1-Man’s Opinion on Sports-WednesdayLee Hamilton

“GULLS HOCKEY-BETTER TIMES ARE COMING-BUT WHEN?”
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Matt McIlvane has begun his 2nd year as coach of the AHL-San Diego Gulls.
His track record as a head coach was spotless, success upon success, in Europe.
Till last year.

The San Diego Gulls, a flagship franchise in the American Hockey League, have known nothing but success.
Wins, playoff games, hot young talent, and huge crowds.
Until the last couple of years.

Culture shock for the coach and for the franchise.
McIlvane knew nothing but wins and playoff titles with Team Red Bull in the German pro league.
Last year he experienced a 13-game winless streak to start the season (0-10-3)

The Gulls have labored thru a talent-less roster two years running because of the NHL-parent Anaheim Ducks.
Gone were the wins and the massive AHL crowds, that many weekend nights when they drew 11-12,000 fans a night.
Replaced by crowds of 4,500 and plenty of empty seats and losing nights.

How bad has it been?

The Gulls last two winters have gone a combined (46-84-14).  Think about that.  A marquee top farmclub in the AHL
winning just 46-of-134 games.

Like-father-like son.

The parent Ducks, a long time ago won the Stanley Cup in 2006.  The last 4-years, Anaheim has gone (98-164-40).  Try
that number on for size, 98-wins in 242-games -played.

The fun loving nights of Gulls hockey brought fans a chance to see NHL stars of the future, like goalie John Gibson, defenseman Brandon Montour, Shea Theodore, and goal scorers like Nick Ritchie, Troy Terry and Max Comtois.  That was then, this is now.

No argument that the role of the Gulls is to develop young talent to ship up the road to the Ducks, but the new leadership of GM-Pat Verbeek took all the prospects up top, force fed them, and lost and lost and lost.

The Anaheim roster is loaded with young skaters.  You wish the fans here could have seen the likes of Leo Carlsson, Pavel Mintyukov, Jacksoh LaCombe, Trevor Zegras, Mason McTavish or the since traded Jamie Drysdale.

There will be no sighting of this year’s lst round pick Beckett Senneke, who signed an entry level contract, but was sent back to junior hockey, or the college hockey phenom Cutter Gauthier who came in a trade with the Flyers, who is wearing Ducks-Orange to start the season.

Maybe there is hope.  McIlvane took last year’s horrid start, and reinvented the team, nearly getting them back to the .500-mark before they faded.

This year’s roster features some young credentialed rookie talent.  50-goal scoring junior Yegor Sidorov, college hockey star Sam Colangelo from Western Michigan,  young goalie Callie Clang, and wide body defenseman Noah Warren, will wear Gulls colors for their first home game against the Coachella Valley Firebirds.

The Ducks have sent in 5-AHL veteran players to help stabilize the roster, led by 7-year AHL veteran goalie Omar Dansk.  They signed veteran AHL-defensemen Dillon Heatherington and Rollie McKeown, plus former San Jose Shark Ryan Carpenter and veterans Carson Meyer and Janson Hankins.

They have added 2-former NHL players to work on McIlvane’s coaching staff.

The schedule is brutal…7-of the first 8-games on the road…and a team that plays just 3-home games in the first 35-days of the AHL season.

The Ducks priority is to bring back the days of Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne, JS Giguere and the Niedemeyer brothers mode of winning.  Lost in the blueprint is what they have allowed a once successful AHL franchise to become, something sinking in the Pacific.

Only time will tell how good the young talent on the Gulls roster is.  Only time will tell if the phone rings , and the caller ID reads Area Code 949-meaning the Ducks are calling to take the best players up to the NHL.

New year, new hopes, but some bad recent history that needs to change.  Friday night at Pechanga is the preview of hopefully better nights ahead.

Coach Matt McIlvane, former teacher and optimist, is ready for the challenge.
Better times have to come-we just don’t know when.
He stood on the firing line answering my Gulls-Ducks questions:
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WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN THRU THE ROOKIE CAMP AND TRAINING CAMP?

Alot of energy and enthusiasm..
Guys come from rookie camp and main camp
So need to blend everything together
Players come from Ducks veteran camp are in high gear
We have intensity workouts now
Teach them hi tempo-and be aggressive
Group is exciting
Young veterans will get leadership roles
Giant group of 2nd year players
Objective-make sure we get guys game ready for callups to Anaheim

HOW HARD WAS LAST YEAR?

Culture shock…I was ready for adjustment and transition moving to the AHL
Not ready to have 13 losses in a row
Part of it-realzing how young we were..how much had to learn
Became wiser during the season
Battling back to .500 to get plus 11-over .500 was rewarding
We had alot of 1-goal losses-no one saw progress made-I did.

HOW DIFFERENT IS THE AHL FROM EUROPE?

Young AHL  rosters everywhere..becomes a teaching league
Identity in Europe is developing players in our academy and bring them along
We had 14-young players last year on Gulls roster
Huge emphiasas on learning and development and that’s hard
Need different tone with young players on your roster
Show what performance looks like

Veteran AHL guys coming here important jobs to do
Proud 20-point different in standings from last year to the year prior
Get kids playoffs experience is huge in development-have to learn what next level is
Take a look at veteran players-want them to stabilize the team, and the room

WHAT IS TEAM CHEMISTRY LIKE IN THE AHL?

Giant emphasis on leadership with new vetrans who have AHL experience and have won
Perform on the ice and also bring young guys along
Teach them what it is like to be a pro hockey player
Goal is to get kids to Anaheim

WHAT IS THE LEARNING CURVE LIKE?

Young goalies..face giant step away from college-junior hockey
They were all best players on their teams..not so here-not in first year as a pro
Deal with adversity never dealt with before
Learning to play against men is hard-must learn to be consistent

Young players..each has an individualzied leartning curve..No 1-size fits all.
College hockey guys…played a smaller schedule…
Junior hockey players played more density games…

ADDING TWO NHL VETERANS AS ASSISTANTS?

Dave Barr..Brett Hedigan..want to surround our players with best help possible
Barr coached all over the world-knows how to blend players from all backgrounds
Brett played over 1000 games in career
For me-trying to learn and grow..they have different and more experience

THE LINK TO THE DUCKS?

Ducks rebuild goes on…I do not sdee it as hard….it is opportunnity
So much fun to see influx of youth-you see potential up there and hopefully down here
Some were ready to jump to NHL immediately
Alot of guys had to dip toes into AHL and learn
In San Diego that takes time

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