Nick Ritchie, the San Diego Gulls‘ youngest player, scored twice in a 4-2 victory over the Grand Rapids Griffins Saturday before a capacity crowd in the city’s first professional hockey game since 2006.
The 19-year-old Ritchie, who won’t turn 20 until Dec. 5, scored the first goal for the Gulls in American Hockey League play on a power-play 15 minutes, one second into the first period, off assists by Mike Sgarbossa and Shea Theodore.
Ritchie’s unassisted goal at 6:40 of the third period gave the Gulls, the Anaheim Ducks’ AHL affiliate, a 3-1 lead before a crowd of 12,920 at Valley View Casino Center.
Ritchie was chosen by the Ducks in the first round of the 2014 NHL draft, the 10th selection overall.
Grand Rapids, the Detroit Red Wings AHL affiliate, cut the lead to 3-2 on Colin Campbell’s goal at 12:44 of the third.
Antoine Laganiere scored an empty net goal for the Gulls with 30 seconds to play.
The Gulls also got a power-play goal from Brandon Montour at 14:47 of the second period, increasing their lead to 2-0.
Eric Tangradi scored the Griffins’ first goal on a power play 1:42 into the third period.
Gulls goaltender John Gibson made 32 saves. Grand Rapids goaltender Jared Coreau made 26.
The Gulls scored on two of five power-play opportunities, the Griffins one of three.
The Gulls’ next game will be Friday when they play host to the Bakersfield Condors, the Edmonton Oilers AHL affiliate, on Willie O’Ree Night, where the No. 20 jersey O’Ree wore with the original Gulls from 1967-74 when they were a member of the now-defunct Western Hockey League, will be retired.
O’Ree was the first black to play in the NHL.
The Gulls moved from Norfolk, Virginia, where they were known as the Admirals, part of a shift of five AHL teams to California in an effort to reduce travel times when players are recalled or sent down by their parent NHL teams.
— City News Service
