Gulls’ Run Win Streak to Eight in a Row

The Gulls’ winning streak reached eight Tuesday with a 4-2 victory over the Atlanta Knights in front of 2,500 at the Omni.

Only three victories from setting the International Hockey League record of most consecutive victories to start a season, the Gulls play in Atlanta again Thursday, in Cleveland on Friday and in Ft. Wayne on Saturday. Kansas City set the current standard by winning 10 in a row at the beginning of last year.

Four Gulls scored Tuesday--Bill Houlder, Mitch Lamoureux, Dan Shank and Scot Arniel. Arniel’s goal came midway through the second period while the Gulls skated short-handed. He got to the rebound of a shot by Hubie McDonough and inserted it into the net.

It was one of three assists for McDonough, who leads the IHL with 17 assists and 21 points in eight games. Dale DeGray also had three assists.

The Gulls’ stingy penalty unit killed seven of eight Atlanta power plays. Atlanta entered the game as the IHL leader in power plays, succeeding 35% of the time.

Rick Knickle got the victory in goal, his sixth to lead the league.

The Knights (5-2-0) took only two shots in the final period and none until 18 minutes had expired. That’s when Jason Lafreniere fired on Knickle, who made the initial save but gave up a rebound to Shawne Stevenson, who put it into the net.