You cannot play with a shield.

That’s Nic Kerdiles, the Gulls’ versatile forward, on returning from injury, three broken ribs and a bruised kidney that caused him to miss 18 games.

“You can’t be scared out there,” Kerdiles said after the Gulls’ 5-1 win over the San Antonio Rampage last Friday. “You can’t play with a shield on you.”

The shield, you see, makes you apprehensive, scared. “It definitely limits your game when you think about trying to avoid getting hit in a certain area,” Kerdiles said this week.


It does not let you play as Kerdiles has during his three-game return, during which he has amassed three goals and an assist as the Gulls (27-20-1-2) have propelled into third place in the Pacific Division entering a two-game weekend series against the Stockton Heat, starting Friday at 7:05 p.m. at the Valley View Casino Center.

“I’m in shape,” Kerdiles, 22, said. “I’m ready to go.”

He said this before his two-goal performance in the Gulls’ win over San Jose on Saturday night, when he doubled the team’s lead with a silky spin-around goal late in the first period, then scored on a slap shot that ripped through the back of the net one period later. It was his first multi-goal game of the season, and the first time he had scored in back-to-back games since November.

“He brings a lot to the game,” coach Dallas Eakins said, “and it’s good to see him rewarded.”


Kerdiles, throughout this season, has played center, wing, in front of the net on power plays, and a key role on the penalty kill. This versatility, he said, is valuable, and allows the coaches to play him where they most need him at any time.

That is why, perhaps, the Gulls missed him so much, and why he fought so hard to get back.

“I will say this: He worked his butt off when he was hurt,” Eakins said. “We skated him, we pushed him hard in the weight room, super hard on the bike. And he never complained once. And he wanted the transition back into the game to be an easy one. And all that hard work’s paying off for him.”

Contributing right away, as Kerdiles has done, Eakins said, is crucial if a player is to regain their previous form, and confidence.


“It’s really good for their head,” he said. “We can talk all you want about fitness levels and how you’re going to feel, your body, but you need your head to be straight. And if you can have some success right when you return, then it usually starts to snowball for you in a good direction.”

So far for Kerdiles, the snowball is rolling.