2025-2026 Game 19: San Diego Gulls vs Texas Stars

San Diego, California. Soon after an embarrassing 5-0 loss to the Firebirds and with goal-tending depth suddenly becoming a very scary issue for the club the San Diego Gulls welcomed in Central Division opponent during a time of uncertainty.

With Buteyets recalled to Anaheim in the wake of Peter Mrazek also succumbing to injury it was a pleasant surprise to see Calle Clang finally back from personal leave.

With the lack of production over the last few games as well as the extremely poor showing against Coachella Valley in the last game – management opted to switch up the lines once again in an attempt to get some suddenly cold scorers going again.

Judd Caulfield was moved to the top line to play alongside Ryan Carpenter and Sam Colangelo. Nico Myatovic, Tim Washe and Matthew Phillips formed a new look third line while Yegor Sidorov, Cal Burke and Nathan Gaucher made up the fourth line. The second line of Sasha Pastujov, Jan Mysak and Justin Bailey ofcourse remained intact.

Defensive pairings remained the same.

Tomas Suchanek was given his first start of the season with Calle Clang backing up.

Travis Howe and Roman Kinal were the only healthy scratches.

First Period:

Suchanek was tested early as he was forced to make a lunging toe stop on a close-in bid while his team-mates struggled to contain the frantic Texas offense through the first few minutes of play.

A delay of game to Nathan Gaucher courtesy of ye olde puck over the glass under pressure saw the Gulls go down a man within the first four minutes of play but was immediately wiped out as Judd Caulfield was hooked driving the net with Tim Washe on a shorthanded partial break.

As the four on four sequence expired both teams looked to carry on the full octane rush game and the Gulls emerged victories in setting the tone as they started to feel their rhythmn as they entered the Texas zone with speed to create chances, intercepted passes and slowly started to shift momentum their way.

Tyson Hinds was called for cross checking to put a brief hault to that momentum but as San Diego successfully killed the minor against the leagues worst ranked Power Play they went right back to the attack, keeping things simple by funneling chances on net and looking for rebounds from the Stars young German netminder.

As San Diego annexed the Texas zone and took offesive zone face-off after face-off Sam Colangelo would break through on a great individual effort that only a player of his talent could be expected as he collected a puck near the top of the circles, moved away from defenders creating some room for himself before blazing into an open shooting lane and sending a lazer to beat the Stars goaltender top right corner. 1-0 Gulls.

The Stars made a push after the goal and drew a dubious tripping call on Justin Bailey who was seen to be indicating that the opposing player had tripped on his own team-mates stick.

Killing the minor with ease the Gull went right back to dominating both the neutral and Texas zone coming close on two grade A chances as Sasha Pastujov’s turn around snap shot sailed high over the net and Matthew Phillips look at a wide open net from the near side was deflected wide by errant sticks in front.

San Diego taking a 1-0 lead into the first intermission but unlucky to be leading by more as they dominated the Texas zone for much of the second portion of the opening frame. Shots were 14-5 Gulls with the shot map showing San Diego with a significant edge in momentum.

Second Period: San Diego Gulls 1 – Texas Stars 0

Much like the start of the first – the visitors looked the better squad to start the second but the Gulls by this point were also feeling themselves and still able to put up some high danger opportunities between fending off attacks in their own zone from the opposition.

The period sped by with minimal stoppages and by the eight minute mark the Gulls were once again controlling the Texas zone at their own discretion – rotating lines while probing for another market and once again unlucky to not finish some needle-fine chances.

An ill advised holding call on the forecheck to Sam Colangelo once again put a stop to the Gulls consistent dominance and despite San Diego being the better team for much of the game thus far the Stars tied it up on the Power Play as standout rookie defender Tristian Bertucci was setup in the high slot to wire a shot by Suchanek. 1-1 tie game.

Suddenly the Gulls found themselves on the back foot and unable to exit their zone cleanly but after three consecutive icings they were eventually able to get back to the attack and as the top line roamed the offensive zone Judd Caulfield drew a call to give the Gulls a Power Play in the final minute of the period.

