Game 24: San Diego Gulls vs San Jose Baracudda – Dec 19

San Diego had the run of play for most of the first period, coming close on several occasions as Dallas Eakins’ new line combos (still confusing to me) dominated the visiting Barracuda.

Jones came agonizingly close with under three minutes left after some great fore checking by Sideroff, but Bibeau made a desperation save on a seemingly wide open net.

Blandisi, in his first game back from injury, opened the scoring on a nice pass to free him on a semi breakaway where he shifted Bibeau and tucked it under him.

San Jose drew a penalty on Blandisi just over six minutes into the middle frame, but it was the Gulls that converted as Adam Cracknell pounced on a loose puck and sped up ice with Sam Carrick on a two-on-one that was deposited past Bibeau for the 2-0 lead.

Cracknell made the smart play by taking the shot creating the rebound for Carrick to put away.

San Diego drew a penalty midway through the period but could not convert. It did not slow down their relentless attack or seemingly unsurpassed momentum.

With five and a half minutes left, Keaton Thompson was called for tripping and the Gulls finally relented under the pressure as the Cuda generated several high danger chances – converting on a rebound at the 3:50 mark.

Play opened up soon after the goal and both teams displayed a frenetic back and forth pace. The period ended with San Diego enjoying another man advantage opportunity and several scoring chances.

The opening of the third saw the ugly fish attempting to re-assert dominance and held the Gulls in their zone for minutes at a time, but San Diego eventually broke free and fought back – getting a third goal from Matt Berry who tipped a floating Megna point shot for the 3-1 lead.

With under ten minutes left, Matt Berry seemed to be channeling Max Jones’ performance from the previous game. First he blocked a shot, then bowled over the Barracuda player on route to creating a two on one. This resulted in a rebound that Chase De Leo then slammed home on a goal that required a mid-commercial-break to be deemed legit after it was missed during live action. 

At the six minute mark, the Terry and Steel line entered the Barracuda zone with speed and Fiore fed Terry from behind the net for an easy 5-1 lead.

Jo Blandisi saved the best till last, taking a pass off the boards from Matt Berry with speed and cutting a perfect spin move around the lone defender, before seemingly unintentionally losing the puck at the full 360-degree mark where it found its way into the Cuda net for the 6–1 lead and eventual final score. The goal would make it on the Sportscenter top ten after some lobbying from the Gulls’ Twitter account.