PREVIEW: Gulls Open Back-To-Back Series With Division-Leading Stockton Heat
Dec 3, 2021By Paige Burnell/SanDiegoGulls.com
December may in fact be the happiest season of all.
It could be for the San Diego Gulls as they kick off the month looking to extend their five-game winning streak this weekend, opening a back-to-back series with the Stockton Heat at Stockton Arena tonight (7 p.m., PT; TV: AHL TV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).
The two have only played the first in what will be an eight-game season series, a 6-2 loss for the Gulls on October 22 at Pechanga Arena San Diego.
"Everybody reacts different to adversity and everybody reacts to success and this is a main things for us," Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard said. "We’ve just had five wins in a row. So, who’s going to slip? Who’s going to be maybe too comfortable? It’s a constant battle in the performance business to make sure you stay sharp. You go through that adversity, those high demands and an opponent that’s really high caliber…How can you manage success?"
The American Hockey League named Brayden Tracey Player of the Week on Nov. 29 after he strung together three multi-point games in a row (3-4=7). Among rookies, the right-wing is seventh in scoring with 5-9=14 points and his team-leading +10 rating ranks second.
"I was surprised," Tracey said. "I was sitting in the room and Brou (Brouillard) came up to me and said congrats and I had to ask him what for. I try not to look at things like that, but it was a huge accomplishment and I can’t do it without my team - coaches, players, everyone. Everyone puts a big impact on that week."
The Gulls netminder tandem of Lukas Dostal and Olle Eriksson Ek are also paramount to the team’s success. From Nov. 15-30, Eriksson Ek’s 1.50 goals against average (GAA) ranked third in the AHL. The Karlstad, Sweden native also posted a .941 save percentage (SV%) and led his team to standing points in his last four starts (3-0-1).
Dostal was close behind with a 1.68 GAA to rank seventh among goaltenders in the same period. Additionally, Dostal has four wins in his last five games, earning a .933 SV% over that time.
The Gulls will need to fire on all cylinders to generate wins against the Heat this weekend. Stockton leads the Western Conference and is second in the league with an impressive 11-2-2-0 record.
"They’re stacked and they’re stacked," Bouchard said. "They’re a good team, they’re doing well. I know them from last year. It’s pretty much the same crew so they have that kind of continuity as teammates and that’s important. It’s going to be a hell of a challenge, a really good challenge with the young guys. I’m excited to see how we do, let’s see how we manage being on the road against a good team."
In many ways, the Heat and Gulls parallel each other.
Jakob Pelletier joins Tracey as one of the AHL’s top rookies, ranking fourth among first year skaters with 7-10=17 points. Pelletier is coming off a seven-game point streak that began Oct. 22 and ended in the Heat’s most recent game on Nov. 27, a 5-1 loss to the Colorado Eagles.
Stockton backstop Dustin Wolf’s .932 SV % is the second highest in the AHL, while his 2.19 GAA is the sixth highest. From Nov. 15-30, he joined Dostal and Eriksson Ek, sitting among the league’s top 10 goalies with a 1.97 GAA.
"They’re a good team," Tracey said. "Obviously, they’re one of the tops of the league right now and if we come out hard, if we come out with a lot of compete and a lot of heart and follow Joel’s system, things will work out, but the start is going to have to be huge for us."
Special teams will also be a key factor in this matchup, as both teams are capable of consistently making an impact in a game with the power play and the penalty kill. The two teams enter with top-10 power play units. San Diego sits second with a 25.5% success rate, while Stockton’s 21.7% rate ranks seventh.
The Heat enter with the third-ranked penalty kill (86.9%), while the Gulls penalty kill unit is 86.4% (19-of-22) over its last five games.
The Gulls adherence to Bouchard’s systems brought their game to a new level to compete with a powerhouse like Stockton, but this game will also serve as indicator of where the Gulls really are in their growth as individuals and a team.
"Just play the system, follow Joel and go with his lead and things will work out," Tracey said.