When one thinks of playoff hockey, one usually thinks of suffocating defenses, bone-crushing hits, great goaltending and timely game-winning goals, usually in overtime. The American Hockey League’s Western Conference Pacific Division Finals between the top-seeded Ontario Reign and the second-seeded San Diego Gulls has had all of that in the opening three games of the teams’ best-of-seven series.
The Reign leads the series two games to one, though the order could easily be reversed.
Ontario, the regular season division champion and defending Calder Cup champion, won the first game, played on the Reign’s home ice on May 5, by a score of 5-3, though the game wasn’t settled until Ontario’s Jeff Schultz scored an empty net goal with just 33 seconds remaining. The second game, played May 7 in San Diego, went into overtime before the Reign escaped with a 2-1 win on a goal by Justin Auger with 8:05 remaining in the extra 10-minute sudden-victory period.
The series features an unusual format that has each team alternating home venues. Game 3 returned to Ontario and the Gulls, buoyed by their performance in Game 2 by holding a 1-0 lead over their arch rival for two-thirds of the contest before eventually ceding the final two goals, buckled down at used a sensational goaltending performance by Matt Hackett to blank the Reign 3-0.
San Diego won eight of the teams’ 12 regular season meetings before dropping the opening two playoff contests. Could the series be turning back in the Gulls’ favor?
The teams return to San Diego on Friday, May 13, for what appears to be a pivotal Game 4 match-up. If the Gulls can win it, they will tie the series at two victories apiece. If Ontario can pull another game out on foreign ice, the Reign will take a commanding 3-1 series lead with Game 5 scheduled the next night on their home ice with a chance to win that one and punch their ticket to the Western Conference Finals.
A victory in Game 4 by the Gulls would ensure that a Game 6 would be played in San Diego on Monday, May 16.
A potential Game 7 would be played May 18 in Ontario.
At present, it’s difficult to determine exactly which team has the upper hand. Three consecutive wins by San Diego would land them in the Western Conference Finals. The Reign needs only to win two of the next four games in the series to do the same.
Big, heroic performances can easily sway the needle, as did Hackett’s 29 save effort in last Sunday’s Game 3 win that got the Gulls back in the series. Hackett had made 42 saves the night before in Game 2 only to lose in overtime. In the back-to-back games, he stopped 71 of 73 shots – an imposing 0.973 save percentage.
That’s an incredible performance, especially made noteworthy in that Hackett is starting in place of regular No. 1 netminder Anton Khudobin, who suffered an upper body injury in the final Game 4 match-up against Texas. Hackett entered that game early in relief and allowed two goals over the balance of the contest while his teammates offered timely support with five goals en route to a series-clinching 6-2 victory.
It is performances like that one – and the one on Sunday – that has San Diego head coach Dallas Eakins optimistic about the remainder of the division championship series.
“Our guys were calm and cool on the bench,” Eakins offered after Sunday’s clutch Game 3 victory. “Like all season, we’ve been a resilient group. The group is strong, and they weren’t rattled by being down two-nothing (in the series).”
Hackett now sports a 2-2 record, 1.96 GAA and 0.935 save percentage in four postseason games this season.
Ontario’s Peter Budaj, who piled up a phenomenal 42 wins, 1.75 GAA and 0.932 save percentage to lead the league during regular season play, is 5-2 with a 1.68 GAA and 0.920 save percentage in seven playoff games thus far.
“We needed that game, and the boys did a great job competing and battling,” explained Hackett, who appeared in 22 regular season games with a 10-7-1 record, 3.03GAA and 0.895 save percentage. “In the playoffs, if you’re all competing and pulling the same rope, you’re going to have results.
“The guys played great, and the shutout was a bonus.”
After defeating the Stars three games to one in the teams’ opening best-of-five series, the Gulls did not start the division finals off on necessarily good footing.
Ontario limited San Diego to four shots in each of the opening two periods en route to claiming a 29-19 shot advantage in the game. The Reign skated to a 2-0 lead after the first period. The Gulls did rally with two goals early in the second period, but the Reign added two more goals – one late in the middle stanza and the other midway through the third period – to regain their two-goal lead.
Things got a little crazy in the final two minutes of the game when the visitors pulled Hackett in favor of an extra attacker and scored on the play to trim the Ontario lead to 4-3. The Gulls were then beneficiaries of a late power play and mounted a six-on-four attack configuration. But the gamble back-fired when Schultz scored his empty-net goal after just 34 seconds had elapsed with San Diego owning the two-man advantage.
