SD Prep Sports:

Where are they now?

Ice Hockey

Gulls Retro Night scores with SD fans

Posted Feb. 1, 2007
When the ECHL San Diego Gulls announced they were suspending operations after 11 years last June, Chula Vista resident Scott Hopkins, like many fans, felt his jaw drop in disbelief.

“One week I read in the newspaper that the Gulls were up for sale and then the next week there was an article saying the team had folded. There was nothing in between or after,” said Hopkins, who has been a hockey fan since the then-named San Diego International Sports Arena first opened its doors to the sport on Nov. 17, 1966.

It was as a 17-year-old senior at Point Loma High School that Hopkins first fell in love with the game. The emotional bond to the game hasn’t waned since despite the efforts of some owners and arena operators to pull the wool over the eyes of loyal fans.

“The first night we went, there was a lot of confusion as to what was going on,” recalled Hopkins, who has worked as a teacher in the Chula Vista Elementary School District since 1973. “What I discovered was that it was fast, the action never stopped and there was a lot of physical contact.”

It turned into some kind of love affair. Hopkins attended just about every pro hockey game at the arena since that first game in 1966, an estimated 1,000 games, including those of the original Western Hockey League Gulls (1966-74), World Hockey Association Mariners (1974-77), Pacific Hockey League Mariners and Hawks (1977-79), International Hockey League Gulls (1990-95), West Coast Hockey League Gulls (1995-2003) and ECHL Gulls (2003-06).

“The original Gulls were the least successful team ever to play in the arena but the bond between the players and fans is something we will probably never see again. After the final game of the first season, the entire crowd spontaneously began singing ‘Auld Lang Syne.’ The fans loved the team so much they were sad to see the season end,” Hopkins recalled.
But the Gulls, despite outdrawing the NHL L.A. Kings in their infancy, never made it to the major leagues.

“We were the first in line for an NHL expansion franchise. We had the top attendance of any minor league team in North America,” Hopkins said. “There were plans to build a second tier in the arena to accommodate the minimum number of fans required by the NHL. But suddenly everything changed.”

The WHA Mariners had the misfortune of arriving in town amid an ongoing feud between Gulls owner Bob Breitbard and arena operator Peter Graham. The net result was that the WHL Gulls folded and subsequently the entire WHL.

“One of the biggest disappointments to fans was when the Mariners suddenly appeared when we thought we were about to get an NHL franchise,” Hopkins said. “We had no idea who these guys were except they had failed in New Jersey and were looking for a new home. In time, fans began to realize that the Mariners and the WHA offered an excellent level of play with many upcoming young stars, including (in the WHA’s final year of existence) Wayne Gretzky.”

The WHA Mariners, alas, lasted but three years to be replaced by the PHL, which was barely a step below the WHA but which proved insolvent. There was an 11-year gap in which pro hockey was absent from the local sports scene. During that time, Hopkins, like many Gulls/Mariners fans, adopted the San Diego Sockers as their sports fix. As fate would have it, indoor soccer began to wane just as pro hockey returned to town with the expansion IHL Gulls.

“Noted hockey writer the late Wayne Lockwood perhaps put it best in one of his columns when he called local hockey fans San Diego’s most abused sub-culture because of the deceitful practices and unfulfilled promises from arena operators and team owners,” Hopkins said. “We supported these teams and made them profitable enterprises.”

As a result, the general public — as well as the media— became more cynical and skeptical toward the sport whenever new leagues or owners stepped forward.

The WCHL Gulls appeared to be the exception to that rule, winning five Taylor Cup championships in their eight seasons, including the first three in the start-up league, and averaged a league-leading 6,000 fans per game. It was a magical time for many fans because of the dominating teams that head coach Steve Martinson managed to put on the ice every season. But things began to unravel when team ownership parted ways with Martinson, who was replaced by former WCHL All-Star Martin St. Amour, the son-in-law of team owner Ron Hahn.

“We were stunned to hear that our championship coach was going to be replaced and that the plan was announced nearly a year in advance,” Hopkins said. “What successful business or corporation would remove outstanding leadership for no apparent reason?”

Longtime fans were highly skeptical of the coaching change and its effect on the team’s reputation as one of the top-flight organizations in AA-level minor pro hockey. St. Amour subsequently relinquished head coaching duties shortly into his second year, leaving the team with three coaches in effect by adding former players (and later assistant coaches) Jamie Black and B.J. MacPherson on the bench, in a rather unorthodox arrangement, at least in the minors.

