Gulls Rookies Shine In Team's Hot Start
Feb 9, 2021By AJ Manderichio/SanDiegoGulls.com
A major storyline emerging from San Diego’s undefeated start – the stellar play of the team’s rookies.
Trevor Zegras earned CCM/AHL Player of the Week honors for his five-point performance, which included the game-winning tally in Saturday’s 4-3 win over the Bakersfield Condors. The performance tied him with Troy Terry (3-2=5, Oct. 19-20, 2018) for the most points by a Gulls rookie in the first two games of their AHL career.
Defenseman Jamie Drysdale, Anaheim’s sixth overall selection in the 2020 NHL Draft, scored his first professional goal – and finished with a multi-point performance – in that same win over the Condors. He became the youngest player in Gulls history to score a goal.
In net, Lukas Dostal played a calm brand of hockey, stopping 69 of 73 shots to win his first two starts. He’s just the third Gulls netminder to win each of his first two starts with the club, joining John Gibson (Oct. 10-16, 2015) and Anton Khudobin (Dec. 18-19, 2015).
Others chipped in as well. Jacob Perreault, Anaheim’s 27th overall selection in the last draft, recorded his first career pro point and assist in Friday’s 4-1 win over Bakersfield. Prospects Jack Badini and Benoit-Olivier Groulx spent significant time on the team’s penalty kill, playing crucial minutes to protect Saturday’s one-goal lead late in regulation.
Two games is a small sample size, but those young players are already making an impact.
“They’re skilled and their hockey sense is through the roof,” assistant coach Sylvain Lefebvre said following the weekend sweep. “Right now, Jamie (Drysdale) is playing really well the veteran Keegan Lowe. Then you have (Trevor) Zegras who’s playing with Sam Carrick and Chase De Leo, and they’re doing really well. They bring our offense. I’m trying to match Drysdale as much as possible with those three guys up front and it brings more offensive zone time. Having said that, there are other guys like (Lukas) Dostal – you can’t forget about him because he’s the real deal. You saw it in the two games, especially tonight, getting [43] shots and holding the fort there at the end when Bakersfield was pressing hard.”
The opening weekend success began back in early January, when the Anaheim Ducks convened their training camp. Several of the young Gulls spent considerable time with the big club, integrating themselves into the professional ranks and learning from their National Hockey League counterparts.
It continued as they shifted to Gulls camp, focusing on the team concepts and the brand of hockey expected from head coach Kevin Dineen and his staff.
“Players coming from junior to pro - or from college to pro - one of those things is learning the pace of play and the structure,” said assistant coach David Urquhart. “That structure is something that we're really going to be hounding on the young guys early on in the season, and their skill is going to be able to shine through that structure as well. Learn the structure, be able to play within it, and use creativity and show your skill.”
Veteran leadership plays an integral role in establishing the structure and culture. Players like Zegras credit their older teammates for allowing them to mesh their game within the structure and team rather than changing it to fit another style.
“I don't think I would have been able to have the weekend I did without those guys,” Zegras said as he discussed his linemates, De Leo and Carrick. “All the support, and all the little things. Sammy's also not afraid to let me know how it is, which is great, and I really appreciate being on a line with him. I'm actually sitting next to him and Chase in the locker room, so it's just little things that they'll hint at me to keep me kind of on track has been awesome so far.”
OFF TO A GOOD START
Much of the storyline from the 2019-20 season focused around San Diego’s poor start – a six-game winless streak that left the team without a victory through the first month of the season.
Eventually, the team turned it around and found itself in the thick of the playoff hunt when the season unfortunately ended due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The memory served as both motivation and a message for this new season – a good start is key to any future success.
“Obviously, it’s a point that we mentioned a couple times before we started the season,” Lefebvre said after the team’s Saturday night win. “We did not want to start like last year. When you’re down six (games), it’s hard to fight back and get back in the thick of things. I really liked our start this year and not just last night, but tonight. Some nights, you need really good goaltending, and we got that on both nights.”
The good start should help San Diego as it preps for busy week of games, with the rival – and revamped – Ontario Reign coming to FivePoint Arena on Wednesday, followed by a weekend set with the Colorado Eagles.
“It's nice to get going on that positive momentum, and a lot to build off of and a lot to learn from as well,” Urquhart said. “You look at those wins, and you take the good and some learning things as well. Some parts of our game related to d-zone coverage and tracking back that we'd like to clean up a little bit. We have a couple of days of practice before we get going here again, and we'll be focusing on that moving forward.”