The San Diego Gulls are heading back to the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup playoffs for the first time since the 2021-22 season after securing the Pacific Division’s seventh and final postseason berth.
It marks the fifth playoff berth in Gulls’ AHL history (2015 to present) and the first after a three-year absence.
The Gulls (33-27-8-4) will meet the second-seeded Colorado Eagles (41-20-6-5) in a best-of-three first-round elimination series. The winner advances to the second round that consists of the three first-round winners plus the top-seeded Ontario Reign, which enjoyed a first-round bye, that serves as the division semifinals.
The best-of-five third round serves as the division finals.
The Gulls’ 0.542 points percentage is the team’s best record in a full season since the 2018-19 campaign (36-24-5-3, 0.588) when it advanced as far as the Western Conference Finals.
The Gulls finished 29-35-5-3 last season in missing the playoff cut.
“We went into this year, and the thing we’ve kept saying is, we’re a group of winners with something to prove,” San Diego head coach Matt McIlvane said. “Earning the opportunity to play in the playoffs is a big step for everybody, and it’s been a lot of ups and downs to be able to get here, but I think it’s a cherry on top of all the growth that we’ve made as a club over the last bit. These guys, they’ve earned it.”
A total of 23 of the league’s 32 teams qualified for the playoffs.
The Eagles will host all three potential games in the first-round series against San Diego, starting Wednesday. The second game is scheduled for Friday at 6:05 p.m. PT and a third game, if necessary, is set for Sunday at 2:05 p.m. PT.
Colorado won the regular season series between the teams with a 5-1-0-2 record. The Gulls won one regulation matchup (2-1) and posted two overtime shootout wins (5-4 and 6-5). Regulation setbacks came by scores of 2-0, 3-1, 6-0, 6-3 and 5-1.
The Gulls will be tasked to reverse a three-game losing streak in Wednesday’s playoff opener. After clinching a playoff berth, San Diego came out flat in a 5-1 loss to visiting Tucson on April 15 and dropped a 4-1 decision at Ontario in the team’s final road game of the regular season last Friday.
The Gulls bowed 6-4 to the visiting Coachella Valley Firebirds in Saturday’s Fan Appreciation Night contest in front of a sellout crowd of 12,920.
Sasha Pastujov finished as the team’s scoring leader with 57 points (21 goals, 36 assists), followed by Matthew Phillips with 52 points (16 goals, 36 assists), Ryan Carpenter with 48 points (17 goals, 31 assists) and Justin Bailey with 42 points (25 goals, 17 assists).
Bailey led the league with nine game-winning goals.
Two of the Gulls’ three wins over the Eagles came in Colorado.
“Our goal is to earn a home playoff game, and I think that’s a wonderful goal,” McIlvane said. “We’re going there with the mentality that we have a job to do. We’ve got a lot of belief in what we’re capable of, and to be able to play in front of our fans again would be huge.”
SBailey led the league with nine game-winning goals.
The hosts built an early 2-0 lead with aggressive play, surrendered the next four goals against the visiting Firebirds, rebounded to tie the game, 4-4, with long shots by Matt Basgall (his first professional goal) and Stian Solberg (his 12th of the season), but eventually succumbed on an empty net goal with 52 seconds remaining.
Coachella Valley out-shxot the Gulls 32-25. Starter Calle Clang left the game at the 5:22 mark of the first period after being hit at the side of the net. Suchanek played the rest of the game, allowing five goals on 30 shots.
Clang finished the season at the team leader with an 18-9-9 goaltending record, 2.80 goals-against average and 0.897 save percentage. Suchanek finished 5-7-3 with a 3.31 GAA and 0.879 save percentage.
The Gulls enter the playoffs with three netminders of their roster: Clang, Suchanek and Damian Clara.
Sasha Pastujov finished as the team scoring leader with 57 points (21 goals, 36 assists), followed by Matthew Phillips with 52 points (16 goals, 36 assists), Ryan Carpenter with 48 points (17 goals, 31 assists) and Justin Bailey with 42 points (25 goals, 17 assists) and Tristan Luneau with 41 points (10 goals, 31 assists).
The Gulls finished the 72-game regular season with five 40-point scorers. Bailey led the league with nine game-winning goals.
Carpenter finished Saturday’s game with three assists.
Luneau paced San Diego against Colorado with six points (two goals, four assists).??
“Our goal is to earn a home playoff game, and I think that’s a wonderful goal,” McIlvane said. “We’re going there with the mentality that we have a job to do. We’ve got a lot of belief in what we’re capable of, and to be able to play in front of our fans again would be huge.”
The No. 3 Henderson Silver Knights (39-21-7-5) will host the No. 6 San Jose Barracuda (40-28-2-2) while Coachella Valley has the home ice advantage over the No. 5 Bakersfield Condors (37-23-11-1).
