\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJan 30, 2026<\/p>\n
By Ashley Rubin\/SanDiegoGulls.com\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The San Diego Gulls defeated the Coachella Valley Firebirds\u00a0tonight\u00a0for the first time since their season-opener\u00a0at Acrisure Arena,\u00a04-3.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Yegor Sidorov<\/strong>\u00a0had himself a night as he recorded\u00a0his second\u00a0three-point game of the season.\u00a0The winger\u00a0picked up an assist and then went on to score two goals, the second being\u00a0the\u00a0heroic\u00a0game-winner,\u00a0which was scored late in the final frame to break the tie and avoid overtime.\u00a0The 21-year-old\u00a0has\u00a012-11=23\u00a0points this season and has found\u00a04-2=6\u00a0points in his past\u00a0five\u00a0games.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I figured out what in this league you need to shoot\u00a0more\u00a0the puck, not to handle,”\u00a0Sidorov said. “It’s a little bit different with juniors, so taken me a little bit, but now I just stand and going to try shoot on and off.”\u00a0<\/p>\n The Firebirds started\u00a0the scoring\u00a0early with a goal just 28 seconds into the opening frame. San Diego\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0take long to respond as defenseman\u00a0Stian Solberg<\/strong>\u00a0netted a tying goal on the\u00a0power\u00a0play.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Judd Caulfield<\/strong>\u00a0increased his success this season, recording his 11th\u00a0goal\u00a0and 12th\u00a0assist. His goal record now ties his total\u00a0record\u00a0last season,\u00a0and he stands just\u00a0two\u00a0points short of\u00a0surpassing\u00a0his\u00a0single\u00a0season\u00a0points high\u00a0of 25 recorded last\u00a0season.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n “It\u00a0felt great to get back on the board,”\u00a0Caulfield said. “It\u2019s\u00a0been a little while, but\u00a0it’s\u00a0just been\u00a0fun\u00a0playing recently.\u00a0We’ve been\u00a0generally\u00a0generating\u00a0a lot of chances as a line and as a team, and\u00a0it’s\u00a0fun playing with all the guys like\u00a0[Nathan] Gaucher,\u00a0[Yegor]\u00a0Sidorov\u00a0<\/strong>and Nico\u00a0[Myatovic]<\/strong>. They work so hard and like this,\u00a0it’s\u00a0good for us\u00a0to\u00a0get rewarded with the greasy goal there.”<\/p>\n Netminder\u00a0Tomas Suchanek<\/strong>\u00a0earned his\u00a0first\u00a0victory of the season and first\u00a0AHL win since\u00a0April\u00a021, 2024.\u00a0The Czechia native\u00a0saved\u00a0a season-high\u00a026\u00a0of\u00a029\u00a0shots.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I hope what he takes away is that he’s back,”\u00a0head coach\u00a0Matt\u00a0McIlvane<\/strong>\u00a0said. “That’s what I hope.\u00a0I’ve\u00a0been through a couple of ACLs myself, and I know how long it takes to feel like yourself.\u00a0There’s\u00a0the moment where\u00a0it clicks and\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0back, and I hope he leaves today with that.”<\/p>\n Roland McKeown<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Nathan Gaucher<\/strong>\u00a0also\u00a0logged\u00a0multi-point nights, tallying two assists each.\u00a0Justin Bailey<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Nico\u00a0Myatovic<\/strong>\u00a0picked up an\u00a0assist each\u00a0as well.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The Gulls look to continue their momentum tomorrow night as they face the rival Ontario Reign\u00a0back home at Pechanga Arena San Diego (6\u00a0p.m. PST).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan 30, 2026 By Ashley Rubin\/SanDiegoGulls.com\u00a0 The San Diego Gulls defeated the Coachella Valley Firebirds\u00a0tonight\u00a0for the first time…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":555714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-555713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-america","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-san-diego","tag-sandiego","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115988366887268121","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}