The Gulls’ sudden announcement that they would suspend operations last summer caught nearly everyone by surprise. Those in the greater sports community, as well as team staff members, were stunned and bitter about the seemingly impossible one-week window allowed for the Gulls’ sale.

Hopkins decided to share his frustration over the team’s untimely demise by writing a letter to the editor of a local daily newspaper. In the letter, written with an insider’s knowledge of the game, Hopkins penalized Gulls majority owner Ron Hahn and son Ernie Hahn, an executive at the renamed ipayOne Center, for each of the many injustices he felt they had dealt to the community.

Hopkins’ first penalty to the Hahns, a two-minute minor, was assessed for instigating Martinson’s departure. Hopkins then assessed a five-minute major for nepotism. A 10-minute misconduct was tacked on for St. Amour’s failure behind the bench, a game misconduct for depriving fans of the winningest local pro hockey team in history, and a subsequent gross misconduct and match penalty for other infractions, including the loss of jobs for many San Diegans who depended on the team for income.

All of this back story leads us to last Saturday when Hopkins drove to Long Beach after hearing that the resident Ice Dogs were honoring the memory of their former Southern California rival by wearing Gulls throwback jerseys for their regularly scheduled ECHL game against the Utah Grizzlies.

The Jan. 27 contest was promoted as Gulls Retro Night and the game accomplished its goal as numerous fans could be spotted among the 2,954 in attendance wearing Gulls jerseys and sporting Gulls paraphernalia.

Hopkins wore a game-worn IHL Gulls jersey belonging to Mark Ferner, who played for both the Gulls (1990-95) and subsequently the Ice Dogs after that IHL franchise relocated to Los Angeles (1995-96) and then to Long Beach (1996-present).

Though the players under the Gulls jerseys were really Ice Dogs, San Diego fans didn’t seem to mind. It was a chance to relive fond memories as well as keep in touch with the sport that had seemingly abandoned the region once again.

“Sitting with other Gulls fans, it was much like being at a game in San Diego,” said Hopkins, a longtime Gulls season ticket holder.

Other San Diego fans who made the hour-and-a-half drive northward were also highly opinionated about their beloved team’s unexpected demise, though they found the Gulls Retro Night a pleasant experience. One Gulls fan in attendance noted there were three fights in the game.

Oh, and the Gulls, er, Ice Dogs, won 7-2.

The Gulls Retro Night game attracted nearly 1,000 more fans than the team’s season attendance average of 2,067.

The special dark-colored jerseys were bid on at a silent auction during the game, with the highest bidders getting a chance to meet the players and have their photographs taken with them on the ice as they received the jerseys off the players’ backs after the game. Bidding started at $100, with most selling for $200 to $300 and some for more.

The first 1,000 fans in attendance also received a Gulls collectible item (the hockey key chain was particularly prized among those entering the arena).

When the Gulls ceased operations in June 2006, the Ice Dogs organization made an outreach to hockey fans in “America’s Finest City” with a special four-game promotional package. Some fans took their former rival up on the offer but many more Gulls fans made the one-game Retro Night trip.

Foremost among those San Diegans in attendance last Saturday was Nola Saavedra, affectionately known as the “Gulls Grandma.” Saavedra, who lives near Paradise Valley Hospital, has been a Gulls fans since the original WHL team skated into town four decades ago.

Not even now being confined to a wheelchair stopped her from attending the game.

“It’s a shame what happened to us. We should still have a team,” said Saavedra, who was among those former Gulls fans who took advantage of the Ice Dogs special four-game plan.

Other San Diego fans expressed their frustration about no longer having a local ECHL team to root for in more vocal terms after the Gulls closed up shop despite ranking third in ECHL attendance in each of their final two seasons in the league, with an attendance increase each season, and winning the Brabham Cup — emblematic of the team with the best regular season record — their first year in the league in 2003-04.

“Being a Gulls regular, I haven’t seen hockey since then. (But) I’ve run into a lot of Gulls folks here,” said Nick Brumbach, who was wearing his trademark IHL officials jersey at the Jan. 27 Ice Dogs game. “I’m just sick because (the Ice Dogs) are drawing a 1,000 people a game. We had the third largest attendance in all the league. I know it was a business decision, but …”

Brumbach, like many die-hard Gulls fans, predates the team’s WCHL/ECHL era. He began following the team when the IHL established itself in San Diego and was an original member of “the zoo” in section 19 at the San Diego Sports Arena.
A friend, Dutch Breuen, carried a pair of “dead” Gulls dolls (stuffed mascot giveaways dangling from a noose) to the game to demonstrate his displeasure with Arena Group 2000’s decision to suspend operations despite listing an attendance average of 5,841 last season.

