Tag: San Diego Gulls

San Jose Barracuda podcast with Marko Ukalovic: With a four-game win streak, the Barrcuda have all the confidence going into Bakersfield Saturday

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

On the San Jose Barracuda podcast with Marko:

#1 The Barracuda didn’t waste any time scoring two quick unanswered goals in the first period and three in the third period good enough to beat the San Diego Gulls on Monday night at SAP Center.

#2 Cuda are the hot team with three straight wins and in first place in the Pacific with 29 points.

#3 The Cuda’s Kyle Wood scored the game-winning goal at the 6:45 mark of the third period when Francis Perron led him with a pass into the San Diego zone.

#4 Wood said it took him some 18 to 19 games to find the back of the net, but was very relieved to get that goal.

#5 The Barracuda face off next in Bakersfield against the Condors. San Jose brings a very confident win streak into Bakersfield the team is pretty confident right now.

Marko does the Barracuda podcasts each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioradioservice.com

Gulls fly over San Jose, but Barracuda blows them out of the park with a 5-3 comeback

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Photo: @sjbarracuda

By Alexandra Evans

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Barracuda players, their families, staff, crowd members, and press were surrounded by canines as the Barracuda (8-8) took on the San Diego Gulls (7-10) this afternoon at SAP Center. Tonight’s crowd, which consisted of both humans and pooches, was the largest the Cuda has had since the season commenced.

Roster update: Forward Spencer Asuchuk was recalled from the Allen Americans and made his first 2017-18 appearance with the Cuda this afternoon. Asuchuk played with the Cuda in last year’s Calder Cup playoffs run. Marc-Olivier “Marco” Roy made his second appearance with the Cuda along with his first win.

After a 4-1 loss the day after Thanksgiving, the Cuda were determined to make a comeback. Since the start of the season, they have shown strength in doing so, coming back to beat the Ontario Reign, Texas Stars, San Antonio Rampage, Cleveland Monsters, and Manitoba Moose in matches following losses.

Offense and defense were strong on both ends in the first 20 minutes. The Cuda outshot the Gulls 10-5, with John McCarthy scoring the first goal just before the 12-minute mark, courtesy of Marcus Sorensen and Rudolfs Balcers. San Jose held San Diego scoreless for the remainder of the period.

Antoine Bibeau stepped in the net for Troy Grosenick at the start of the second period. San Diego amped up their offense. Despite the fact that San Jose exceeded them in shots on goal, San Diego notched three goals within the first five minutes. Julius Nattinen nailed the first one 51 seconds in, followed by Austin Ortega at 3:47 and then Giovanni Fiore at 4:11. The Cuda prevented the Gulls from scoring additional goals, ending the period on a power play, trailing 3-1. 

And then the momentum arose. The Cuda made two comeback goals in under 30 seconds to tie the score 3-3. Rudolfs Balcers notched a power-play goal at 3:57 and Adam Helewka, with his stellar hand-eye coordination, joined in on the action to score his second goal of the season at 4:20. Helewka sniped another one past Gulls goaltender Reto Berra at 10:38, breaking the tie and providing his team and the crowd with some relief. Two minutes later, Olivier Archambault posted an unassisted, game-winning goal. The final score was 5-3.

Bibeau made 14 saves on 17 shots to get the big win, while San Diego netminder Reto Berra had 34 saves on 39 shots.

Both Balcers and Helewka have been known to put up numbers–specifically scoring goals–throughout their careers, but tonight was the first time both of them scored since the season opener.

“I can’t take all the credit,” Helewka, glowing with satisfaction, said of his goals. “[My linemates, Spencer Asuchuk, Jon Martin, and I] had chemistry almost right away. [Instant chemistry] is rare, especially how hard it is to play nowadays, creating offense.”

Balcers proved himself to be a numbers guy last season with the Kamloops Blazers with 40 goals and 37 assists for a total of 67 points. So why did it take 15 games for him to find the back of the net?

“It’s about being patient,” Balcers, who leads the Cuda in assists with 11, contended in a post-game scrum. “I knew goals were going to come, but I didn’t know when… I haven’t had those barriers in my career, where you are right there [beside the net], but the puck doesn’t go in, but you can’t really do anything. Just work hard and be patient.”

One could attribute his goal-scoring hiatus to growing pains, which was discussed amongst Cuda staff and media profusely at the start of the season. Balcers, a rookie, has been improving with each game, and now that he has the monkey off his back, his scoring game should pick up as the season progresses.

