San Diego Gulls
The San Diego Gulls are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) which began playing in the 2015–16 season. Based in San Diego, California and affiliated with the National Hockey League's Anaheim Ducks, the Gulls play their home games at the Pechanga Arena. The team is the fifth hockey team in San Diego to use the Gulls name. The Gulls are a relocation of the former Norfolk Admirals franchise, joining six other AHL franchises to form a new AHL Pacific Division.
San Diego Gulls | |
---|---|
City | San Diego, California |
League | American Hockey League |
Conference | Western |
Division | Pacific |
Founded | 2000 |
Home arena | Pechanga Arena |
Colors | Black, orange, blue, white |
Owner(s) | Henry Samueli & Susan Samueli |
General manager | Bob Ferguson |
Head coach | Kevin Dineen |
Media | San Diego Union-Tribune Fox Sports San Diego ESPN 1700 105.7 Max FM AHL.TV (Internet) |
Affiliates | Anaheim Ducks (NHL) Tulsa Oilers (ECHL) |
Website | sandiegogulls.com |
Franchise history | |
2000–2015 | Norfolk Admirals |
2015–present | San Diego Gulls |
History
On January 29, 2015, the Anaheim Ducks announced that they would purchase their AHL affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals, and would be moving the team to San Diego as one of five charter members of the AHL's new Pacific Division. The team plays at the Pechanga Arena San Diego, the sixth professional hockey team to play there, following the original San Diego Gulls of the WHL (1966–74), the San Diego Mariners of the WHA (1974–77), the San Diego Hawks/Mariners of the Pacific Hockey League (1977–79), the second San Diego Gulls of the IHL (1990–1995), and the third San Diego Gulls of the West Coast Hockey League (1995–2003) and later the ECHL (2003–06).[1]
The Gulls' name, logo and colors were revealed on February 22, 2015 at HockeyFest.[2][3] HockeyFest was deemed a success, drawing over 8,500 enthusiastic hockey fans.[4]
The San Diego Gulls played their first home game on October 10, 2015, against the Grand Rapids Griffins. The team finished its inaugural season with an average attendance of 8,675, second in the league after the Hershey Bears.[5]
After four seasons and three playoff appearances, the Anaheim Ducks promoted Gulls' head coach Dallas Eakins to the same position with the Ducks.[6] Former Florida Panthers' head coach Kevin Dineen was hired as the next head coach.[7]
Rivalries
The Gulls consider the Ontario Reign, the Los Angeles Kings AHL affiliate, to be their main rivals and advertise games as "Rivalry Night."[8][9] The teams faced each other in the 2016 division finals, where the Reign defeated the Gulls 4–1 in a best-of-seven series.[10] San Diego returned the favor in the 2017 Calder Cup playoffs as they defeated their SoCal rivals 3-games-to-2 in the division semifinals.
Season-by-season records
Regular Season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Season | GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | Pts | PCT | GF | GA | Standing | Avg. Attendance | Year | 1st round | 2nd round | 3rd round | Finals |
2015–16 | 68 | 39 | 23 | 4 | 2 | 84 | .618 | 208 | 200 | 2nd, Pacific | 8,675 | 2016 | W, 3–1, TEX | L, 1–4, ONT | — | — |
2016–17 | 68 | 43 | 20 | 3 | 2 | 91 | .669 | 221 | 178 | 2nd, Pacific | 8,876 | 2017 | W, 3–2, ONT | L, 1–4, SJ | — | — |
2017–18 | 68 | 36 | 28 | 3 | 1 | 76 | .559 | 202 | 197 | 5th, Pacific | 9,305 | 2018 | Did not qualify | |||
2018–19 | 68 | 36 | 24 | 5 | 3 | 80 | .588 | 239 | 221 | 3rd, Pacific | 9,021 | 2019 | W, 3–1, SJ | W, 4–2, BAK | L, 2–4, CHI | — |
2019–20 | 57 | 30 | 19 | 6 | 2 | 68 | .596 | 185 | 164 | 4th, Pacific | 7,582 | 2020 | Season Cancelled due to COVID-19 |
Players
Current roster
Updated July 23, 2020.[11]
Team captains
- Joe Piskula, 2015–16
- Jaycob Megna, 2018–19
- Sam Carrick, 2019–present
Franchise records and leaders
Scoring leaders
These are the top-ten point-scorers for the San Diego Gulls in the AHL. Figures are updated after each completed season.[12]
Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; = current Gulls player
Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | P/G |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Corey Tropp | RW | 205 | 64 | 93 | 157 | .76 |
Sam Carrick | C | 189 | 71 | 85 | 156 | .82 |
Kalle Kossila | LW | 170 | 51 | 90 | 141 | .83 |
Brandon Montour | D | 104 | 25 | 64 | 89 | .85 |
Kevin Roy | LW | 125 | 31 | 57 | 88 | .70 |
Andy Welinski | D | 146 | 24 | 59 | 83 | .57 |
Chase De Leo | C | 117 | 30 | 50 | 80 | .68 |
Nicolas Kerdiles | LW | 121 | 37 | 39 | 76 | .63 |
Chris Mueller | RW | 92 | 28 | 44 | 72 | .78 |
Antoine Laganiere | C | 121 | 37 | 32 | 69 | .57 |
References
- "Ducks Launch American Hockey League Franchise in San Diego". Anaheim Ducks. January 29, 2015. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
- "Ducks to Hold 'San Diego Hockeyfest' on Sunday, February 22". Anaheim Ducks. January 29, 2015. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
- "The Gulls Are Back In Town". February 22, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
- "Hockey Fest a Hit". February 22, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
- AHL teams establish all-time attendance record
- "Ducks hire Dallas Eakins as new head coach". Sporting News. June 17, 2019.
- "DUCKS NAME KEVIN DINEEN GULLS HEAD COACH". San Diego Gulls. July 15, 2019.
- "RIVALRY NIGHT IN SAN DIEGO". San Diego Gulls. October 15, 2016.
- "FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT AS REIGN, GULLS TAKE RIVALRY TO PLAYOFFS". Ontario Reign. May 4, 2016.
- "2016 Playoffs". Retrieved February 16, 2017.
- "San Diego Gulls playing roster". American Hockey League. 2015-10-11. Retrieved 2015-10-11.
- "San Diego Gulls - All Time AHL leaders". hockeydb.com. June 10, 2019. Retrieved June 10, 2019.