Budaj stopped 16 of 19 shots while Hackett finished with 24 saves on 28 shots.
In the special teams department, the Reign finished 1-for-4 on the power play while the Gulls were 0-for-3.
Michael Mersch, who had been held to two assists in Ontario’s division semifinal series against the San Jose Barracuda, broke loose in Game 1 with a two-goal, one-assist performance.
Mersch, who played 17 games with the parent L.A. Kings club this season, was a key player in last year’s run to the Calder Cup championship with 13 goals and 22 points. He was involved in Ontario’s first two goals in Game 1 – scoring the game’s key jump goal and then assisting on teammate Vincent LoVerde’s power play goal to push the hosts to a 2-0 lead.
Mersch scored his second goal of the game at the 9:01 mark of the third period to push his team ahead 4-2. The goal would stand up as the game-winner after the Gulls made it close at the end.
Close call
Both Budaj and Hackett were sharp in Game 2 as the series ventured south on Interstate-15. In fact, Hackett likely played his best game of the season in the Gulls’ uniform this season.
The Gulls took a 1-0 lead in the game on a sharp-angle goal by Nick Ritchie that appeared to bounce down off the crossbar past Budaj. It came at the 3:22 mark of the first period just after a San Diego power play had ended. When scoring first, the Gulls have compiled a 31-1-2-1 record, and the hosts held the lead until Ontario’s Kris Newbury tied the game on a power play goal 1:39 into the third period.
The Reign out-shot the Gulls 17-8 in the first period and 26-15 through two periods but Hackett was masterful as the hosts held the lead for 38:17 of the game despite being outshot by nearly a two-to-one margin.
But Ritchie’s fourth goal in six playoff games would be the only goal the Gulls could muster on the night, as Budaj and the Reign’s smothering defense held San Diego scoreless over the next 68:33 of the contest (more than a regulation game).
The game – witnessed by 7,621 fans at the Valley View Casino Center — was physical, as expected between the two Southern California rivals. In fact, a shoving match developed in front of the Reign net just 33 seconds into the game to set the tone. The teams combined for 22 minutes in penalties overall on 11 infractions, including six penalties in the second period.
The defensive-minded game favored the visitors, in particular, and Auger’s timely OT goal handed the Reign a 2-1 victory and a 2-0 lead in the teams’ best of seven division championship series.
Collectively, both defenses were sharp, with one power play goal scored on nine opportunities. It was the visitors who scored the power play goal, giving them a 2-for-9 conversion rate in the opening two games while the Gulls remained 0-fo-7.
Eakins said the biggest challenge facing his team in the series against the defending Calder Cup champions is “just getting on the other side of the game.”
“We liked a lot of parts of our game (in Game 2), and we held that one-goal lead for a long, long time, so that was encouraging,” Eakins explained. “Overall, I just thought we played a much better game (than in the series opener). The biggest challenge is to get to their net. They’re doing an extremely good job of boxing out and keeping us away from it. And we’ve got to fight a little bit a harder to get there.”
The obvious key to victory for the Gulls in Game 2 was to limit Ontario’s power play chances, capitalize on their own chances and play solid defense. The Gulls appeared to check off all those boxes in building a 1-0 lead through two periods. Moreover, San Diego entered the game 34-0 when leading after two stanzas.
But the Reign showed why it is the defending Calder Cup champion by taking a 2-0 lead in the series.
The Gulls received a power play opportunity at 1:19 when Nick Ebert was called for a high-sticking penalty. There wasn’t much action at first, with a shot taken by each time. But with seconds having just ticked down in the penalty, the Gulls capitalized on Ritchie’s goal. Assists went to Chris Mueller and Antoine Laganiere.
The Reign, however, controlled much of the action after that. Hackett twice slid to smother bouncing pucks inside the crease. Each time he received a standing ovation from the home fans.
In fact, the Gulls received a standing ovation from fans at the end of each of the first two periods as they nursed their 1-0 lead.
Gulls held the visitors off the scoreboard despite being out-shot 17-8.
The game turned more physical in the second period, with 12 minutes in penalties called between the teams (eight minutes to the hosts), though none resulted in goals. Hackett, who has had NHL playing stints with eh Minnesota Wild and Buffalo Sabres, was hit with a puck with about eight minutes left in the period and required a few seconds of attention. But he quickly returned between the pipes and stopped all nine shots he faced in the frame.
