Brower Helps Gulls End Skid at Nine

The breakdowns came to a screeching halt. Open communication returned, victory was had, and a message was sent out.

Pretty busy Friday night at the Sports Arena.

With a 5-3 victory over Indianapolis, the hard-luck Gulls (25-31-7) changed theirs. A crowd of 5,415 saw a nine-game home losing streak and a pile of self-doubt end.

With a bang.

Indianapolis (36-21-3) almost spoiled it with two goals within 2:39 late in the third period, but the Gulls hung on.

“We didn’t end it the way I would have liked,” Gulls Coach Mike O’Connell said, “but it’s a win and I’ll take it.”

The Gulls played two solid periods and had a brilliant performance by goaltender Scott Brower going. He ended the night with 29 saves, 16 in the final period.

Presto chango. Brower took an 0-2 record and a 6.26 goals-against average against the Ice into this game.

Compare that to Dominik Hasek, the No. 1 goalie in the International Hockey League. Hasek was 2-0, with a 0.50 GAA against the Gulls.

Indianapolis took shot after shot in the long-winded third, Brower kept the Ice at bay until Gulls defenseman Mark Vichorek scored an empty-net goal.

“When you have a lead like that, you shouldn’t squander it,” Brower said. “We dominated the first period. But when you’re playing against a top team like them, you can’t let up.”

Sure you make your own luck.

But one factor in Friday’s victory was out of the Gulls’ control and made the victory all the sweeter:

--Milwaukee, the team hot on the Gulls’ trail for that coveted last playoff spot, lost to Kansas City.

“The fans were down on us, management was down on us, we were down on ourselves,” Brower said. “It’s great to finally win one.”

The only thing missing on the Gulls’ wish list was a shutout, which they had going until halfway through the second period.

Until Warren Rychel’s improbable goal floated in at 10:48, the Gulls were proud owners of their largest lead, a 3-0 edge, in four games against Indianapolis.

Second-period goals by Soren True and Darcy Norton added padding to the 1-0 lead the Gulls established after one period.

Out of the blue, after Ron Duguay dug out the puck to clear it off the boards, Rychel scored his 24th goal.

The Gulls got started well when Steve Martinson scored the only goal of the first.

At 7:11, Floyd smacked a slapshot from inside the blue line that tipped Martinson’s stick before sailing past a stunned Hasek.

It was Martinson’s third consecutive power-play goal against the Ice and the Gulls 83rd.

In the second, True’s first goal for the Gulls, a second after an Indianapolis penalty had expired, came off a tricky pass combination that started with Duguay, found Norton, and ended with True.

Norton’s goal from 25-feet out, for the 3-0 Gulls lead, was his seventh in the last 12 games.

In the third, Steve Dykstra secured the lead and scored his first goal since Dec. 12. At 3:02, he slam-dunked a shot from the left point that Hasek didn’t have a prayer to save, to put the Gulls ahead, 4-1.

“I told the guys before the game,” said O’Connell, “to look on this as a 21-game season. To just forget the last nine or 10 games.”

And let the memories kick in starting at Friday.

Gulls Notes

Gull center Larry Floyd’s assist in the first period Friday extended his streak to a six-game point scoring run. Before Friday’s game, he was tied for eighth in the IHL in assists (42). . . . The injury to Dave Korol’s eye Feb. 16 against Phoenix wasn’t season ending as originally thought. Korol, the Gulls top defenseman, will miss two to three weeks. After Albany folded, the Gulls rescheduled the six games they were to play against the Choppers. Only one has actually changed dates: Kansas City comes to town March 20, replacing the March 27 home game against Kalamazoo.