Gulls Endure Delays, Punches to Win : Hockey: Team gets the victory Coach Don Wadell promised after enduring problems before the game, hot tempers during it.

Gull Coach Don Waddell all but promised a victory Tuesday.

His team, after enduring a 66-minute delay before the game and a 15-minute delay because of a first-period brawl, came through by beating the Peoria Rivermen, 6-2, at the San Diego Sports Arena.

The crucial game was played in front of a record Tuesday night crowd of 7,228 and it moved the Gulls (38-23-7, 83 points) into a second-place tie with Peoria (37-20-9, 83 points) in the West Division of the International Hockey League.

“I think you’re going to see a different team tonight than the one we’ve seen in the last three games,” said Waddell, whose Gulls lost six of their last seven game in February and got banged up in a pair of losses at last-place Phoenix last weekend.

Against Peoria, the Gulls decided it was time to fight back.

Neither team scored until the second period, when the Gulls took a 3-0 lead.

The game’s start was delayed because blue paint was seeping through the ice in the east goal crease. It was delayed again at the 8:40 mark of the first period when a fight between Gull Pat Cavanaugh and Peoria’s Mark Bassen touched off a brawl that took 15 minutes to break up.

Peoria’s Jason Ruff and Bruce Shoebottom (game misconduct) and Gull Alan Hepple jumped into the fray that produced 36 minutes in penalties. Fans tossed fanny packs--given away as a promotion--and other debris onto the ice.

Then Peoria Coach Harold Snepsts had to restrain his players from climbing over the glass. Shoebottom had one leg over the glass, while Bassen, Richard Pion and Brian Pellerin were chopping at the crowd with their sticks.

The period produced no goals but 80 penalty minutes between two teams that together average only 53.3 per game.

The hockey game didn’t start until the beginning of the second period, in which the Gulls took charge, outshooting Peoria, 22-6.

Ray Whitney scored his 31st goal 42 seconds into the period, getting a drop pass and a screen from defenseman Alan Hepple to make it 1-0. The Gulls made it 2-0 when Derek Mayer took a crossing pass from Larry Floyd on a power play and beat Guy Hebert (16-9-0) from the left circle.

The Gulls could have called for another delay by presenting the puck to Dmitri Kvartalnov, who got an assist and picked up his 100th point of the season on the play. Instead, they scored 50 seconds later to make it 3-0. Denny Lambert got his 14th goal when he stuffed in the rebound of Ron Duguay’s shot.

After Ron Hoover scored for Peoria, the Gulls regained the three-goal lead when Kvartalnov scored his IHL-leading 52nd goal on a behind-the-net pass from Whitney to make it 4-1. Peoria’s Kyle Reeves made it 4-2, but Robbie Nichols (27th) and Lambert (his second of the game) answered with goals.