However, two players had to be led off the ice in the period. Mueller, the team’s playoff point-scoring leader, was apparently hit in the face with a puck and exited in the first five minutes while Ontario’s Sam Herr suffered a big hit and was sandwiched between two San Diego players as he somersaulted onto the ice. He was down and unable to get up on his own power, and had to be led off the ice by teammates. Both players later returned to the ice.
The Gulls opened the third period short-handed due to a charging penalty called on Chris Wagner at 19:46 of the previous period. The hosts killed off all but nine seconds of the penalty until a long seeing-eye shot by LoVerde deflected off Newbury and found its way past Hackett to tie the score.
Mike Amadio also received an assist on the game-tying goal.
The rest of the game played out like much of the first half – a good deal of puck possession by the Reign and a lot of excellent defense by the Gulls.
San Diego failed to convert on a power play following the Reign’s tying goal, and that proved to be a missed opportunity as Hackett was forced to make two more sprawling saves over the balance of the period to keep the score tied.
Ontario finished with a 36-24 edge in shots through three periods.
In the playoffs, overtime periods are played five-on-five as opposed to three-on-three during the regular season.
The Reign out-shot the Gulls 8-3 during the 11:55 of overtime before notching the game-winner. Auger found himself one-on-one with Hackett after scooping up a rebound shot by teammate Kevin Gravel at Hackett’s doorstop. Auger slipped the puck under Hackett from about two feet away and Ontario players began celebrating en masse to Hackett’s left. Adrian Kempe started the game-winning play after winning a draw in the offensive zone to Hackett’s right.
After the game-winning goal, Hackett lay on his back in obvious disappointment while Ontario players celebrated en masse nearby.
Auger received the nod as the game’s first star for scoring the game-winning goal while Newbury earned second star honors for this game-tying goal.
Ontario head coach Mike Stothers gave the Gulls’ credit for two close games to open the division finals. “Both games have been very well-played – the first one was decided in the last few seconds and the second game went into overtime,” he said. “I think the first period was great hockey by both teams.”
“There’s not a lot of room out there,” Eakins explained. “Ontario’s (defense) really (tightens) up and we’re going to need extra efforts. I think they’re the best defensive team in the league, and that’s not by accident.
“We’ll continue on, but I think we can expect more of those games. These games are going to go to overtime, they’re going to be one-goal games. We’ve got to get ourselves on the other side of it.”
Stothers said his players will have to “step up” in this year’s playoffs to repeat as Calder Cup champions. “Auger is a good example of that,” the Reign bench boss said. “He got a taste of it last year and wants to make a big contribution this year.”
Hackett finished the game with 42 saves on 44 shots. Eakins found little to criticize about his play.
“There was a lot of traffic in front of him, too,” the San Diego coach noted. “It’s just not stopping the pucks; it’s handling those bodies that sometimes make it to the net. So he was excellent again tonight.”
Hackett received third star honors for his effort in the Game 2 overtime loss.
Despite the setback, Eakins still found several positive elements in his team’s play.
“I liked our ability to protect a lead for as long as we did,” the San Diego coach said. “I thought we were doing a real good job of it; a lot of their shots were coming from the outside. When we did need the save, Matt Hackett was there. And I thought we sustained more zone time. That was another thing I was encouraged by. So, another tiny step forward, but we need to take a giant one now.”
And the Gulls did just that by pulling out a clutch win in Game 3.
Third time’s the charm
The Gulls had little time to fret over the Game 2 OT loss as they faced off Game 3 less than 24 hours later on foreign ice. Both teams had to make the two-hour drive northward, so travel was equally spread there.
Hackett earned first star of the game honors to lead the visitors.
Ontario entered Game 3 having piled up a rather lop-sided 72-46 edge in shots of the first two games, with Hackett making 66 saves on those 72 shots for a 0.917 save percentage despite absorbing two losses.
But Hackett was clearly the Gulls’ shining star in the win in front of 5,420 fans at Citizens Business Bank Arena. He stopped all 29 shots he faced in posting his second career AHL playoff shutout and first since 2011 when he backstopped the Houston Aeros to the Calder Cup Finals.
The difference between Game 2 and Game 3 is that in Game 2 the Gulls were not able to score as insurance goal. They did that in Game 3.
Both teams rattled off 10 shots in the opening period, with San Diego amateur tryout rookie Kallie Kossila beating Budaj over his shoulder for the only goal of the period at 18:27.
The second period was tense – and scoreless—as the Reign built a narrow 13-10 edge in shots. With the Gulls leading 1-0, it was time for the team’s vaunted streak to come into play when leading after two periods. The visitors added two more goals in the final period to extend that streak to 35-1.