“I’m still puzzled why they folded,” Breuen said.

Genuine lack of cash flow? Behind the scenes drama that fans aren’t privy to? Or the lucrative prospect of redeveloping the arena site? Fans seem to have their own opinions as to why the Gulls folded but, for whatever reason, the fact remains that the team is gone and there does not seem to be any initiative to either bring another team to San Diego or to build another arena capable of hosting ice hockey.

Hopkins now follows the game he loves via Internet reports. He’s especially keen on keeping track of where former Gulls players have since gone.

As far as Ice Dogs players were concerned, they relished the chance to wear the special jerseys.

“Everybody loved them. The boys thought they were really cool. They thought they were old school,” said left wing Mark Tobin, an NHL prospect assigned to Long Beach by the Boston Bruins, the Ice Dogs’ major league affiliate.

Long Beach head coach Rick Adduono, nephew of former WHA Mariners star Ray Adduono, also had positive comments on his team wearing the throwback jerseys.

“When I first saw the trainer hanging them up before the game, I knew we were going to have a good night. We might have to be the San Diego Gulls for a while,” he said.

San Diego fans just wish they had a team to root for, period.

San Diego Gulls: Where are they now?
Player - 2006-07 Team - League
Steve Hildenbrand PortHuron Flags UHL
Jesse Bennefield Rockford Ice Hogs UHL
Alex Kim Long Beach Ice Dogs ECHL Bakersfield Condors ECHL
Mark Wires Rocky Mountain Rage CHL
Jean-Francois Soucy Elmira Jacks UHL
Chris Cava Trenton Titans ECHL Binghampton Senators AHL Phoenix Roadrunners ECHL
Nikita Korovkin Phoenix Roadrunners ECHL Pensacola Ice Pilots ECHL
Patrick Levesque Fayettville Fire Antz SPHL Augusta Lynx ECHL Lubbock Cotton Kings CHL
Martin Mandeville Sorel-Tray Mission LNAH Trois Rivieres Caron Guay LNAH
Rob Flynn Long Beach Ice Dogs ECHL Knoxville Ice Bears SPHL
Cody McLeod Albany River Rats AHL
Dan DaSilva Arizona Sun Dogs CHL Albany River Rats AHL
Evan Shaw Trenton Titans ECHL
David Svagrovsky Albany River Rats AHL Arizona Sun Dogs CHL
Frantisk Skladany Karlovy Vary H.C. Czech Republic
Erik Johnson Cincinnati Cyclones ECHL
Jade Galbraith Riessersee S.C. Germany
Doug McIver Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs CHL Austin Ice Bats CHL Memphis River Kings CHL
Alex Rogosheske Bakersfield Condors ECHL
Tomas Slovak Sai Pa Lappeenranta Finland Ilves Tampere Finland
Mike Falk New Mexico Scorpions CHL
Tom Lawson Lukko Rauma Finland
Tyler Weiman Albany River Rats AHL
Mark Adamek Stockton Thunder ECHL
Michael Mole Bridgeport Sound Tigers AHL Pensacola Ice Pilots ECHL

The following are no longer playing professional hockey: Pierre-Luc Sleigher, Richard Keyes, Grady Moore, Jonathon Shockey, Bob Cunningham, Darren Clark, Trent Clark, Guillaume Fournier, Kelly Askew, Dennis Shiryaev, Jason Reimers, Chet Ferreira, R.J. Enga, Taj Melson, Jason Courtemanche, Matt Kunsman, Sebastien Fortier, Aaron McKenzie, Darren Partch, Josh Newton, Chad Wagner, Justin Silver and Andy Thompson.

— Compiled by Scott Hopkins

League Legends:
USA/North America
SPHL: Southern Professional Hockey League (AA Level)
CHL: Central Hockey League (AA Level)
UHL: United Hockey League (AA Level)
ECHL: East Coast Hockey League (AA Level)
AHL: American Hockey League (AAA Level)

International
FNL: Finland National League
CZECH: Czechoslovakian League
GerObL: German Ober Liga
LNAH: Ligue Nord-Americaine de Hockey (Quebec, Canada)