Gulls’ Cernich, Millen Take Charge

Give the Gulls the victory, but give an assist to the New York Rangers.

The Gulls scored twice to break a third-period deadlock and beat the Milwaukee Admirals, 4-2, in front of 3,970 at the San Diego Sports Arena Friday.

The Gulls, now in third place five points behind second-place Peoria in the International Hockey League’s West Division, improved to 6-6.

But this victory really belonged to three NHL players wearing Gull uniforms. Defenseman Kord Cernich scored the game-winning goal with 3:53 left, hitting a wrist shot from the right circle. Right wing Soren True scored two goals (Nos. 7 and 8 this season), the second of which was an empty-net marker with goal with 32 seconds remaining.

Goalie Greg Millen (2-1) picked up his second victory in as many games, stopping 30 of 32 shots and at times looking like a magician in front of the net.

Both players are on loan from the Rangers.

Millen, expected to be back with the Rangers in a week, may have played his last game in San Diego. But Cernich, 25, will be here all season. That’s good news for the Gulls. After two IHL games, he has four points.

“A couple of their forwards got caught deep in our end. I actually wasn’t going to join the play, but everything just opened wide up and they let me just walk in.”

“I think I can play both ends of the ice,” said Cernich, who had only five goals and 10 assists in limited time at Binghamton of the American Hockey League last season. “I don’t really consider myself an offensive threat, but I like getting involved in the offensive end.”

Cernich got involved at the right time. His goal broke a 2-2 tie and sent Milwaukee (2-5-1, last place in the East) packing for a trip to Kalamazoo, Mich. The Gulls, who play tonight at Salt Lake, ended their four-game home stand with a pair of victories. Cernich played a part in both, with two assists Wednesday and another assist on True’s first goal Friday, which gave the Gulls a 1-0 lead in the first period.

After Darcy Norton knocked in a rolling puck with 2:45 left in the period to make it 2-1, both teams went into a funk. There were just 11 shots on goal in the second period, and both teams looked like they were resting up for road trips.

But Millen, a 14-year NHL veteran trying to regain his old form, eventually sparked the Gulls by making some brilliant saves.

“I think our coverage was better than it’s been and everybody worked hard,” said Millen, who indicated he was told to take his belongings with him when the Gulls hit the road. “This is a good group of guys here, and it’s nice to see them get some success. If this team works, they’ll be fine.”

Gulls Notes

Center Keith Gretzky is back with the Gulls after spending more than a week with his family near Hamilton, Canada, where his father Walter, 53, underwent brain surgery. Gretzky said his father’s progress is “day-to-day,” but that it was time for him to return to hockey. After scoring two goals in successive games, Oct. 11 and 12, Gretzky has missed the past six games. He will be in uniform tonight as the Gulls start a two-game trip in Salt Lake. Off the ice, he will stay close to the situation back home, where Walter continues to recover from the brain aneurysm he suffered Oct. 13. “You hope for improvement, but it’s up to him. So far he’s coming along well, but every day is a different day. He’s said a couple words. He’s breathing on his own now. He doesn’t have anymore tubes in him, so it’s kind of up to him. I tried to talk to the nurse today, because my mom was not around. But like I said, it’s going to be up to him and how much damage has been done.” . . . Len Hachborn, with two assists Friday, extended his consecutive scoring streak to 12. He leads the Gulls with 18 points. . . . The Gulls have worked to remedy two trouble spots during the four-game home stand: defense in their own zone and power-play scoring. The Gulls were only 10 of 77 in power-play opportunities entering Friday’s game. Coach Don Waddell changed his power-play alignments before Wednesday’s 3-2 victory over Milwaukee. His top team on the power play now consists of Hachborn, Robbie Nichols and Dmitri Kvartalnov up front with Sergei Starikov and Kord Cernich on the points. “We’ve gotten opportunities on it, we just haven’t taken advantage of them,” Waddell said. “If you don’t get opportunities, that’s when you become concerned. We’ve been hitting goal posts, goalies have been making good saves--we’ve had our chances.” Waddell said he’s trying to get back to basics on defense, as the Gulls have given up too many cheap scores by not checking enough and following the puck instead of sticking with their man coverage. “We’re going back to hockey 101,” player/assistant coach Charlie Simmer said.