Gulls Go to Movies, Win Game

It may have seemed like punishment at the time, but it turned out to be two hours well spent.

Gulls Coach Mike O’Connell subjected his team to a video session Wednesday night, a replay of Tuesday’s humiliating loss to Phoenix.

The Gulls responded with a 2-1 International Hockey League victory Thursday night over Phoenix at the San Diego Sports Arena, in front of their smallest crowd of the season, 2,761.

After Tuesday’s lopsided loss, O’Connell said that one of the Gulls’ biggest problems was falling behind early, losing confidence and being forced to play catch-up the rest of the game.

Thursday, after they opened a 2-0 first-period lead, the Gulls looked as if a weight had been lifted from their shoulders.

Not only were they quick to score, they looked more aggressive.

In explaining the night-and-day differences in the two-game series, O’Connell said: “I think, one, we had better goaltending, and two, we played better positional hockey.”

Early in the third period, the Gulls’ missed several scoring opportunities, and the puck stayed in Phoenix’s possession much of the time. But the Gulls’ defense and goaltender Glen Hanlon were able to withstand the charge.

The Gulls were staked to their lead when Darcy Norton and Darren Lowe scored their first goals of the season. Norton’s came at 13:56, Lowe’s at 16:44.

With Phoenix two men shorthanded, center Norton took a pass from Paul Marshall at the high slot and whacked a slapshot that sped by David Goverde’s right side untouched.

Then on the power play, right wing Lowe waited low in the right wing for a pass from Mike Gober. Lowe tapped it in from the crease.

Defenseman Peter Prajsler pulled Phoenix to 2-1 at 9:05, scoring a power-play goal unassisted on a clean shot from the slot.

The Gulls’ continued their second-period mediocrity. In nine games, they have scored only two goals in the second.

The first start by Hanlon, a 12-year NHL veteran, came in the red pants he wore earlier in the season with the Detroit Red Wings. He stopped shot after shot by the Roadrunners, but none more crowd-pleasing then at 11:30 in the second, when he lunged to save the potential tying goal.

“We worked real hard,” Hanlon said. “We’re going through a few growing pains, but we’re going to do something here for San Diego.”

Defenseman Kevin McDonald, the only returning player on the Roadrunners’ roster, was whistled for high-sticking and game-misconduct penalties at 17:01 in the second. The Gulls’ Mike Gober went down in the fracas, but returned, uninjured, in the third period.

Stop if you’ve read this somewhere before, but surprise, surprise, the Gulls outshot the opposition, this time 33-17. It was the ninth consecutive game in which the Gulls have taken more shots on goal than their opponents.

After cutting down on penalty minutes in the past few games, the infractions against the Gulls were back up Thursday, when they served 37 minutes in penalties.

The Gulls travel to Salt Lake City tonight for a two-game series before returning home Tuesday night against Peoria.

Gull Notes

Top goons: Those leading the league’s penalty minutes sweepstakes entering Thursday night’s game are defensemen Rick Hayward of Phoenix, first with 72 minutes, followed closely by the Gulls’ Al Tuer, with 66. And Tuer has cleaned up his act, at least temporarily. He hasn’t been slapped with any penalty minutes in the past three games. . . . Fading fast: The Gulls’ Larry Floyd, briefly the league’s co-leader in points standings, hasn’t scored since Oct. 13, in a 5-4 loss to Fort Wayne at home. . . . Gulls left wing Charlie Simmer is still out with an ankle injury, and defenseman Dave Korol has an infection in his foot. . . . Welcome mat: Teams new to the league have received mixed greetings. Albany, of the Eastern Division, is 3-5-1. In the West, the Gulls are 3-5-1, and Kansas City (1-6-0) got its first victory Wednesday against Salt Lake City. . . . Left wing Carl Mokosak was traded Thursday to Indianapolis for future considerations. General Manager Don Waddell said it was to make room on the roster for Steve Martinson, acquired earlier in the week.