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Jan. 15, 2003

The game seemed like it was heading to a shootout, but Mark Pederson had other ideas. After his dramatic performance Saturday, Pederson scored another clutch goal late in the game to lift the San Diego Gulls to a 3-1 victory over the Long Beach Ice Dogs Wednesday night, before 1,283 at the Long Beach Arena.

With Idaho's loss in Bakersfield, San Diego (22-12-1) now moves 10 points behind the Steelheads for first place in the West Coast Hockey League. The Gulls have played three fewer games than their first place foes.

For Long Beach (13-19-2), the struggle continues. The Ice Dogs are now winless in 13 of their last 15 games, only averaging 1.73 goals per contest. They've now failed on 67 consecutive power plays. With the lack of support, netminder Mike Buzak is now riding a personal 14-game winless streak (0-12-2).

Scoring goals, however, was a struggle for both teams tonight. Each had three power play chances in the opening frame, but neither could light the lamp. The Gulls had the best opportunities, out-shooting Long Beach 16-4, but Buzak held the fort. It was the fourth straight game the Blue and Orange were held scoreless through the first period.

San Diego finally broke the deadlock 6:08 into the second period. The Gulls had their third-line unit of David Neale, Sandro Sbrocca and Ashlee Langdone on the ice, which usually generates more bumps and bruises than offensive opportunities. But those three combined to give the Gulls a 1-0 lead. Neale took the initial shot that deflected behind the net. Sbrocca chased down the loose puck and fed it back to Neale, who jammed home his second goal of the season. Langdone also earned an assist on the play.

The Ice Dogs were out-shot 29-12 through two periods and just when you thought San Diego's one-goal lead would hold up, Tyler Willis tied it. Willis grabbed the puck after a scramble developed in front of Cris Classen – starting only his second game of the season – and flipped it in for his fifth goal.

Pederson, who won the game for the Gulls Saturday with two late tallies, did it again tonight. Dennis Purdie muscled his way around the net and fed a centering pass to Pederson, who fought off a check and tipped in his team-leading 17th goal with just 2:27 left.

Sylvain Deschatelets sealed the win with an empty net marker – his ninth goal of the season – with just 4.6 seconds left.

Notepad
San Diego played without the services of Dean Tiltgen, who's nursing a sore back. That broke a string of 243 consecutive games played… Purdie returned to action tonight after missing the last eight with a sore shoulder… Kevin Grant was placed on injured reserve, retroactive to Sunday… Trevor Koenig rested for the first time since Dec. 13 (12 games). Koenig has appeared in 31 of San Diego's 35 games this season, most by any netminder in the WCHL. He still needs three more wins for 100 in his WCHL career. Koenig needs 10 more victories for 100 in his Gulls tenure… Marc Busenburg and Rob Voltera remain with the AHL's Hershey Bears…

FEATURE ARTICLES
Goalies leave their legacy in WCHL
East meets West in final WCHL season
WCHL’s 2002-2003 makeover starts at the top
WCHL Training Camp Notepad
WCHL honors its own with organizational awards

AROUND THE WCHL
November 2002 Edition
October 2002 Edition
May 2002 Edition

GAME RECAPS
02/07/03: Condors 4, Gulls 3 (SO)
02/05/03: Gulls 2, Falcons 1
02/04/03: Falcons 8, Gulls 3
02/01/03: Steelheads 6, Gulls 5 (SO)
01/31/03: Gulls 3, Steelheads 2 (SO)

PROFILES IN HOCKEY
Enga is Gulls’ new ironman
Danielle Dube — pioneer, no; goaltender, yes
Greg Spenrath: Falcons lose a legend
Grandfather, grandson keep Gulls "all in the family"

PRESS RELEASES
Ice Dogs name Kaminski as head coach