Hachborn, Kvartalnov Lead Gulls

It is beginning to sound like a broken record, but for the Gulls it’s almost harmonious.

Hachborn to Kvartalnov. Kvartalnov to Hachborn. Gulls score. Gulls win.

Center Len Hachborn and wings Dmitri Kvartalnov and Robbie Nichols, the Gulls’ top scoring line, combined for three goals and four assists in the Gulls’ 5-3 victory Thursday over the Phoenix Roadrunners.

It didn’t seem to bother this trio that a record low crowd of 2,270 turned out at the San Diego Sports Arena. Hachborn, Kvartalnov and Nichols kept right on scoring.

Goals by Hachborn and Kvartalnov helped the third-place Gulls (8-7-1) overcome a 3-2 deficit midway through the third period for their seventh International Hockey League victory in 10 games. West Division rival Phoenix, beaten for the third time this season by goalie Rick Knickle (6-2), fell to 3-10-1.

It seemed only a matter of time before Hachborn’s prolific line would topple one of the IHL’s best goaltenders, David Goverde. Goverde faced 45 shots on goal and fell to 3-5.

“They sure seem to come out every night and get their opportunities,” Gull Coach Don Waddell said. “When you give talented players like that opportunities, they’re going to score. When you can put guys like that on the ice, it’s a nice feeling.”

Hachborn, who missed Monday’s 3-2 loss at Salt Lake with a pinched nerve in his neck, had a goal and two assists. He tied Derek Mayer’s club-record 14-game scoring streak.

Hachborn, 30, is the league’s second-leading assist man with 18, and he moved into third place in points Thursday, with 23. Kvartalnov (one goal, one assist) tied Peoria’s Steve Tuttle for the IHL lead in goals with 14. Nichols had two assists.

“We’re all doing our separate things, which is making the line click,” Hachborn said. “Dmitri’s skating and scoring, and Robbie Nichols is working well on the boards. As long as the team is winning, personal achievements don’t matter to me.”

The Gulls are winning, in part, because Hachborn’s line has produced 55 of the team’s 137 points.

The Gulls outshot Phoenix, 31-18, in the first two periods but couldn’t break the game open. They even hurt Goverde, who went down after taking a Kvartalnov bullet to his chest.

But the onslaught only seemed to inspire the Roadrunners, who tied the game, 2-2, with 2:43 left in the second period. Knickle, who made some brilliant saves of his own, couldn’t foil a point-blank shot by Mike Ruark, who got a perfect pass from the wing by Kyosti Karjalainen.

After Phoenix scored again to make it 3-2, Hachborn tapped in a perfect crossing pass from Kvartalnov to tie it. Brent Sapergia, taking another nice diagonal pass from Larry Floyd, put the Gulls ahead, 4-3, with 8:44 left. Then Kvartalnov, who had six goals last week--including a club-record four in one game--flipped in a point-blank shot to ice it.

Steve Martinson stuffed a rebound of Soren True’s slap shot between Goverde’s skates for the Gulls’ first goal. After Ross Wilson answered for Phoenix, the Gulls’ Murray Duval scored his first goal of the season.

Gulls Notes

If there is a key to the season for Don Waddell as vice president/general manager, it might be his negotiations to try to keep center Len Hachborn in San Diego. Hachborn, signed by the Gulls for 25 games, has agents in both New York and Europe working to get him more money. Waddell, who has made no progress negotiating with the agents, said he is now talking business with Hachborn.

“This is when it gets tough for me,” Waddell said. “In one breath I have to negotiate with him and decide as a general manager, ‘He’s not worth this, he’s worth this.’ The second breath I have to coach him and tell him, ‘You’re a good player.’ If he continues the way he’s going he deserves to be compensated. But I can’t just open my wallet and say, ‘Here it is.’ It’s not my wallet.”

Hachborn wants to get settled as soon as possible, considering his wife, Karen, is eight months pregnant back home in Portland, Maine.