The youth hockey season faced off locally in late August; now it’s time for the pros to take the ice.
Kroc Center Ice, which is part of the overall San Diego Salvation Army Kroc Center complex in the Rolando area bordering La Mesa, offers a wide variety of programs, including a popular day camp, wellness center, recreation pool, education center, gymnasium, ice arena and on-site church.
The sprawling complex, located at 6737 University Ave., San Diego, is conveniently situated for East County, South County and San Diego metropolitan city residents alike.
The ice arena might be a surprise to most area residents who are not accustomed to winter sports occurring year-round in Southern California. However, Kroc Center Ice offers many programs geared toward ice-skating and ice hockey aficionados.
Kroc Center Ice offers learn to skate and learn to play hockey programs as well as actual youth hockey leagues. There is also an in-house ice skating program.
Besides the hockey leagues, the non-profit community center also offers hockey camps.
The Kroc Center Day Camp program partnered with Hockey Ministries International to host a weeklong camp in early August. The camp, open to ages 8 to 17, served as a tune-up for league play for many of the participants.
According to Marketing and Communications Manager Glynis Eckert, the camp attracted more than 50 participants from throughout San Diego County, including South County. The weeklong skills clinic allowed the participants a chance to get on the ice with professional hockey players.
“The kids got to practice and hone their skills before they started up their own youth leagues,” Eckert explained.
The lineup of instructors for the hockey camp was as impressive as it was extensive. Offering their services were Joe Muth, assistant director of mission integration at the Kroc Center, retired Boston Bruins goaltender John Blue, right wing Andy Miller of the Rapid City Rush, retired Red Army player Grecia Bocharov and four-time Stanley Cup champion Claude Lemieux.
Blue, a native of Huntington Beach, currently serves as a pastor after becoming deeply involved in religious studies during his playing days.
Bocharov, a native of Moscow, received his education at the Russian National Academy of Sports and Physical Education.
Lemieux won Stanley Cups in 1986 with the Montreal Canadiens, in 1995 with the New Jersey Devils, in 1996 with the Colorado Avalanche and in 2000 again with the Devils.
A pair of San Diego Gulls also participated: left wing Jordan Samuels-Thomas and defenseman Stu Bickel.
Both players signed contracts with the American Hockey League club during the summer. Bickel will be playing in his third season with the Gulls while Samuels-Thomas will be playing in his second season with the team.
The Gulls serves as the minor league affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League.
The AHL is the developmental league for the NHL. It is estimated that more than 84 percent of players who go on to play in the NHL spent time playing in the AHL.
Getting on the ice to help offer guidance to children is old hat for Bickel, a Minnesota native, and Samuels-Thomas, who hails from Connecticut.
But both have learned that palms, sand and ocean waves mix well with ice hockey in San Diego.
“Right when I got here, my first year, I was super surprised at how many fans we got and everything,” explained Bickel, 31, a nine-year pro who has 76 games in the NHL with the New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild to his credit. “Then you come out to see the youth groups and the kids take it seriously. It’s really cool to see it gaining traction in Southern California.”
This is the second consecutive year that Bickel, a Gulls fan favorite, has been involved with the Hockey Ministries International hockey day camp at the Kroc Center. He said it rekindles memories of his own youth.
“It’s fun to get involved with the kids, everyone was working hard and having fun,” Bickel said. “It’s been a lot of fun to get involved.”
Community involvement is right down Samuels-Thomas’ alley as well. He earned distinction as the Gulls’ winner of the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year award for his outstanding contributions to the San Diego community during the 2016-17 season.
Each team in the league selects a nominee for the annual league-wide award.
Samuels-Thomas, 27, a fourth-round pick by the then Atlanta Thrashers in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, volunteered and participated in many charitable endeavors, including serving food to the homeless at the San Diego Salvation Army, visiting Rady Children’s Hospital to help improve the health of young patients and visiting the Wounded Warrior Project during the holiday season.
He also volunteered his time to participate in grassroots efforts to promote health and wellness in the community and teach the sport of hockey during street hockey gym classes at local elementary schools affiliated with the YMCA. He also helped coach youth hockey at the Kroc Center as part of a skills clinic for children 6 to 14 to help develop young hockey players in the region.
Samuels-Thomas is entering his fourth season in the AHL. Prior to joining the Gulls, he played in Rochester, N.Y., Manchester, N.H., and up Interstate-15 in Ontario as a member of the Reign, the Gulls’ archrival.
Samuels-Thomas, however, quickly endeared himself to local fans. He said getting out in the community is important to him.
“I love going out, getting in the community,” he said. “Hockey’s a great game, it allows me to go out help the community and kids and stuff, people who wouldn’t have the opportunity otherwise. It’s something I’m passionate about.
“The kids are having a great time, that’s what these things are about, having fun. They love being out on the ice.”
Besides learning new skills, playing hockey also offers life lessons, Samuels-Thomas said.
