was marked by one overtime loss, followed by three consecutive losses off home ice.
"I haven’t played them in my career, so I don’t know too much about them," Gawdin said of the IceHogs. "I think just for us, it’s about what we do. Especially on a road trip like this, we’re playing teams that aren’t in our division, we’re not too familiar with. We’ve got to focus on what we do and how we play and I think that’s what our mindset should be every day."
Heading into the back-to-back battles with sights set on rounding off their own travels on a positive note, San Diego will continue to seek momentum, consistency and complete 60-minute efforts on the ice to land in the win column, before they return home for an upcoming game on Dec. 16 at Pechanga Arena San Diego.
Throughout this season’s highs and lows, both away from home and at Pechanga Arena, the Gulls have displayed resilience, dedication, and togetherness, proving a fiery spirit that can’t be cooled.
Following tonight, the Gulls will look to ignite the ice in their final game of the road trip in yet another matchup with the IceHogs tomorrow, Saturday, Dec. 9 (5 p.m. PST) at BMO center.