| San Diego Gulls | |
|---|---|
 | |
| City | San Diego, California |
| League | American Hockey League |
| Conference | Western |
| Division | Pacific |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Home arena | Pechanga Arena |
| Colors | Black, orange, blue, white |
| Owners | Henry Samueli & Susan Samueli |
| General manager | Rick Paterson |
| Head coach | Matt McIlvane |
| Captain | Ryan Carpenter |
| Media | San Diego Union-Tribune KGB-AM (San Diego Sports 760) AHL.TV (Internet) |
| Affiliates | Anaheim Ducks (NHL) Tulsa Oilers (ECHL) |
| Website | sandiegogulls.com |
| Franchise history | |
| 2000–2015 | Norfolk Admirals |
| 2015–present | San Diego Gulls |
 Current season | |
TheSan Diego Gulls are a professionalice hockey team based inSan Diego. They are theAmerican Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of theNational Hockey League (NHL)'sAnaheim Ducks. The team plays its home games atPechanga Arena.
On January 29, 2015, theAnaheim Ducks announced that they would purchase theNorfolk Admirals of theAmerican Hockey League, and move the team to San Diego as one of five charter members of the AHL's new Pacific Division. The team plays atPechanga Arena in San Diego, the sixth professional hockey team to play there, following theoriginal San Diego Gulls of theWHL (1966–74), theSan Diego Mariners of theWHA (1974–1977), theSan Diego Hawks of thePacific Hockey League (1977–1979), thesecond San Diego Gulls of theIHL (1990–1995), and thethird San Diego Gulls of theWest Coast Hockey League (1995–2003) andECHL (2003–2006).[1] The current team is the fifth[clarification needed] hockey team in San Diego to use the "Gulls" name.
The Gulls' name, logo, and colors were revealed on February 22, 2015, at HockeyFest.[2][3] HockeyFest was deemed a success, drawing over 8,500 enthusiastic hockey fans.[4]
The San Diego Gulls played their first home game on October 10, 2015, against theGrand Rapids Griffins. The team finished its inaugural season with an average attendance of 8,675, second in the league after theHershey Bears.[5]
After four seasons and three playoff appearances, the Anaheim Ducks promoted Gulls' head coachDallas Eakins to the same position with the Ducks.[6] FormerFlorida Panthers' head coachKevin Dineen was hired as the next head coach.[7]
Approaching the delayed2020–21 season, due toCOVID-19 pandemic considerations, the Gulls announced they would temporarily relocate and play the season out of the Ducks' practice rink,Great Park Ice & FivePoint Arena, inIrvine, California.[8] The Gulls finished third in the Pacific Division and lost in the semifinals to the second placeBakersfield Condors in division postseason tournament. After two seasons, the Ducks did not extend head coach Dineen, instead hiring formerLaval Rocket head coachJoel Bouchard.[9] After a lackluster season under Bouchard, the Gulls would hire long-time AHL head coachRoy Sommer to be their fourth head coach in team history. In Sommer's only season as head coach of the Gulls, the Gulls finished with the fewest number of points in the AHL. He retired at the end of the season.[10][11]
Matt McIlvane was hired as the new coach for the2023–24 season, specifically due to his experience of working with younger players.[11]
The Gulls consider theOntario Reign, theLos Angeles Kings' AHL affiliate, to be their chief rivals and advertise games as "Rivalry Night".
The rivalry has been fueled by each teams' respectiveNHL affiliates, with Ontario being an affiliate of theLos Angeles Kings, and San Diego being affiliated with the Anaheim Ducks. Both Anaheim and Los Angeles share an intense rivalry dubbed theFreeway Faceoff.
Both fanbases of Ontario and San Diego are best known for traveling to away games at the other teams' respective arena,Toyota Arena in Ontario andPechanga Arena in San Diego on numerous occasions throughout the respective season while firing off chants of "Go Reign Go" or "Let's Go Gulls" while inside the opposing venue.[12][13]
The teams faced each other in the2016 division finals, where the Reign defeated the Gulls 4–1 in a best-of-seven series.[14] San Diego then defeated the Reign in the2017 Calder Cup playoffs 3-games-to-2 in the division semifinals. Ontario would one-up San Diego with another postseason series victory after sweeping San Diego 2 games to none during the 2021–22 playoffs.
In what is more of a rivalry from teams of the past, the Gulls have shared a longstanding rivalry with theBakersfield Condors, the affiliate of theEdmonton Oilers.
Bakersfield, then known as theBakersfield Fog from 1995 until 1998 when the franchise was rebranded as the Condors, and San Diego, were charter members of theWest Coast Hockey League from its inception in 1995 until the league was absorbed by theEast Coast Hockey League in 2003.
