Rookie Whitney Leads Gulls to Victory Over Fort Wayne

Good things seem to happen to the Gulls when Ray Whitney scores a goal.

Whitney, their 19-year-old rookie center, scored two second-period goals to lead the Gulls to a 6-2 victory over the Fort Wayne Komets in front of 5,525 at the San Diego Sports Arena.

Whitney helped lead the Gulls, 11-1-1 when he scores, back into second place in the West Division of the International Hockey League. The Gulls (26-15-4, 56 points) moved one point ahead of idle Peoria. Wednesday’s victory was the Gulls’ sixth of the concluding seven-game home stand--the only loss coming in overtime--and the third against a division leader. Fort Wayne, first in the East, dropped to 32-13-3.

After earning 13 of a possible 14 points on this home stand, what can the Gulls do for an encore?

Take the show on the road.

“We’re an excellent team (11-8-2) on the road,” said Whitney, who has 18 goals and 36 points in 25 games. “It’ll take some pressure off some of the players, because you’re expected to come and perform for the fans every night. You go on the road, there’s no pressure, you go out there and you play hard.

“You do that, you’ll win, because teams tend to slack off at home like we did (Tuesday in a 6-5 shootout loss to the Komets). Some of the guys are looking forward to going on the road.”

Said Coach Don Waddell, ready to take his team on a four-game, three city tour beginning Friday: “I like our character; I like our spunk. And I think we proved on this home stand that we’ve got a good hockey club.”

Tied, 1-1, after the first period, the Gulls came alive in the second period, outscoring Fort Wayne, 3-0, to take a 4-1 lead. They’ve now outscored their opponents, 77-57, in the second period.

It followed a first period that provided more shots on goal (16) but only two goals--one by Ken Gernander off a 3-on-1 break 1 minute 46 seconds into the game and Gull Robbie Nichols’ 19th goal, a short-handed effort. Nichols’ goal made it 1-1 with 27 seconds left and tied him for the IHL lead in short-handed goals at four. Larry Floyd had three assists.

But the Gulls still were chasing too much in their zone and getting beat on breaks neutral zone by the quick Komets.

In the second period, the Gulls created chances of their own. Whitney stunned rookie goalie Bill Pye (2-1) to give the Gulls a 2-1 lead. Pye, who had blocked a wobbly shot by Denny Lambert, left the rebound in front of him. Whitney was there to put it in the net.

The Gulls made it 3-1 when Lambert beat Pye. With 1:42 left, Whitney scored off an assist from Soren True.

The Gulls opened the third period by killing two Komet power plays to make them 0-for-7 with the man advantage (Fort Wayne ranks third in the league in power-play goals). Steve Martinson scored at 11:19 to put the game out of reach and take some heat off goalie Bruce Hoffort (7-5-1, 7-1-2 in his past 10 games).

Fort Wayne’s Kory Kocur scored with 7:23 left to make it 5-2. Keith Gretzky’s goal with 21 seconds left capped the scoring.

Gulls Notes

A local television station put a microphone on Gull winger Steve Martinson Tuesday hoping to get some colorful material. Instead Martinson, team leader in penalty minutes with 172, did not commit a penalty. He scored three goals . . . Goalie Rick Knickle, 4-0 in his last four starts, missed his second consecutive game with a stiff right shoulder after being hit by a slap shot in practice . . . After the Gulls lost their third consecutive shootout game Tuesday, Coach Don Waddell deliberately excluded IHL goals leader Dmitri Kvartalnov as one of his shooters because he had performed poorly in practice shootouts. Only one of five Gulls--Ray Whitney--beat Komet Sean Gauthier.