In an eerie repeat to the previous night’s OT contest, the Gulls’ Wagner took a high-sticking penalty late in the second period to allow Ontario to face off the third period with a power play. But the Gulls managed to kill the man-down situation this time and later found themselves on the power play when Schultz was whistled for a crosschecking infraction.
As the penalty to Schultz was about to expire, San Diego defenseman Brandon Montour let loose a slap shot that deflected off Budaj to the stick of Ritchie parked in front of the net. Ritchie deftly slid the puck into the Reign net to boost the visitors to a 2-0 lead.
The goal snapped 19 consecutive penalty kills by the Reign in postseason play to date.
The Reign pulled Budaj in favor of an extra attacker with 3:39 to play in an effort to make up the two-goal deficit. But Jaycob Megna crossed up the Ontario strategy when he gained possession of the puck in the Gulls defensive end and fired it from well behind the blue line all the way down the ice into the open net.
The goal, which came at the 16:49 mark, was Megna’s first of the season and sealed the win for San Diego.
The Gulls won the special teams battle for the first time in the series by punching in one goal on four man-up opportunities while shutting out the Reign on three power plays.
Ontario out-shot the Gulls 29-25 for the game, with Budaj making 22 saves on 24 shots to absorb his second loss in seven post-season games in 2016.
Hackett evened his postseason record at 2-2.
Laganiere and Ondrej Kase each picked up assists on Kossila’s jump goal while Mueller drew an extra assist on Ritchie’s power play goal.
Ritchie now has a point in each of the Gulls’ seven playoff games. He has five goals and two assists in those games. Mueller leads the Gulls in postseason scoring, however, with eight points on two goals and six assists.
Protect the nest
The Reign has not proven to be an offensive powerhouse in postseason play with 18 goals in seven games. Conversely the Gulls had scored four goals in two games to launch the division finals after racking up 12 goals in the final two games of their division semifinal series against Texas.
The Gulls have been dealing with a number of obstacles in the series so far, most notably, the Reign’s league-best defense. Ontario has the best penalty-killing unit in the AHL and is braced between the pipes by the league’s 2015-16 outstanding goaltender.
San Diego posted one of the league’s top five power play units during the regular season but has had trouble getting it going again after finding much success in the division semifinals against the Texas Stars. In other words, the Gulls’ special needs need to become special.
The best recipe for success for either team appears to get the lead and keep it. Both teams are very good at that. The Gulls are 35-1 when leading after two periods; the Reign is 34-1 when leading after two periods.
There is the also obvious home ice advantage to consider, though so far, each team has managed to post a win at the other team’s home venue.
As a precautionary measure, goaltender Ryan Faragher remains on call-up from the Utah Grizzlies, the Anaheim Ducks’ ECHL affiliate. Faragher appeared in five regular season games for the Gulls with a 2-3 record, 2.87 GAA and 0.891 save percentage. Faragher has appeared in 41 games with Utah (ECHL) this season, posting a 24-13-2-2 record with three shutouts, a 2.33 GAA and a .917 save percentage. The 6-foot2, 200-pound netminder has also dressed in six postseason games for Utah, posting a 3-1-1 record.
Nic Dowd and Mersch lead Ontario in playoff scoring with five points each (two goals, three assists).
The Gulls are now 32-1-2-1 when scoring the first goal in a game.
Calder Cup match-ups
The Lake Erie Monsters hold a 3-1 series advantage over the Grand Rapids Griffins in the Western Conference Central Division Finals.
In the Eastern Conference the Hershey Bears hold a 3-2 series edge over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the Atlantic Division Finals while the Toronto Marlies hold a 3-2 series edge over the Albany Devils in the North Division Finals.
Gulls waste power play chances, fall in overtime to trail series 3-1
SAN DIEGO, May 13, 2016 — Goaltender Matt Hackett established himself as the Gulls go-to man between the pipes in the team’s Western Conference Pacific Division Finals against the archrival Ontario Reign. He entered Friday’s fourth game between the teams having stopped 71 of 73 shots in performances last Saturday and Sunday to post an amazing 0.91 goals-against average and 0.973 save percentage in the back-to-back games.
Not surprisingly, he received a standing ovation during pre-game introductions from the 9,078 fans in attendance Friday at the Valley View Casino Center.
He and his teammates received additional standing ovations after the close of each of the opening two periods. But for the second consecutive home game in the team’s hard-fought series against the defending Calder Cup champion Reign, the Gulls came out on the losing end of an overtime decision.
