Gulls Earns Sweep of Blades

The Gulls might be 19 points behind the Kansas City Blades in the International Hockey League West Division standings. The regular-season title might already be wrapped up, but the playoffs could be a different story.

The Gulls on Saturday gave a not-so-subtle indication of that by routing the Blades, 8-4, in front of a season-high 7,323 at the San Diego Sports Arena and sweeping a two-game series.

“Once the playoffs come, it’ll be another story,” Gull Coach Don Waddell said. “Hopefully, we’ll play them in the playoffs. It could be for the Western Division championship.”

The Gulls are 4-5-1 against the Blades on the season but 4-1-1 in their past six meetings. While the Gulls have gone 8-1-3 in their past 12 games, the streaking Blades are 19-5-1 since Thanksgiving. Four of those losses are to the Gulls.

The Gulls scored four times in the second period to break a 2-2 tie. They got a hat trick and an assist from Dmitri Kvartalnov, who leads the IHL with 36 goals and 71 points, and a goal and three assists from Len Hachborn, who leads the league in assists with 43.

The Gulls (25-15-3, 53 points) beat Kansas City (35-11-2, 72 points), which has the IHL’s best record, for the second night in a row and extended their current winning streak to a franchise-record five games.

They are 10-1-1 in their past 12 home games and they remain two points ahead of defending Turner Cup champion Peoria, a 5-4 winner Saturday against Salt Lake.

“Kansas City’s the best team in the league,” said Waddell, “so it’s got to give us good confidence when we play that well against the best team in the league.”

The Gulls are usually a slow-starting team; they have been outscored 56-50 in the first period this season. But they are 14-4-2 when they score first.

The Gulls not only scored first when defensman Dave Korol put one in from 10 feet inside the blue line at the 6:51 mark, they jumped out to a 2-0 lead against the Blades.

The Gulls hit the ice looking like a team that would not be satisfied with a split. Seconds after Darcy Norton was stopped by goalie Wade Flaherty on a point-blank shot, he slammed a Kansas City player against the boards.

Then Gull Denny Lambert rammed Rick Lessard into the glass. Seconds later Korol took a pass from Glen Goodall on a faceoff and scored. With 7:09 left and the Gulls on a power play, Flaherty jumped at a centering pass by Alan Leggett and Kvartalnov swept in his 34th goal to make it 2-0.

Seven minutes remained in the first period--plenty of time for the Blades to tie it, which they did. Jeff Madill scored on a breakaway and, with 1:15 left, Ron Handy scored from left of the crease.

After Gull Larry Floyd and Handy traded goals in the first 6:26, the Gulls started pouring them in against Flaherty, the second-best goaltender in the league with a 2.81 goals-against average and an 18-8-1 record.

Soren True, with the Gulls on the power play, got a pass from Ray Whitney and fooled Flaherty with a backhanded sweep from 10 feet away. The Gulls led, 4-3. After Kansas City picked up a two-minute bench penalty, Kvartalnov--who moments earlier hit the post on a breakaway attempt--scored No. 35 from the right circle.

At 4:21, Kvartalnov completed his third hat trick of the season. Ron Duguay and Hachborn added later scores, with Handy getting one for Kansas City.

Aztec Notes

The San Diego Cable Network canceled the nine remaining Gulls home games it had originally scheduled for live telecasts. The network is in the process of scheduling telecasts of certain away games instead. The only telecast announced thus far is the Gulls at Salt Lake, live at 6 p.m. Jan. 28.