They are roommates, Brandon Montour and Nick Ritchie, and they act like it: cracking jokes, busting chops, repeating each other’s one-liners.

Montour, a vibrant young defenseman, and Ritchie, a powerful left winger, were the only two Gulls players selected to the AHL All-Star Classic, which was held on Sunday and Monday in Syracuse, N.Y.

How was it, Montour was asked during an interview for a local television station, traveling and playing with your roommate?

“I see him too much,” he quipped outside of the locker room at the Poway Ice Arena on Thursday after practice, “to be honest.”


A few minutes later, Ritchie, during a similar on-camera interview, was asked the same question. Montour stared at him.

“I think,” Ritchie said, “I’ve had enough of seeing him.”

“Oh, you don’t say the same stuff!” Montour cracked, laughing.

That is Montour and Ritchie, who are first and second on the team in points, respectively, and who will be crucial pieces for the Gulls as they enter the second part of the season, starting Friday at 7:05 p.m. against the Stockton Heat at the Valley View Casino Center.


The Gulls (19-18-1-1), who play the Milwaukee Admirals at home on Saturday night, are in sixth place in the seven-team Pacific Division and will need a strong finish to the season to earn one of the division’s four (or possibly three) playoff spots.

“We’re on the outside looking in,” coach Dallas Eakins said. “We’ve got to find a way to claw back in.”

But the first part of the season had encouraging signs. The city has welcomed the Gulls — an average of 8,830 fans have attended their home games, which, according to the AHL, ranks second in the league — and some players that started the season in San Diego have thrived in the NHL: Goalie John Gibson was named an NHL All-Star.

Others — like Ritchie and Shea Theodore — have had multi-game stints in Anaheim as they’ve developed with the Gulls, who, when healthy, have demonstrated that they can be among the league’s best teams.


The Gulls started the season with nine wins in 11 games, but injuries and call-ups — Harry Zolnierczyk was the latest player recalled by the Ducks — have since hampered them.

“Hopefully over the next couple of weeks we can achieve health,” Eakins said, “because time is ticking on the season.”

The four-day break for the All-Star Classic helped. Nic Kerdiles, Matt Bailey, and Ondrej Kase — three players out injured — all dressed in full pads at practice on Thursday.

For Montour and Ritchie, though, the All-Star break was not a break: After the Gulls’ loss last Friday night, they left San Diego at 7 a.m. Saturday and arrived in Syracuse late that night. They participated in two days of All-Star festivities and got back in San Diego at 8 p.m. Tuesday — less than 15 hours before the Gulls’ first practice back.


Not to worry, though. “It wasn’t too strenuous on us,” Ritchie said. “It was a fun couple days.”

With his roommate.