Mike Amadio delivered the game-winner with 6:29 elapsed into the sudden-victory overtime period to lead top-seeded Ontario, the regular season Pacific Division champions, to a 4-3 win and a 3-1 series lead.
Game 5 in the best-of-seven series is scheduled Saturday night, May 14, at Citizens Business Bank Arena, with the Reign having the chance to win the series on home ice. The Gulls need a clutch victory to return the series to San Diego on Monday, May 16.
San Diego head coach Dallas Eakins said his team, despite leaving everything out on the ice in Friday’s game, must regroup quickly if it wants to extend the series beyond a fifth game.
“You’ve got to keep moving,” Eakins said following Friday’s OT contest. “I’m not going to lie; any time you lose a game in the playoffs, it’s hard to take. But whether you win or lose, you’ve got to move on quickly, and especially back-to-back.”
Ontario, which may possess the best defense in the league, has overcome two San Diego leads to pull out overtime wins. The Gulls entered the division finals boasting a superlative 34-0 record when leading after two periods. That record is now 35-2.
Conversely, the Reign is 34-1 when leading after two periods.
“We’ve had several guys step up and contribute in the playoffs,” Ontario head coach Mike Stothers explained.
The Reign received points from seven players in Friday’s game and goals from three players, including a pair from Adrian Kempe, who earned honors as the game’s first star. Teammate Nic Dowd, who contributed a goal and two assists, was named the game’s second star.
Amadio celebrated his 20th birthday by nabbing the game-winner.
Clash of the Titans
With seven goals scored by each team in the previous three games, Game 4 figured to be a low-scoring game as the Reign challenged to take a 3-1 lead in the series and the Gulls battling to tie the series at two wins apiece.
The Reign established a presence just 1:40 into the game when Hackett lay face down on the ice. He received a standing ovation when finally back on his feet, with fans waving white rally towels to show support.
Spontaneous chants of “Let’s Go Gulls!” echoed through the Valley View Casino Center, and the Gulls seemed genuinely energized after pitching a 3-0 shutout win at Ontario in Game 3.
The Gulls went on the power play with 6:09 left in first period, prompting much towel waving, after a bench minor for too many men was called on Ontario. The hosts did manage one good scoring opportunity but the rebound was swept back into the pads of Ontario goaltender Peter Budaj. A subsequent shot by Brandon Montour appeared to beat Budaj low, but video reviews showed the puck entered the net from the side rather than the front and was disallowed.
The Gulls got another power play chance with 20.5 seconds left in the opening period when Sean Backman was sent to the sin bin for tripping.
The Gulls couldn’t get much going in that short span but the penalty lapsed over 1:40 into the second period.
Gulls, who were outshot 10-8 in the first period, got one shot on that power play. However, they were more effective on their next man-advantage opportunity when Kris Newbury was whistled for a double minor at 6:24. Shea Theodore launched a long shot from inside the blue line that found its way through a maze of players for a 1-0 San Diego lead.
Chris Mueller and Stefan Noesen were credited with assists on the goal at 7:21.
The Gulls were gifted with yet another power play as the Reign’s Kevin Gravel was charged with a crosschecking infraction during a heated pile-up of players in front of Hackett at the 20:00 mark of the second period.
The hosts opened the third period on the power play but the visitors killed it, though the Gulls did get one dangerous pass through the crease.
Hackett had made 24 saves through the first two periods and for the third time in the series, the Gulls carried a 1-0 lead into the third period.
After out-shooting the hosts 16-8 in the second period, the visitors appeared to pick up the pace. Ontario tied the game at the 3:47 mark of the third period on Dowd’s third goal in the playoffs, assisted by Gravel.
Dowd’s goal snapped a streak of 103:47 shutout minutes for Hackett.
The flow of Friday’s game developed into much like that Game 2 that went to overtime (and resulted in a 2-1 win for the Reign), though in Game 4 the Gulls generated more offensive production.
As defensive-minded as the opening two periods were, the third period turned into a shootout as the teams combined for five goals – three by the Rein and two by the Gulls – to end regulation play in a 3-3 tie.
“I don’t know what happened in the third period,” Eakins confessed. “These two teams pride themselves on their checking games.”
Matt Bailey of the Gulls was sent off for a slashing penalty with 11:28 left in the third period but the hosts killed what would be the Reign’s only power play opportunity of the night.
The Gulls then benefitted from another video review by the game officials to take a 2-1 lead when Mueller eventually muscled a bouncing puck at point-blank range past Budaj at the 11:02 mark. Kyle MacKinnon and Montour received assists on the go-ahead goal.
