Gulls Defeat Indianapolis to Regain Second-Place Spot

It’s hard to tell whether the 6,641 fans that turned out Friday at the San Diego Sports Arena were there to see the Gulls play the Indianapolis Ice or merely to see mascot Sandy Gull fall from the rafters on a bungee cord.

The mascot took the 68-foot plunge. The Gulls were the ones rising to second place in the West Division standings of the International Hockey League.

The Gulls buried the Ice, 7-4, for their second consecutive victory and seventh in their last nine at home.

The Gulls (22-15-3, 47 points) moved ahead of idle Peoria (21-14-4, 46 points). The Gulls were in second place a week ago. They enjoyed it for two days. But now that they have regained the No. 2 spot, they want to stick around for a while.

“It’s something that we wanted,” said Gulls center Ray Whitney, who had a goal and two assists. “We were disappointed after we gave it back to Peoria on that last road trip. We weren’t happy about that.”

An infamous trip it was. It started the previous Friday and ended Sunday, after the Gulls blew three third-period leads and were forced to deal with three losses--one against Peoria that allowed the Rivermen to regain second place behind Kansas City. The Blades are running away with from division at 34-9-2, 70 points.

“We came home for these next seven games and this is a great opportunity for us to get back into second and perhaps separate us from Peoria a little bit,” Whitney said. “That’s the frustrating part, when you know you should be in second but you’re not.”

The Gulls are back, thanks to two goals by Soren True and the talents of the 19-year-old Whitney, who now has 31 points in 21 games. Being the IHL’s highest-scoring team at 4.2 goals a game with another game against the Ice (13-21-5, 31 points), fifth in the East, there’s no reason why they should be there for awhile.

The Gulls led, 2-1, after one period as goals by Steve Martinson (his fifth) and Dmitri Kvartalnov (his 33rd). Indianapolis scored first.

They maintained the one-goal advantage after the second period, which has come to be known as their period. The Gulls have now outscored their opponents, 64-51, in the second 20 minutes, but this second period provided a lot of missed opportunities as Ice goalie Jimmy Waite couldn’t seem to stay in the crease.

The 22-year-old from Sherbrooke, Canada, who was in goal opening night 1991 for the Chicago Blackhawks skated behind his net to control a shot off the boards that caromed back to center ice at the opening of the period. He barely got back to block a shot by Ron Duguay.

Waite skated to the middle of the slot, whiffed on the puck as he tried to clear it, then watched as Ice defender Ryan McGill took an open shot away from Denny Lambert.

But Waite, again trying to clear the puck, finally burned himself at the 4:07 mark when he glided to the near corner and made a perfect pass to Whitney, who put it in from the right circle to make it 4-2, Gulls.

Indianapolis answered 1 minute 17 seconds later when Justin LaFayette flipped one off goalie Bruce Hoffort’s chest and in. The two collided, dislodging the net as LaFayette couldn’t stop his momentum and Hoffort was removed from the game and later sent to Alvarado Hospital with a concussion. In came Rick Knickle, still woozy from the flu, to replace Hoffort and protect a 4-3 lead against an inspired last-place team.

But as good as the Gulls are in the second period, they’re not bad in the third. The Gulls, who outscored the Ice 3-1 in the third period, now have a 16-goal edge in the that period.

True scored from the slot 7:09 into the period with 14 seconds left on a power play to make it 5-3, Gulls. Then after Dan Vincelette scored on a deflection to make it 5-4, True made it a two-goal lead once again. Alan Hepple scored an empty net goal with 42 seconds left to close the scoring.