San Diego Gulls at Pechanga Arena

“America’s Finest City” has an American Hockey League team that continues San Diego’s long tradition of winning ice hockey. The San Diego Gulls are the AHL affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks, and play out of the historic Pechanga Arena. The arena has been known by many different names since opening in 1966, most notably the San Diego Sports Arena, and currently seats 12,920 for ice hockey. They are coached by Kevin Dineen, a second-generation NHL player and coach who helped lead the Canadian national women’s hockey team to a gold medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

San Diego Gulls History

Professional ice hockey in San Diego has been around since the late 1940s, with the San Diego Skyhawks winning the Pacific Coast Hockey League’s championship in 1949. Several teams have played under the San Diego Gulls banner since 1966, when the WHL’s San Diego Gulls first took the ice. Hockey Hall of Fame member Willie O’Ree, best known for breaking barriers in the NHL as its first black player, played with San Diego from 1967 to 1974. In 1974, the Jersey Knights of the World Hockey Association relocated from Cherry Hill, N.J., and lasted for three seasons in the major league circuit. Two more teams with the Gulls name would play in San Diego from 1990 to 2006, with the International Hockey League’s Gulls being replaced with the WCHL/ECHL Gulls in 1995.

The current iteration of the San Diego Gulls were established in 2000 as the Norfolk Admirals, and were originally the AHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks. The Admirals later became affiliated with the Tampa Bay Lightning, culminating in a 28-game winning streak to end the 2011-12 season and followed by a Calder Cup victory over the Toronto Marlies, before switching their affiliation to the Anaheim Ducks in the off-season. Since moving to San Diego in 2015, the Gulls have achieved success on and off the ice, with head coach Dallas Eakins being promoted to lead the parent club in Anaheim before the 2019 season.