The Gulls had a little less nine minutes to kill on the clock to even the series. However, their one-goal lead vanished just 62 seconds later when Kempe broke loose from the wing and skated in alone on Hackett, beat a defender low and then beat Hackett over the shoulder to even the score at 2-2. Kurtis MacDermid and Dowd received credit for assists.
Gulls defenseman Stu Bickel was led off the ice by teammates with 7:11 with an injury. He held his knee in obvious pain and did not return. Eakins cited the loss of the veteran defenseman as critical to the outcome of the game.
“Late in the game guys are starting to get gassed out and going with five defenseman, especially in overtime, didn’t help,” Eakins explained. “We have some young guys in our lineup and they deserve to be there, but they have inexperience. Late in the game, you want to have your veterans out there. We also need to work more on our puck control.”
The latter dearly cost the Gulls when they lost possession of the puck at side of net and, a pair of swipes later, the Reign had a 3-2 lead as Kempe worked the puck laterally in front of Hackett before slipping it underneath Hackett for his second goal of the game and his fourth goal of the playoffs. Dowd and Zach Leslie received assists.
The visitors now had 6:04 to kill in the game en route to taking a 3-1 series lead. But just 10 seconds later, the Gulls had tied the game 3-3 when Mueller worked his way past the Ontario defense and got the puck directly in front of Budaj and skipped in a shot through the five-hole. Amateur tryout rookies Andy Welinksi and Brian Cooper drew assists at 13:06.
There would be no more scoring in the frantic third period and Ontario finished regulation play with a 34-28 shot advantage.
The five-on-five overtime period was understandably intense but the hosts were unable to generate any shots on the Reign net while Hackett stopped two shots before the third, coming on a rebound, evaded his reach. Gravel and Backman received assists on the game-winning play.
The visitors celebrated in the corner and Gulls fans, dazed by the turn of events, began to quietly file out of the arena, possibly for the last time in what has been a marvelous inaugural season for their team.
“We came out in overtime and it seemed like we couldn’t get out of our zone,” Eakins explained. “The one thing we definitely have to tweak is we need to handle the puck better. We’re trying to make plays that aren’t there.”
The hosts have only themselves to blame. The Gulls had five power play opportunities to one for Ontario in Game 4 and can only look back at the missed chances. The Gulls scored just one goal on those five man-up opportunities.
As a consolation, Mueller was voted the game’s third star with two goals and one assist. He leads the team in postseason scoring with 11 points on four goals and seven assists.
Ontario out-shot San Diego 37-28 and has out-shot the Gulls in each of the four games in the series. The Reign has whipped out 290 shots and allowed 179 thus far in the playoffs.
Hackett stopped 33 of 37 shots; Budaj had 25 saves on 28 shots. Budaj improved to 6-2 in the playoffs while Hackett saw his record drop to 2-3.
Calder Cup notepad
The Eastern Conference Atlantic Division Finals will go the distance after the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins defeated the Hershey Bears, 6-2, Friday night to tie the series at three wins apiece. Game 7 is scheduled Sunday evening in Hershey.
— Phillip Brents
Pacific Division Finals – Series L (Best-of-7)
P1-Ontario Reign vs. P2-San Diego Gulls
Game 1 – Thursday, May 5: ONTARIO 5, San Diego 3
Game 2 – Saturday, May 7: Ontario 2, SAN DIEGO 1 (OT)
Game 3 – Sunday, May 8: San Diego 3, ONTARIO 0
Game 4 – Friday, May 13: Ontario 4, SAN DIEGO 3 (OT)
Game 5 – Saturday, May 14: ONTARIO 2, San Diego 1
Note: Reign wins series 4 games to one
Calder Cup replay:
Reign defense stars as defending Calder Cup champions take down Gulls 5-3 in series opener
ONTARIO, May 5, 2016 – Michael Mersch collected 13 goals and tied for the league lead with 22 points to help the Manchester Monarchs capture the 2014-15 Calder Cup championship. Fast forward one year and the Monarchs have adopted a new identity and a new home on the opposite end of the North American continent but Mersch is still scoring key goals.
Mersch collected two goals and assisted on another as the top-seeded Ontario Reign defeated the second-seeded San Diego Gulls, 5-3, in Thursday’s opening game of the Western Conference Pacific Division Finals. The Reign, the defending Calder Cup champions, lead the best-of-seven division finals 1-0.
