A near capacity crowd poured into the old building on Sports Arena Boulevard as if a “bubble” never happened. The new DJ kept the place rocking with an eclectic mix of jams. The $2 Bud Lights were consumed in copious amounts and with ion.
Much went well before and during the Gulls home opener against Stockton Friday night.
But on the ice?
Well, coach Joel Bouchard’s club very much remains a work in progress.
Mixing stretches of good play and physicality with dips in energy and sloppiness, the Gulls (0-2-0-0) suffered a 6-2 loss at Pechanga Arena before an announced crowd of 12,920.
Bouchard preached patience after seeing his team’s season-opening 5-2 loss at Ontario last week and more will be needed as the Gulls navigate the early portion of a long season with a roster made up of young prospects and a few more experienced vets who don’t have much time playing together.
“We had a couple of practices before the last game and honestly, it’s going to take time,” Bouchard said. “Everybody wants Amazon. You order it and it’s there the next day. But like I told the players: success is not a magic trick.”
No, but it does require sound defense, crisp ing and good goalie play.
After Olle Eriksson Ek started in net and went the distance in the loss at Ontario, Lukas Dostal got the start at goalie against Stockton.
Dostal, who finished 15-9-0 with a 2.87 GAA last season, took the loss after allowing in a few shots he no doubt would expect to stop.
Other parts of the game didn’t exactly go great for the Gulls either.
Stockton (2-0-1-0) pretty much controlled the flow of five-on-five play throughout, won most of the physical battles in the corners and along the boards and finished with a 34-22 advantage in shots.
Alex Limoges and Brogan Rafferty (power play) scored for the Gulls, who have been outscored 11-4 through two games.
A ragged start did not help Friday night.
San Diego’s offense was bottled up early, struggling to get the puck through the neutral zone against an aggressive Stockton forecheck and did not manage a shot on goal until 7:41 of the first period.
The Gulls went down 1-0 on a goal from Stockton’s Justin Kirkland at 10:23 but answered three minutes later when Limoges gathered a nice cross ice from Jacob Perrault before notching a power play tally for his first goal of the season.
The Heat pushed ahead 2-1 on a goal from Matthew Phillips at 4:20 of the second period and the game really turned late in the second when Brendan Guhle was called for a high stick directly in front of the Stockton net.
After Phillips won the ensuing face-off, former Gull Andy Welinski ripped a shot that deflected off the stick of Jakob Pelletier and rolled past Dostal, giving the Heat a 3-1 lead.
Guhle was involved in another crusher later on.
After Rafferty scored to trim the Stockton lead to 4-2, Guhle was picked near center ice by Walker Duehr, who skated in and beat Dostal, making it 5-2.
By the time Luke Philip beat Dostal at 4:24 of the third period to make it 6-2 Stockton, a few hundred fans were heading for the exits.
The Gulls, now 3-4 in San Diego home openers, return to Ontario tonight for the second of 12 games against their primary Pacific Division rival. It will also be the first back-to-back set of the season.
Alex Limoges on facing Ontario today:
“This leaves a sour taste so anytime you can get right back out there, it’s a good thing,” said Limoges of playing tonight. “That’s a good team. We have to be ready.”
Carter is a freelance writer.
