In the what-have-you-done-lately world of pro sports, scruffy San Diego isn’t entirely out of luck.

The hockey Gulls are playoffs-bound.

Yes, it’s minor league hockey, right down to the $2 beers on Friday nights.

But the Gulls aren’t rinky dink in their frosty ecosystem. This season, nine of their players dressed for the team’s NHL parent club, the Anaheim Ducks, who’ve won their division the last four years. The Gulls, at nearly 9,000 tickets sold per game at the 50-year-old Sports Arena, led the 30-team American Hockey League in paid attendance this year.


So, in a 68-season that ended Saturday with a 3-2 win over the Ontario Reign, the past six months were a hearty welcome-back in the franchise’s first season since it disbanded nine years ago.

“We’ve had all kinds of young players that have done incredibly well,” said coach Dallas Eakins, a former head man of the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers.

“I think we’ve established a good base here. Our players fully understand our expectations, and what is important to us. The support of the city and the fans has been excellent. I’m not sure how it can get any better.”

The Gulls (39-22-4) claimed second place in their seven-team division, pitting them against the third-place Texas Stars in a best-of-five series that starts Thursday in Austin.


“I think we’re looking great,” Gulls wing Matt Bailey said, and don’t Chargers and Padres players wish they could’ve said the same after their most recent seasons.

In both Friday’s 4-2 loss to Ontario and the season finale -- two matchups devoid of playoff-seeding implication -- Eakins held out several regulars.

“Our big tuneup for the playoffs will come Monday in practice,” the coach said.

If San Diego can solve the speedy Stars, who won 5 of the 6 meetings, it can expect to face the Reign, who won the AHL last year. Following the two games in Texas, Game 3 will be April 28 in San Diego.


The Stars play “a very different style than us,” Eakins said. “They’re on the smaller side. Very skilled, explosive. We’ve already discussed with our team things we’re going to have to do better.”

Hockey fans in San Diego, after waiting nearly a decade to have a hometown team, would rather the Gulls keep the party going.

“The level of play, it’s been phenomenal,” said B.J. MacPherson, a former Gulls captain and the team’s radio analyst. “You know what’s been even better, is the crowds.”

Featuring a physical style that San Diego’s NFL team would do well to emulate, the Gulls compiled a 20-9-3 record at home.


Then there’s San Diego’s other stick-swinging pro team, the Padres. Perhaps $2 beers are due Padres fans. Polled Friday by the U-T on Twitter, fans forecast 69 wins this season. The paltry total was last seen hereabouts in 1977.

So at this time, there’s gratitude in San Diego for sport on ice.