Archambault inked a Player Tryout Agreement (PTO) with the Cuda on October 20. He said that he earned his second goal of the season tonight by just sticking and working in tandem with his line-mates, Marc-Olivier Roy and Brandon Bollig.

The Cuda head to Bakersfield for their next match on December 3 to face the Condors, affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers.

Also, Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic made an appearance with his pups tonight, and had the honor of making the first puck drop.

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Barracuda Finish Weekend With Loss to Gulls

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By Mary Walsh

photo credit: San Jose Barracuda–San Jose goaltender Aaron Dell was in the headlights as the San Diego Gulls made work on net in their 3-1 victory at SAP on Sunday

SAN JOSE– The San Diego Gulls beat the San Jose Barracuda by a score of 3-1 Sunday. The teams split the weekend meeting with a win each. Two goals were scored by Antoine Laganiere, and one by Matt Bailey for San Diego. Goaltender Anton Khudobin made 34 saves on 35 shots for the win. The Barracuda goal was scored by Ryan Carpenter, while Aaron Dell made 17 saves on 19 shots.

The Gulls took six penalties in all, the Barracuda took none. The Barracuda did have two goals discounted, which did not happen to the Gulls. Anton Khudobin was in net for the San Diego Gulls on Sunday. His backup ws Matt Hackett. Khudobin has played 99 NHL games with Boston, Carolina, Minnesota and Anaheim. Hackett has played in 26 NHL game with Buffalo and Minnesota. It would appear that the Anaheim Ducks are not taking any chances with goaltending this season.

Nevertheless, the less experienced Aaron Dell only let two pucks get by him, while Khudobin let three in. Two did not count but they did get by him.

San Diego scored less than four minutes into the game, when Barracuda goaltender Aaron Dell collected the puck behind the net and passed it forward, where a Gull was lurking. He made the initial save on the quick shot that followed, but in doing so he slid too far from the net. Matt Bailey caught the rebound and put it behind Dell for his third goal of the season. An assist went to Antoine Laganiere.

The fifteen minute mark approached and San Jose was still trying to get their second shot on goal, while San Diego had nine. They got it, in the course of a power play. Harry Zolnierczyk was in the box for slashing. The Barracuda got credit for three shots on that power play, but the score remained unchanged.

The Barracuda had one more shot in the period. The first ended with the score 1-0 and the shots 11-5 San Diego. The Barracuda made up some lost ground in the first few minutes of the second period, creeping closer on the shot clock and even almost scoring a goal off a peculiar bounce that coincided with some confusion in the Gulls’ zone. The goal did not count but the shots were 12-9 at that point. San Jose was on the hunt and San Diego was caught a little bit off guard.

The Barracuda completed the shot clock comeback with a power play at 6:27, a too many men penalty to San Diego. That power play went by with the score still 1-0 visitors. The shot clock read 14-13 Barracuda 102 seconds later, when the Gulls scored again, this time through a chaotic coverage breakdown by the Barracuda. The goal was Laganiere’s 12th of the season. Assists went to Corey Tropp and Matt Bailey. It was the second shot of the period for the Gulls.

The Barracuda had a third consecutive power play at 11:40 of the second. This time it was Stu Bickel in the box for tripping. Still no goal fro San Jose. At 14:02, San Jose had a fourth power play and San Diego still had none.

That fourth power play made all the difference. Karl Stollery carried the puck off the wall into the slot, where he sent it in the direction of Ryan Carpenter, who was at the side of the net with his stick ready for a deflection. Trevor Parkes was battling with a Gull in front of Khudobin so the goaltender never saw the shot coming. It was Carpenter’s 4th of the season. Assists went to Stollery and Barclay Goodrow.

The shot count for the second period was 19-4 Barracuda.

San Jose had their fifth power play at 3:12 of the third, thanks to a tripping penalty on Corey Tropp.

After a frustrating sequence in and out of the Gulls’ zone, the Barracuda finally connected on a pass or two and Nikolay Goldbin took a shot from near the goal line at 9:04 of the third. The puck went in, but the presence of a teal skater on the other side of the blue paint qualified as interference. He did not really seem to be in the way but that is how the officials called it. For the second time in the game, a Barracuda goal was waived off.

The sixth Barracuda power play came with a little more than eight minutes remaining in the third period. Joseph Cramarossa was the culprit, confined for high-sticking.

Dell came out of his net with just under two minutes left, but the additional skater did not make the difference. The final shot count was 35-19 Barracuda.

While no Barracuda player had more than three shots, eight different players finished the game with three. It was a solid effort.

The Barracuda next play on Wednesday, in San Jose at 7:30 PT, against the Ontario Reign.