Mersch was limited to just two assists in the Reign’s three-games-to-one division semifinal series against the fourth-seeded San Jose Barracuda, led by example in Game 1 of the Pacific Division Finals. Mersch scored the game’s jump-goal at the 10:26 mark of the first period and drew the second assist on Ontario’s next goal, a power play goal scored by team captain Vincent LoVerde at 14:37, to stake the hosts to a 2-0 first period lead.
Mersch’s second goal, which came on a deflection of a shot originally taken by teammate Kevin Raine, boosted Ontario to a 4-2 lead at 9:11 of the third period.
Mersch led all Ontario players with three points in the game. The Reign also received goals from Joel Lowry and Jeff Schultz.
Lowry’s goal, assisted by Mike Amadio at 14:37 of the second period, gave the Reign a 3-2 lead. Schultz’s goal came into an empty net with 22 seconds left in the game to secure the win after the Gulls had pulled to withing one goal, 4-3, when Corey Tropp scored with 2:23 to play with the benefit of an extra attacker.
San Diego scored a pair of unanswered goals in the second period to tie the score 2-2. Rookie amateur Kallie Kossila notched his first postseason goal at 3:06, assisted by Chris Mueller and Nick Ritchie. Matt Bailey evened the score at 5:32 off a pass from Tropp.
But the Reign then took control of the game with goals by Lowry later in the period and Mersch’s goal midway through the third period.
The visitors had a chance to tie the game when Ontario’s Jordan Samuels-Thomas was whistled for a slashing penalty with 1:06 to play.
But it was the Reign’s suffocating defense that proved its worth at critical times to the delight of the 4,387 fans in attendance at Citizens Business Bank Arena. Ontario limited San Diego to just four shots in each of the first and third periods. Reign netminder Peter Budaj made 16 saves on 19 shots.
Ontario out-shot San Diego 29-19. Matt Hackett, the understudy to Gulls starter Anton Khudobin for most of the season, was pressed into duty after Khudobin was injured in Game 4 of the Gulls’ division semifinal series against the Texas Stars. Hackett made 24 saves on 28 shots.
The Gulls finished 0-for-3 on the power play while the hosts scored one power play goal in four opportunities on the night.
The Reign improved to 34-1 when leading after two periods this season. The Gulls are 34-0 when leading after two periods.
In five playoff games, Budaj has a 2.01 GAA and 0.906 save percentage to lead Ontario; Hackett has a 2.84 GAA and 0.908 save percentage in two playoff games.
Mueller leads San Diego with seven goals in five playoff games (two goals, five assists) while Ritchie has six points (four goals, two assists).
Nic Dowd and Mersch lead the Reign each with five points (two goals and three assists each).
— Phillip Brents
American Inline Hockey League playoffs:
San Diego Tron Hosers stymied in bid to advance to national championship tournament
The San Diego Tron Hosers’ Elite team, which had high hopes of also competing for a national championship this season, saw its wheels come off in the Pacific South/Southwest Division championship playoffs Aoril 16-17 in Las Vegas.
While the Gulls are flying high, the Hosers’ season ended in the most exasperating fashion.
The El Cajon-based squad had led the four-team division through the first half of the season and, after falling behind due to a man-power shortage during a tournament in March, appeared to rise to the occasion by finishing just a point out of first place in the division standings with an inspired performance in the final regular season tournament to face off April.
Hosers manager Steve Baldwin had hoped his team, comprised of some of the top talent on the West Coast, would be a dominant force when finally skating at full strength. “If all my top guys show up, we have a very good chance of winning the division playoffs and then going to New York,” he said prior to departing for Nevada.
As it turned out, the Hosers’ planned journey to the nationals never made it past Las Vegas.
Of course, there were some extenuating circumstances.
“We really hate driving there and we drove on the day we had to play,” Baldwin explained. “So the team arrived right before the game begins and everyone has been in a car for the previous five hours. That’s not ideal.”
The AIHL held division finals April 16-17 in its four geographic zones. The Las Vegas Aces hosted the Pacific South/Southwest Division Finals as the regular season champion. The Hosers finished in second place in the division standings, followed by the Arizona Outcasts in third place and the Arizona Ghostriders in fourth place.
The top-seeded Aces and fourth-seeded Ghostriders paired up in one semifinal best-of-three series while the second-seeded Hosers and third-seeded Outcasts paired up in the other semifinal series.
Had the Hosers managed to finish a point ahead of the Aces in the regular season standings, the division playoffs would have taken place in El Cajon, not Las Vegas – a much more user-friendly commute.
The Hosers had defeated the Outcasts four times during the season, including by a 10-2 score in the teams’ regular season finale April 3 in Las Vegas.