“Hockey is good for character (development),” he explained. “There have been times where I’ve been told I’m not good enough, whether I was 8 years old or even now. Hockey is like life. Things don’t always come easy in life. It’s good life lessons.
The Gulls, having received players on assignment from the Ducks for this season, are set to face off the 2017-18 AHL campaign on Saturday, Oct. 7, in Tucson, Ariz., against the Tucson Roadrunners. The Gulls will host the Texas Stars in their home opening weekend Oct. 13-14 at the Valley View Casino Center.
For more information on youth and adult hockey programs, ice skating programs and public skating sessions at the Kroc Center, call (619) 269-1498 or visit the website at www.sd.kroccenter.org/
Face-off
The Gulls will face off the AHL season for the first time on the road in their three years in San Diego. The Oct. 7 game in Tucson will be followed by a pair of home ice contests against the Texas Stars Oct. 13-14.
The Gulls won 10 of 12 contests from Tucson last season — a big reason the San Diegans finished second in the Pacific Division standings and kept the Roadrunners out of the Calder Cup playoffs.
The Gulls have squarely established a winning culture thus far in their short stay in town. The Gulls set team records for most wins (43), most points (91) and winning percentage (.669) in a season in 2016-17. The Gulls finished four points behind the San Jose Barracuda in the battle for first place in the division standings.
The Barracuda, the AHL affiliate of the NHL San Jose Sharks, topped the Gulls four-games-to-one in the best-of-seven division finals to advance to the Calder Cup Western Conference Finals.
It was a disappointing ending to the Gulls season after the team had wrestled home-ice advantage away from San Jose. The Gulls had a chance to advance to the conference finals with a three-game sweep at home but lost all three games to the Barracuda, including a 2-0 setback in Game 6 that ended the team’s season.
It’s time to wipe the slate clean for 2017-18.
“We have two goals, they are equal,” third-year Gulls head coach Dallas Eakins said. “We want to win and we want to develop.”
Eakins continues to credit the team’s large and supportive fan base for helping create a winning atmosphere.
“Our fans have a great passion here,” he said. “We want to have an excellent third season. We want to play more in the playoffs as we continue to develop players for the Anaheim organization.”
The Gulls have seen several players graduate to the parent Ducks’ NHL roster over the past two seasons and will be working on developing more prospects this season.
The player pipeline from the Gulls to Anaheim was instrumental in the Ducks advancing to last season’s Stanley Cup Western Conference Finals.
Goaltender John Gibson, forward Nick Ritchie and defensemen Shea Theodore and Brandon Montour were bona fide stars in San Diego who were contributors to the Ducks’ playoff run last season.
A total of 18 players who appeared in a game with the Gulls last season also played during the season with the Ducks. Returning players in the organization who split time between the teams last season include center Chris Wagner, right wings Ondrej Kase, Corey Tropp, Stefan Noesen and Logan Shaw, left wings Nick Kerdiles and Kalle Kossila, defensemen Jacob Larsson, Korbinian Holzer and Jaycob Megna and goaltender Dustin Tokarski.
Ritchie, Kase, Wagner, Megna, Montour and Gibson all made training camp cuts to remain with the Ducks to face off the 2017-18 season.
Kase scored a goal, Montour picked up an assist (to go with a +3 plus-minus rating) and Gibson bot the victory between the pipes with 26 saves on 30 shots in the Ducks’ 5-4 win over the visiting Arizona Coyotes in the teams’ season opener on Thursday.
Tropp, Kerdiles, Kossila, Larsson and Tokarski have been assigned to the Gulls to start the 2017-18 AHL campaign.
Tropp, 28, who has played in 149 NHL games with the Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets and Ducks, led the Gulls in regular season scoring in 2016-17 with 54 points (21 goals, 33 assists) in 62 games. He racked up 11 power play goals to rank in the top 20 in that category in the 30-team AHL.
Kossila, 24, a native of Finland, turned in a breakout first pro season by collecting 48 points (14 goals, 34 assists) in 65 games.
Tokarski, with 34 NHL games to his credit with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Montreal Canadiens and Ducks, posted a 2.93 goals-against average, 17-8-1 record and .898 save percentage in 27 games last season.
Kerdiles, 23, a second-round pick by the Ducks in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, logged 27 games with the Gulls last season with seven goals and 15 points. He became the first player raised in Orange County to play for the Ducks when he received a call-up last season.
Overall, there are 17 returning players from last season’s division finalist AHL squad.
Players who also made an impact on the success of last season’s Gulls team included left wing Kevin Roy (16 goals and 46 points in 67 games), right wing Spencer Abbot (49 points in 69 games), center Sam Carrick (39 points in 72 games), defensemen Andy Welinski (29 points in 63 games) and left wing Jordan Samuels-Thomas (24 points in 56 games).
