There’s a professional sports team in San Diego drawing an extraordinary number of fans to watch the games it plays in a building built over a half-century ago.

Imagine that.

There’s more, too. This team, in its first season in town, is in the playoffs.

So weird.


And weirder still, we’re talking about hockey.

× Hockey is back in San Diego

San Diego has fallen in love with the Gulls.

Sure, it’s relative. But drawing an average of 8,675 people to the Valley View Casino Center to watch minor-league hockey is worthy of some acclaim. That’s about 10,000 for a weekend game, usually better than 6,000 during the week.


More than in Milwaukee or Manitoba or Syracuse or any other American Hockey League outpost besides league attendance leader Hershey, Pa., people showed up to see this version of the Gulls in their inaugural season.

And those folks coming in from the outdoors in America’s Finest City consistently made more noise and showed more devotion than anyone could have expected, loving the Gulls through a midseason slide and all the way to the AHL playoffs that begin Thursday with the Gulls playing the Texas Stars in Cedar Park, Texas, in the opener of their best-of-five series.

“It’s been incredible,” said head coach Dallas Eakins. “In the games where we have a full lineup and we’re strong, they push us through and inspire us. And when we were beat up and had injuries and guys called up and not such a strong lineup, they still supported us when things weren’t going very well. That enabled us as a staff and a team to keep a positive outlook. The fans didn’t turn on us.”

That isn’t some platitude. The astonishment by Gulls players, most from various Canadian outposts, over how they have been received in this sunny seaside city is legitimate.


“It’s blown me away,” said center Chris Mueller, who has played for five other AHL teams. “Unfortunately, in many places fans are tough to come by. We’ll be in San Jose for a 3 o’clock game on a Saturday and there will be 2,000 fans in the building. We had almost 12,000 fans last game. That’s every weekend, we have 10 or 11,000.

“This is by far the best place in the American League to play. It’s not just that people are showing up. The thing is, the atmosphere is great. A lot of times we score and then we score again right away just because how loud they get and we get amped up because of it. We’re not just blowing smoke up the fans’ you-know-what. We really feed off it.”

Too, the proof is in the finish.

Even as they had some of their best players shuttling up to their NHL parent club, the Anaheim Ducks, for extended periods, the Gulls won 20 of their final 29 games (five losses, three overtime losses and a shootout loss) to go from sitting a spot out of the playoffs to the No.2 seed in the Pacific Division and home ice advantage for their opening series.


After playing Thursday and Saturday in Texas, the series moves to San Diego on April 28 for the first of what could be three games at VVCC.

That is where we’ll see if this apparent hockey fervor has really become Gulls fever.

Past editions of the Gulls, which were lower-level minor-league teams, averaged between 5,000 and 7,000 fans during the regular season but suffered a steep drop-off for the postseason. And it is generally accepted that the first few rounds of the playoffs (winning the Calder Cup requires winning four series) are money losers for AHL teams. There is simply less time to sell tickets, and there are not the promotions or group nights that attract many during the regular season.

The Gulls do have evidence that it wasn’t just the “extras” that built their impressive base, including some dates without a giveaway that outdrew others that did have a promotion.


“Our support continues to grow,” said Eakins, who has only recently begun to be recognized in public here. “I still think we’re just in the early stages of catching on in the San Diego area.”

Season ticket renewal is at 85 percent and expected to rise, according to Ari Segal, Gulls president of business operations. Tickets for playoff games start at $21.

Truth be told, for all of the arena’s flaws, a full and rocking Valley View Casino Center is louder than Viejas Arena at its best. Maybe you remember the madness decades ago when the Sockers were drawing 12,000 for playoff games. This is that, with a new scoreboard and better food at the concession stands. And ice.

Whether the crowds are that big will tell us something about where the Gulls stand in our town’s sporting conscience. But what the team has done already has won over plenty of us.


“Even if we lose money, even if we struggle, I think it matters and makes a positive difference for the franchise that we were able to make the playoffs in year one,” Segal said. “I think it puts a stamp on the story we’ve been telling, shows the credibility of ownership, says that we’re here to stay.”

That is certainly something San Diego can appreciate.