After having six games postponed due to COVID-19 issues and last seeing the ice for a game Dec. 18, the Gulls will be back at it tonight against the Stockton Heat at Pechanga Arena.
Maybe.
Such is life for everyone in the sports world these days where “one day at a time” suddenly feels less like an old-school cliché than hardcore reality.
The Gulls (9-12-1) were set to resume play at Henderson on Wednesday night, but that game was called off Tuesday right before the Gulls prepared to travel.
Coach Joel Bouchard’s team practiced Thursday at Poway Ice and are prepared — hopefully — to finally play again.
The team is scheduled to then visit Ontario on Saturday night.
“From my standpoint, though it’s been hard, I’ve been able to channel my attention and know that we’d be back playing hockey soon,” Bouchard said. “And we just have to be that way the rest of the season, one day at a time.”
The recent batch of COVID-19 related postponements have affected some teams far more than others.
Stockton (20-4-2-1) has seen only two games wiped away, including the Dec. 22 tilt that was supposed to be played at Pechanga when most of the NHL and AHL began experiencing COVID-19 related problems.
Testing protocols vary by AHL organization but the Gulls — like their NHL parent club, the Anaheim Ducks — began testing daily shortly before Christmas.
As a result, there is really no way for Gulls fans attending today night’s game to know who will be on the ice, though the Ducks did send down three players on Wednesday: forwards Benoit-Olivier Groulx, Bryce Kindopp and Danny O’Regan and defensemen Greg Pateryn.
Though the recent stretch has been an extreme example, Bouchard and other longtime AHL coaches are hardly inexperienced with handling daily roster movement.
“I always tell the story that you can be working on the power play on a Thursday and ready for a Friday game then four guys are gone the next day and everything you worked on is something to forget,” Bouchard said with a chuckle. “So we are used to change. We are used to controlling very little. So this is not that big a change for us.”
In of actual hockey, Bouchard’s team sits last in the nine-team Pacific Division and were outscored 13-2 in losses to Abbotsford, Bakersfield and San Jose prior to the Dec. 22 postponement to the scheduled tilt against Stockton.
“We had a stretch where we played really well, our best hockey of the season and then we had a dip,” Bouchard said. “This time away has given us as coaches a little bit of a chance to re-assess some things and we’ll continue to push these guys to improve.”
Notable
The Gulls and other AHL clubs are working on plans to play all of the games that have been postponed, based on each team’s building availability. The league recently extended the season by six days and the regular season now will conclude April 30.
Carter is a freelance writer.