All are back with the Gulls to start the season. Abbot and Spencer were picked up in a late season trade between the Ducks and the Chicago Blackhawks and have flourished in their new surroundings.
The force is with them
Right wing Scott Sabourin (17 points in 54 games) and defenseman Stu Bickel (six points in 26 game) return to police the ice. Bickel amassed 148 penalty minutes to lead the team in that department last season while Sabourin racked up 147 penalty minutes.
Defenseman James Melindy amassed 229 penalty minutes in 68 games with Wichita in the ECHL last season while collecting 27 PIM in three games with the Gulls.
Veteran defenseman Jeff Schultz is a steadying force on the backline with 409 NHL games logged during his 13-year pro career that includes Calder Cup championships with the Hershey Bears in 2006-07 and the Manchester Monarchs in 2014-15.
Young guns
The organization’s younger prospects took part in the NHL Prospects Showcase tournament hosted by the San Jose Sharks Sept. 9-12 to add a competitive edge to rookie camp. The Ducks won the four-team event with an undefeated 3-0 record.
The Ducks’ 27-man tournament roster featured 18 draft picks, including three first-round picks: Larsson (27th overall in 2015), Max Jones (24th overall in 2016) and Sam Steel (30th in 2016).
Jones and Steel, both 19, were returned to their junior clubs following the Ducks main training camp while Larsson, a highly touted 20-year-old Swede, was assigned to the Gulls.
Larsson appeared in four games with Anaheim and four games with San Diego last season while splitting time with Swedish club Forlunda HC (five points in 29 games).
Welinski and Kossila both participated in the prospect showcase tournament.
Other players from rookie camp who were subsequently assigned by the Ducks to the Gulls include centers Alex Dostie, Mitch Hults, Julius Nattinen and Tyler Soy, left wing Giovanni Fiore, right wing Deven Sideroff and defensemen Brian Cooper, Marcus Pettersson and Keaton Thompson, and goaltenders Kevin Boyle and Angus Redmond.
Sideroff scored two goals in the tournament while Dostie, Fiore, Hults, Soy, Pettersson and Welenski each chipped in with one goal. Boyle and Redmond each picked up wins between the pipes to boost the Ducks to the tournament title.
Overall, 13 players scored goals in the tournament for the Ducks prospects.
Fiore, 21, who had played since 2012 in the QMJHL, earned a recall to Anaheim prior to the Ducks season opener Oct. 5 against the visiting Arizona Coyotes.
Welinski, 24, a third-round pick in the 2011 draft, appeared in 63 regular season games with the Gulls last season, accumulating six goals and 29 points. He recorded three assists in 10 playoff games.
Pettersson, a second-round draft pick in 2014 (38th overall) from Sweden, and Nattinen, a second-round draft pick in 2015 (59th overall) from Finland, both will be making their North American pro debuts this season.
Of the Gulls’ 26 rostered players to start the season, seven are picks in the first three rounds of the draft by Anaheim. Larsson (first round, 27th overall in 2015); Kerdiles (second round, 36th overall in 2012), Pettersson (second round, 38th overall in 2014), Nattinen (second round, 59th overall in 2015), Welisnki (third round, 83rd overall in 2011), Sideroff (third round, 84th overall in 2015) and Thompson (third round, 87th overall in 2013).
They represent the future of the organization. Thompson collected 16 points in 52 games while receiving regular shifts with the Gulls last season.
Escondido native Austin Ortega, 23, will be another player to watch this season. The young forward joined the Gulls at the tail end of last season after tying a NCAA record with 23 game-winning goals during four years at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. He notched four goals and five points in his brief introduction to the AHL.
He appeared in one preseason game with the Ducks during training camp.
Goaltending has been a strong point in the Gulls’ opening two seasons in town and could be again with the addition of Boyle and Redmond to the foundation.
Boyle, 25, accomplished himself well during an extended call-up from Utah last season. He appeared in 19 games with the Gulls, posting a solid 2.27 GAA and .924 save percentage while earning 10 wins between the pipes and one shutout. He won nine games in 16 appearances in Utah.
Redmond, 22, is playing his first pro season after appearing in 38 games last season for Michigan Tech where he recorded an impressive 23-1-5 record, four shutouts, 1.85 GAA and .917 save percentage.
The Gulls play a 68-game regular season schedule. Thus, with the expected bumps, bruises and call-ups, it’s certain many of the Gulls’ younger players will have a chance to prove themselves on the ice in 2017-18.
The AHL team had 52 players suit up during the 2016-17 season.
Building chemistry will be an important component to success following a relatively short training camp together.
“We haven’t had a ton of time to work on too much, just the basics,” Carrick explained. “All the systems will come with time. For the guys who were here last year, we run simple high-tempo practices. Once the younger guys learn our system, I think you will start to see more chemistry on the lines.”
The future looks bright. This week’s NHL season opening rosters featured 640 AHL graduates.
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