Although the man advantage was able to get set without too much trouble, they were also far too static, referring to the obvious trigger man in Colangelo and allowing their very one-dimensional tactic to be read and diffused.

The Gulls allowing the visitors to tie things up on a period that the once again dominated for most of the time they were on the ice. Shots were 10-7 for the Stars and 21-15 Gulls overall through two periods, the shot map showing Texas declaring a no-man zone in front of their own net while the Gulls allowing too many chances in their own zone.

Third Period: San Diego Gulls 1 – Texas Stars 1

Starting the third on the Power Play the Gulls tried to jump on the Stars early but the visitors frustrated the brief time on the man advantage.

As play returned to five on five the Gulls kept up the attack, opting for a bull rush approach this time as the likes of Judd Caulfield and Ryan Carpenter got up close and personal with the Texas net.

The Stars made their own attacks into the San Diego zone and the Gulls started to show some weaknesses in their game as they rushed passes and turned over pucks in the neutral zone.

As the back and forth play continued a nice three on two rush by the Gulls saw San Diego once again take the lead as Tyson Hinds executed as the trailer from a nice feed from Judd Caulfield after he and Ryan Carpenter led the rush into the Texas zone. 2-1 Gulls.

It was helter skelter for the next few minutes as the intensity amped up but it was a lot of one and done wit no consistent zone pressure for either side.

One on such dump in and chase by the Stars into the San Diego zone a quick retrieval and change up seemed to confuse the Gulls defenders and left a man open in the high slot – a feed an one-time shot soon followed and suddenly we were tied up once again. 2-2 tie game.

San Diego pressed to take the lead but could not find another marker in the remaining eight minutes of play and we headed to Overtime.

Overtime:

The Gulls luck with the extra session continued to be terrible as despite getting possession off the face-off a fumble in the offensive zone saw Stian Solberg lose the puck and the Stars take control, San Diego able to diffuse their initial attack and make a partial change but the second attack by Texas seeing a man open in the slot and able to bang home a pass from behind the Gulls net. 3-2 Texas wins.

Post Game Notes:

Snakebit City

I was going to call this Snakebit Matty in tribute to Matthew Phillips who has been ice cold for the last three games and was incredibly unlucky in this game not to have at least two goals but then I realised there are a BUNCH of scorers that have suddenly gone quiet of late. Washe is pointless in two games, as is Mysak, Bailey, Pastujov and Myatovic. Yegor Sidorov is pointless in three games while Cal Burke hasnt seen the scoresheet in five. Essentially the only forwards to contribute in the last two games were Judd Caulfield, Sam Colangelo and Ryan Carpenter.

Concerning But Not Panic Stations Yet

The lack of offense is concerning but again much like what I was saying earlier in the season before the Gulls started to finally find the back of the net – the signs are there – it isn’t as if they are not generating chances, they are; they were just incredibly unlucky on a lot of those chances in this game. As the old hockey moniker goes – the puck simply was not bouncing their way tonight. They wanted to hit back after the Firebirds loss and they definitely played a heck of a lot better, if they keep doing what they are doing (except for the being terrible in overtime part) the goals and the wins will start coming again.

Power Play Still Bad || Overtime Still Bad

I don’t really have much to say here – it’s a fairly mundane and obvious point and I don’t really have much to add other than maybe coming up with some set plays with the three on three?

On the Power Play – like I noted in the recap; it’s too static and obvious. Teams know that the puck is going to end up at a trigger-man like Colangelo or Pastujov. The only time it really looked dangerous tonight was when Colangelo decided to break rank and skate with the puck to find a lane. In doing so he created a tiny bit of chaos but it was just enough to create a high danger chance. It’s the simple things.

Suchanek Looked Sharp

I am glad to say Suchanek looked sharp, he made some huge stops early on and the goals he was beat on were A) with the man advantage – one timer from the slot B) another one-timer from the slot off a quick bang bang play where is defense had been too slow to find a man and C) in OT on a pass from behind the net to a waiting man in the slot. He did not have a chance on any of them and especially not after being on the bench for two in a bit weeks.