KC’s First Road Victory Comes Against Gulls

Just when the Gulls started to look like contenders, they lifted the facade and played like pretenders.

Friday night, the Gulls played their last card and folded, 7-4, to Kansas City, a loss witnessed by 5,673 at the San Diego Sports Arena.

Once again, one step forward, two steps back. Will the real Gulls please stand up?

More often than not, the Gulls’ (9-8-2) have shown muscle in taking leads into the third period, having gone 7-0 in such situations. Moreover, Friday’s opponent hadn’t won in its last eight tries and had never won on the road.

This time, the flexing ended when Kansas City’s (3-15-1) scoring barrage began.

After taking a 3-2 lead into the third, the Gulls extended it briefly to 4-2 when Darcy Norton scored from the right wing at 2:25 on a short pass taken from Darren Lowe behind the net.

Kansas City came alive and scored three goals, two within a 1:06 span, giving the Blades a 5-4 lead at 13:54, which they extended by two once the Gulls looked like they felt it was already over.

It was the most prolific period by a Gulls’ opponent all season.

“We beat two teams tonight,” Kansas City Coach Doug Soetaert said, “the Gulls and the guys in stripes. This is our first road win, and hopefully this will help us turn the corner.”

It’s not certain what kind of turn the Gulls took with this performance.

But there were bright moments. This is no longer a one- or two-man show.

Little had been heard from several Gulls in previous games, but defenseman Derek Mayer, the hero from the Nov. 9 shootout victory against Kansas City, scored his first goal of the season; centers Mike Sullivan and Norton scored their second and third; and right wing Robbie Nichols chalked up his first point of the season with an assist.

“They were a determined team all right,” said Gulls’ Coach Mike O’Connell. “We were hoping instead of making it happen. We didn’t play well from the start.”

The Gulls’ 1-0 first-period lead and goalie Scott Brower’s scoreless streak of almost 82 minutes both dissolved at 1:51 in the second.

Lee Giffin mimicked the opening goal by Dennis Holland from the left circle, but the Gulls traded the next three goals with the Blades, and took a 3-2 edge into the third.

Having only recently discovered the merits of scoring first, the Gulls, through the efforts of Holland, did so Friday, for the fifth time this year.

Already proud of their power-play proficiency, the Gulls made an IHL-leading statistic even better, and got its 27th power-play goal at 12:46.

Heading toward Cohen from the left point, Holland focused, put his head down and beat Cohen on the right side with a slapshot from the circle.

Gull Notes

The Gulls on Friday started goalie Scott Brower (1-2-1), who was coming off his first professional shutout Wednesday against Phoenix. It was the first time since Oct. 10 and 12--both were losses--that Brower has made back-to-back starts. . . . Add Goalie: Kansas City started Paul Cohen in goal Friday. It was the first KC start for Cohen, who was acquired earlier in the week from the New York Islanders. . . . The IHL’s second-leading scorer, Brent Sapergia (15 goals) of the Gulls celebrated his 28th birthday Friday. . . . Sunday’s starting time against Salt Lake is 6:05 p.m. at the San Diego Sports Arena. There is a free family skate from 3 to 4:15 Sunday for ticket holders.