2025-2026 Game 43: San Diego Gulls vs Ontario Reign

San Diego, California. With a huge 4-3 win over the Coachella Valley Firebirds the night before the San Diego Gulls hoped to ride the emotional spike that came from victory over one of the fiercest rivals into the next match-up against their oldest and closest rivals.

The mystery regarding why Nikita Nesterenko was absent from the line-up the night before was resolved as he was mentioned to have been out sick the night before and returned to the top line while Coulson Pitre came out to make room.

Calle Clang was given the start with Suchanek backing up after his win over the Firebirds the night before.

Coulson Pitre and Konnor Smith were the scratches.

First Period:

The recently hot and new look third line carried the best of the Gulls possession early and play was mostly back and forth with the odd fierce hit thrown in capped off by a center ice show-case heavy-weight bout between Travis Howe and Jacob Doty all through the first three minutes.

The pace picked up after the fight and Calle Clang had to look his very sharp self of late as he stuck with Reign forwards who had managed to breach the Gulls perimeter.

After the hitting picked up Stian Solberg went off worryingly as he seemed barely able to move his legs after taking back to back hits and immediately went to the locker.

The Reign opened the scoring moments later as Andre Lee was hit with a head-man pass after sneaking behind Nik Brouillard. The Reign leading scorer wiring a hard and low shot that beat Calle Clang off the partial break. 1-0 Reign.

San Diego attempted to respond and carried play for much of the next few minutes as time approached the final moments of the period.

With just over two minutes left in the opening frame the Gulls headed to the games first Power Play as Justin Bailey was tripped coming out of his zone. The first unit had some good looks – largely thanks in large part to Yegor Sidorov but could not convert and the second unit were only able to gain the zone but had the remainder of their time eaten by the Reign defenders barricading themselves and the puck against the far wall.

San Diego going to the first intermission down by one but ahead in shots 10-6. The shot map showing chances were fairly even but for the Reign’s goal scored off an odd-man break.

Second Period: Ontario Reign 1 – San Diego Gulls 0

The second started with the Reign in the Gulls zone but as San Diego regained control and the lines started to cycle an inspired rush and individual play from Judd Caulfield gave the Pechanga crowd new life. The burgeoning power forward took the puck in the neutral zone with speed, entered the Reign zone – surveyed the space allowed and wired a shot by Ontaio goaltender Phoenix Copley. 1-1 tie game.

Ontario made a push immediately after the goal and forced Jan Mysak into a holding call as he and his line struggled to contain the Ontario forwards suddenly dominating the Gulls zone.

Stian Solberg briefly returned to the ice during the penalty kill but as play returned to five on five the Reign took the lead back on a fortunate bounce that was chipped over the shoulder of Calle Clang off an Ontario rush. 2-1 Reign.

Play was largely back and forth for much of the next ten or so minutes – briefly broken up by a very weak hooking call to Sasha Pastujov that saw the Gulls start to open things up as they pushed the envelope on offense while down a man. An interference call to the Reigns Koehn Ziemmer gave San Diego there second Power Play of the night.

With the first unit holding the Reign zone for the first minute an overzealous clearance from Andre Lee hit the wire netting above the glass behind Calle Clang and the delay of game penalty gave the Gulls a brief five on three opportunity. San Diego held the zone for the entire sequence but every one-timer opportunity they managed to get was turned aside by Copley.

Ontario were able to kill the remaining portion of the second penalty and diffuse the Gulls growing momentum as they took a 2-1 lead into the second intermission. Shots were 11-10 Reign on the period and 20-17 Gulls overall.

Third Period: Ontario Reign 2 – San Diego Gulls 1

San Diego started the third with a slowly cresting wave of momentum as line after line ferociously fore-checked, hit and sent pucks toward the Ontario net through the first five minutes of play.

One such play – where a frustrating finish to a perfect cut-out pass saw a sure goal go begging ended in a goal mouth scramble and Tyson Hinds coming away in celebration as he shoveled a puck by a sprawled Phoenix Copley. However there was no Official behind the net to declare the goal. It was shown on replay after the fact that it did in fact go in and so was declared a good goal. 2-2 tie game.

The Gulls were initially prepared for the push back and the first line continued to push in the Ontario zone but the Reign took back possession and the lead as they sent a hard low shot on net from the point that beat Clang through three layers of traffic. 3-2 Reign.

With Pechanga behind them the Gulls did not give up and went right back to their wave attack. The top line finishing up some great building momentum on a partial change between the third and first line as Ryan Carpenter finished a great pass as the trailer from a brilliant Tristan Luneau zone entry and individual rush. 3-3 tie game.

The playoff like atmosphere only intensified further when Justin Bailey found himself as the Reigns Public Enemy number one after a double team hit he laid on their captain Joe Hicketts. The number of Reign players that went over to engage with him after the hit left the Ontario net completely undefended with the Gulls enjoying a three on nothing chance that went begging but we couldn’t see how because the camera view stuck with the Bailey altercation. The matching minors to Bailey and former Gull Glenn Gawdin (who Bailey mocked after his attempt to engage him) kept play at five on five as a wash-out of the penalties.

The final five minutes of play was a battle for the neutral zone with Ontario enjoying the majority of possession but with less than thirty seconds remaining a turnover at the Reign blue line saw Nikita Nesterenko attempt to weave his way to the low slot before having the puck dislodged. He eventually re-gained possession and made moves to drive to the net from the right side and as he pushed his way across the Reign net-minder came out to challenge, losing his helmet in the process. Nathan Gaucher following on the play found the puck after it was lost on the net front move and he quickly threw it in the net for the game winning goal with just 17 seconds left. The Reign were incensed claiming the play should have been called dead once Copley lost his helmet but the Officials deemed it a good goal.

Gulls win 4-3 in front of an emphatic Pechanga Arena crowd on Star Wars night.

Post Game Notes:

Solberg Sorrow

I will admit I didn’t see the hit or combination of hits too closely that lead to the injury but from the way he was skating I can say it is definitely lower body and looks potentially ACL related. Not great. But the fact he tried to skate on it again on the second is at least somewhat of a positive sign. It could just be a Charlie Horse. Time will tell I guess. If he is out – at least it gives Konnor Smith a chance to get some game time and he fills a similar hard-nosed defensive role.

On That Hinds Vibe

Tyson Hinds always seems to elevate his game for these Reign rivalry match-ups but tonight he was next level. He was all over the place but also gave yet more evidence as to why he would be a good fit to be converted to forward should the Ducks and Gulls defensive depth backlog continue to be a semi-problem. His ability on the fore-check but also to sniff out the soft areas and where rebounds are going to be is uncanny. It has been a slow start to the season but he is really starting to pick it up.

Gaucher Coming In Clutch

If any Gull deserved to score the game winner would most definitely had to have been Nathan Gaucher. The hard working center has much like Hinds – had a slow start to the season but has been making his way back to the play driving forward his team has been missing. His less than soft hands mean he doesn’t always get rewarded for his hard work and driving ability but tonight demonstrated just how valuable a player he is when the intensity ramps up.