The San Diego Gulls are a professional ice hockey team in the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

(AHL) that began play in the 2015–16 season. Based in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

, California, and affiliated with the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

's Anaheim Ducks, the Gulls play their home games at the

Pechanga Arena Pechanga Arena (historically known as the San Diego Sports Arena) is an indoor arena built in 1966 and located in the Midway area of San Diego, California. The arena seats 12,000 for indoor football, 12,920 for ice hockey, indoor soccer and ...

. The team is the fifth hockey team in San Diego to use the "Gulls" name. The Gulls are a relocation of the former

Norfolk Admirals Norfolk Admirals has been the name of two professional ice hockey franchises: * Norfolk Admirals (AHL), a team which played in the American Hockey League from 2000 to 2015 *Norfolk Admirals (ECHL) The Norfolk Admirals are a professional ice hock ...

franchise, joining six other AHL franchises to form a new AHL Pacific Division.

History

On January 29, 2015, the Anaheim Ducks announced that they would purchase their AHL affiliate, the

, and would be moving the team to San Diego as one of five charter members of the AHL's new Pacific Division. The team plays at the Pechanga Arena San Diego, the sixth professional hockey team to play there, following the original San Diego Gulls of the WHL (1966–74), the

San Diego Mariners The San Diego Mariners were an ice hockey team based in San Diego that played in the World Hockey Association from 1974 to 1977 at the San Diego Sports Arena. Previous to being in San Diego, the team was known as the New York Raiders, New York ...

of the WHA (1974–77), the San Diego Hawks/Mariners of the

Pacific Hockey League : ''For the 1990s semi-professional ice hockey league, see Pacific Hockey League (1994).'' The Pacific Hockey League was a low-level minor professional hockey league that existed for two seasons in 1977–78, and 1978–79. Its member teams from C ...

(1977–79), the second San Diego Gulls of the IHL (1990–1995), and the third San Diego Gulls of the

West Coast Hockey League The West Coast Hockey League was a professional minor ice hockey league active in the western United States from 1995 to 2003. The number of teams ranged from six to nine. The teams were located in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nev ...

(1995–2003) and later the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

(2003–06). The Gulls' name, logo and colors were revealed on February 22, 2015 at HockeyFest. HockeyFest was deemed a success, drawing over 8,500 enthusiastic hockey fans. The San Diego Gulls played their first home game on October 10, 2015, against the

Grand Rapids Griffins The Grand Rapids Griffins are a professional hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and play home games at Van Andel Arena. They are the AHL affiliate to the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey Leag ...

. The team finished its inaugural season with an average attendance of 8,675, second in the league after the

Hershey Bears The Hershey Bears are a professional ice hockey team based in Hershey, Pennsylvania, a town located 14 miles east of the state capital of Harrisburg. The current Bears club has played in the American Hockey League since the 1938–39 season maki ...

. After four seasons and three playoff appearances, the Anaheim Ducks promoted Gulls' head coach

Dallas Eakins Dallas Franklin Eakins (''né'' Yoder; February 27, 1967) is an American professional ice hockey coach and former player. He is the head coach of the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously served as the head coach of the ...

to the same position with the Ducks. Former Florida Panthers' head coach

Kevin Dineen Kevin William Dineen (born October 28, 1963) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player. , Dineen is the head coach of the Utica Comets in the American Hockey League (AHL). Dineen previously served as the head coach for the Fl ...

was hired as the next head coach. Approaching the delayed

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season, due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

considerations, the Gulls announced they would temporarily relocate and play the season out of the Ducks' practice rink, Great Park Ice & FivePoint Arena, in

Irvine, California Irvine () is a master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on December 28, 197 ...

. The Gulls finished third in the Pacific Division and lost in the semifinals to the second place

Bakersfield Condors The Bakersfield Condors are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) based in Bakersfield, California. The team is owned by and affiliated with the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers. The Condors play their home ...

in division postseason tournament. After two seasons, the Ducks did not extend head coach Dineen, instead hiring former

Laval Rocket The Laval Rocket (french: Rocket de Laval) are a professional ice hockey team playing in the American Hockey League (AHL) as an affiliate of the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Montreal Canadiens. Based in Laval, Quebec, Canada, the Rocket play th ...

head coach Joel Bouchard. After a lackluster season under Bouchard, the Gulls would hire longtime AHL head coach

Roy Sommer Roy A. Sommer (born April 5, 1957) is an American former professional ice hockey player who is currently serving as the head coach of the San Diego Gulls of the American Hockey League (AHL). Sommer played three games for the Edmonton Oilers of th ...

to be their 4th head coach in team history.

Rivalries

The Gulls consider the

Ontario Reign The Ontario Reign are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that began play in the 2015–16 season. Based in Ontario, California, and affiliated with the National Hockey League's Los Angeles Kings, the team plays ...

, the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

AHL affiliate, to be their main rivals and advertise games as "Rivalry Night." The teams faced each other in the 2016 division finals, where the Reign defeated the Gulls 4–1 in a best-of-seven series. San Diego then defeated the Reign in the

2017 Calder Cup playoffs The 2017 Calder Cup playoffs of the American Hockey League began on April 20, 2017, with the playoff format that was introduced in 2016. The sixteen teams that qualified, eight from each conference, played best-of-five series in the division semif ...

3-games-to-2 in the division semifinals.

Season-by-season records

Players

Current roster

Updated December 24, 2022.

Team captains

* Joe Piskula, 2015–16 * Jaycob Megna, 2018–19 *

Sam Carrick Sam Carrick (born February 4, 1992) is a Canadians, Canadian professional ice hockey centre (ice hockey), centre who currently plays with the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the fif ...

, 2019–21 *

Greg Pateryn Gregory Pateryn (born June 20, 1990) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman who played in the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the fifth round, 128th overall, at the 2008 NHL Entry Draf ...

, 2021–22 * Chase De Leo, 2022–present

Team records and leaders

Scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers for the San Diego Gulls in the AHL. Figures are updated after each completed season. ''Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; = current Gulls player''

References

External links

San Diego Gulls Official Website
{{California sports 1 Ice hockey teams in San Diego Ice hockey clubs established in 2015 Ice hockey teams in California 2015 establishments in California