In the 2015–16 season, Bakersfield and San Diego had multiple fights and line brawls during a game played atMechanics Bank Arena. Each team has scored a postseason series victory over the other.
Notably, on May 3, 2019, in the Pacific Division Finals of the2019 Calder Cup playoffs, the Gulls defeated the Condors 3–2 in quadruple overtime for the 1–0 series lead.Maxime Comtois scored the game winning goal 4:20 into the fourth overtime period, ending the game after five hours and ten minutes of play. San Diego would upset Bakersfield by winning the series 4 games to 2. Bakersfield played San Diego during the COVID-shortened 2020–21 Pacific Division playoffs, defeating San Diego 2 games to 1 in the best of 3 series.
The Gulls also share a rivalry with theTucson Roadrunners, the AHL affiliate of theUtah Mammoth and formerly theArizona Coyotes' affiliate. San Diego and Tucson's rivalry has been dubbed the "I-8 Border Cup" with the winner of each season's series between the two teams being presented with the "I-8 Border Cup Trophy", which has been in the possession of the Roadrunners since the 2018–19 season. As of the 2024–25, the two teams have faced each other 80 times during the regular season, with the Roadrunners holding a record of 43–34–2–1 against the Gulls. In the 2024–25 season, Tucson secured the series with a 5–3–0–0 record.
| Regular season | Playoffs | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | Pts | PCT | GF | GA | Standing | Avg. attendance | Year | Prelims | 1st round | 2nd round | 3rd round | Finals |
| 2015–16 | 68 | 39 | 23 | 4 | 2 | 84 | .618 | 208 | 200 | 2nd, Pacific | 8,675 | 2016 | — | W, 3–1,TEX | L, 1–4,ONT | — | — |
| 2016–17 | 68 | 43 | 20 | 3 | 2 | 91 | .669 | 221 | 178 | 2nd, Pacific | 8,876 | 2017 | — | W, 3–2,ONT | L, 1–4,SJ | — | — |
| 2017–18 | 68 | 36 | 28 | 3 | 1 | 76 | .559 | 202 | 197 | 5th, Pacific | 9,305 | 2018 | — | Did not qualify | |||
| 2018–19 | 68 | 36 | 24 | 5 | 3 | 80 | .588 | 239 | 221 | 3rd, Pacific | 9,021 | 2019 | — | W, 3–1,SJ | W, 4–2,BAK | L, 2–4,CHI | — |
| 2019–20 | 57 | 30 | 19 | 6 | 2 | 68 | .596 | 185 | 164 | 4th, Pacific | 7,582 | 2020 | Season cancelled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic | ||||
| 2020–21 | 44 | 26 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 53 | .602 | 153 | 142 | 3rd, Pacific | — | 2021[a] | — | BYE | BYE | L, 1–2,BAK | — |
| 2021–22 | 68 | 28 | 33 | 4 | 3 | 63 | .463 | 197 | 223 | 7th, Pacific | 6,992 | 2022 | L, 0–2,ONT | — | — | — | — |
| 2022–23 | 72 | 20 | 49 | 2 | 1 | 43 | .299 | 180 | 281 | 10th, Pacific | 6,953 | 2023 | Did not qualify | ||||
| 2023–24 | 72 | 26 | 35 | 10 | 1 | 63 | .438 | 216 | 245 | 9th, Pacific | 7,249 | 2024 | Did not qualify | ||||
| 2024–25 | 72 | 29 | 35 | 5 | 3 | 66 | .458 | 216 | 251 | 9th, Pacific | 7,249 | 2025 | Did not qualify | ||||
Updated February 12, 2026.[15]
| No. | Player | Position | Career | No. retirement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | Willie O’Ree | LW | 1967–19741 | October 16, 2015 |
Notes:
These are the top-ten point-scorers for the San Diego Gulls in the AHL. Figures are updated after each completed season.[16]
Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; = current Gulls player
| Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | P/G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chase De Leo | C | 228 | 69 | 117 | 186 | .82 |
| Sam Carrick | C | 222 | 86 | 95 | 181 | .82 |
| Corey Tropp | RW | 205 | 64 | 93 | 157 | .76 |
| Kalle Kossila | LW | 170 | 51 | 90 | 141 | .83 |
| Nikolas Brouillard | D | 167 | 22 | 70 | 92 | .55 |
| Andrew Agozzino | LW | 103 | 39 | 52 | 91 | .88 |
| Jacob Perreault | RW | 161 | 32 | 59 | 91 | .56 |
| Benoit-Olivier Groulx | C | 145 | 39 | 51 | 90 | .62 |
| Brandon Montour | D | 104 | 25 | 64 | 89 | .85 |
| Kevin Roy | LW | 125 | 31 | 57 | 88 | .70 |
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