The Outcasts, with a reputation as one of the top teams on the West Coast, had conversely beaten the Hosers four times on the season despite finishing three points behind the San Diego team in the division standings.
Baldwin picks up where the regular season series ended:
“We looked asleep and lost the first game 2-1. The second game we came alive and we were ahead at the half 4-1.
In the second half, however, the Outcasts exploded with three goals and the game ended 4-4. It went into overtime and they scored a really fluky goal.”
Baldwin didn’t like to make excuses for his team, but did note he felt the officiating in the playoff games was not particularly kind to his squad.
“We thought the refereeing was biased,” the Hosers manager said. “We had seven penalties in two games and the Outcasts had one.
“Our guys were getting hooked and tripped left and right and nothing was getting called on them. It was strange. Most of the goals scored upon us in both games happened while we were shorthanded. We felt that if the games were refereed in a more evenly way, we could have won both games.”
But they didn’t and thus the season ended much earlier than anticipated.
“Losing two games eliminated us from the playoffs and we went home,” Baldwin said succinctly.
The Outcasts kept their motor running and went on to win the division playoffs. The Arizona team will be representing the division at the national championship tournament
The Hosers Elite team finished regular season play with a 14-8-2-0 record (wins, losses, overtime losses, shootout losses) to come up just short of the Aces (14-7-2-1) for the right to host the playoff tournament. Las Vegas finished with 31 points in the division standings to 30 for the Hosers
Team leaders included La Mesa’s Stefan Demopoulos with 27 goals and 43 points and former West Hills High School star and Team USA selection David Baldwin with 15 goals and 34 points. Demopoulos recently completed his collegiate ice hockey career with the Providence College Friars (2011-15) where he tallied 16 goals and 39 points in 120 regular season games.
The Hosers received an injection from the legendary Chavira brothers – Itan and Juaquin, both longtime Team USA stalwarts – with 17 goals and 32 points between them, but the players missing from the roster told the major story for the team this season.
Johnny Noris, son of Hosers head coach Joe Noris, played in only 13 regular season games this season while also competing on the world surf tour. He had 14 goals and 18 points in the games he played.
Santee’s Charles Baldwin, perhaps the top sniper in the AIHL, returned to the Hosers line-up after playing professional ice hockey in the Czech Republic. In goals per game and points per game, Baldwin ranked at the top of the AIHL last season.
Clearly, the Hosers’ bugaboo this season was fielding a full squad. San Diego dressed a skeleton crew for the March 19-20 tournament in Las Vegas and paid the price with a 1-4-1 showing. “We had seven skaters, which is too few when you have six games total in a weekend,” the elder Baldwin explained.
The Arizona Outcasts, who eventually won the right to make the trek to New York, finished 13-10-1-0 in regular season play. Their success story was that they peaked at just the right time of the season.
Minor Tier 2 nationals
San Diego will be represented at the AIHL national championship tournament in the Minor Tier 2 division after the Hosers Black team finished third in the division’s Minor Tier standings with a 12-12 record during regular season competition against two teams from Arizona (Arizona Outcasts and Arizona Ghostriders), a team from Nevada (Las Vegas Aces) and a second Hosers team (San Diego Tron Hosers White).
The Aces received the bid to compete in the Minor Tier 1 division at the nationals.
The Hosers Black team is led by several recent high school graduates and former youth standouts.
West Hills High School alumnus Zach Peters finished the season as the team’s top point scorer with 11 goals and 18 assists for 29 points. Former Hosers youth player Joel Sadenwasser ranked second on the team with 10 goals and 17 assists for 27 points, followed by Hilltop High School alumnus George Godinez with 20 goals and five assists for 25 points.
Godinez led the Hosers Black team with 20 goals.
This is Godinez’s third year playing in the AIHL. He said he has enjoyed extending his playing career beyond high school by competing in the semi-pro league.
“It gives me more time to play hockey,” explained Godinez, who coached Hilltop High School’s entry in the CIF-Metro Conference roller hockey circuit this past season. “Once you age-out of youth hockey, you don’t really get too much of an opportunity to continue to play unless you play college or juniors in ice hockey.
“In the AIHL, I get to play with my closest friends and be able to travel with the boys. It’s a good experience getting to play against guys from different states.
“It’s fun. It’s a men’s AA competition level – you get a bunch of guys who have played at the Gold and Platinum level on travel teams. It’s fast. It’s a lot of run and gun. It’s fun to score goals.
“I’m excited for nationals.”
— Phillip Brents
