The Gulls' name, logo and colors were revealed on February 22, 2015 at HockeyFest.[2][3] HockeyFest was deemed a success, drawing over 8,500 enthusiastic hockey fans.[4]
The San Diego Gulls played their first home game on October 10, 2015, against the Grand Rapids Griffins. The team finished its inaugural season with an average attendance of 8,675, second in the league after the Hershey Bears.[5]
After four seasons and three playoff appearances, the Anaheim Ducks promoted Gulls' head coach Dallas Eakins to the same position with the Ducks.[6] Former Florida Panthers' head coach Kevin Dineen was hired as the next head coach.[7]
Approaching the delayed 2020–21 season, due to COVID-19 pandemic considerations, the Gulls announced they would temporarily relocate and play the season out of the Ducks' practice rink, Great Park Ice & FivePoint Arena, in Irvine, California.[8] The Gulls finished third in the Pacific Division and lost in the semifinals to the second place Bakersfield Condors in division postseason tournament. After two seasons, the Ducks did not extend head coach Dineen, instead hiring former Laval Rocket head coach Joel Bouchard.[9] After a lackluster season under Bouchard, the Gulls would hire long-time AHL head coach Roy Sommer to be their fourth head coach in team history. In Sommer's only season as head coach of the Gulls, the Gulls finished with the least amount of points in the AHL. He retired at the end of the season.[10][11]
Matt McIlvane was hired as the new coach for the 2023–24 season, specifically due to his experience of working with younger players.[11]
Rivalries
Ontario Reign
The Gulls consider the Ontario Reign, the Los Angeles Kings' AHL affiliate, to be their chief rivals and advertise games as "Rivalry Night".
The rivalry has been fueled by each teams' respective NHL affiliates, with Ontario being an affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings, and San Diego being affiliated with the Anaheim Ducks. Both Anaheim and Los Angeles share an intense rivalry dubbed the Freeway Faceoff.
Both fanbases of Ontario and San Diego are best known for traveling to away games at the other teams' respective arena, Toyota Arena in Ontario and Pechanga Arena in San Diego on numerous occasions throughout the respective season while firing off chants of "Go Reign Go" or "Let's Go Gulls" while inside the opposing venue.[12][13]
The teams faced each other in the 2016 division finals, where the Reign defeated the Gulls 4–1 in a best-of-seven series.[14] San Diego then defeated the Reign in the 2017 Calder Cup playoffs 3-games-to-2 in the division semifinals. Ontario would one-up San Diego with another postseason series victory after sweeping San Diego 2 games to none during the 2021–22 playoffs.
Bakersfield Condors
In what is more of a rivalry from teams of the past, the Gulls have shared a longstanding rivalry with the Bakersfield Condors, the affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers.
Bakersfield, then known as the Bakersfield Fog from 1995 until 1998 when the franchise was rebranded as the Condors and San Diego were charter members of the West Coast Hockey League from its inception in 1995 until the league was absorbed by the East Coast Hockey League in 2003.
That 2015–16 season saw Bakersfield and San Diego have multiple fights and line brawls broke out during a game played at Mechanics Bank Arena. Each team has scored a postseason series victory over their respective foes.
Notably, on May 3, 2019, in the Pacific Division Finals of the 2019 Calder Cup playoffs, the Gulls defeated the Condors 3–2 in quadruple overtime for the 1–0 series lead. Maxime Comtois scored the game winning goal 4:20 into the fourth overtime period and it ended the game after five hours and ten minutes of gameplay. San Diego would upset Bakersfield by winning the series 4 games to 2. Bakersfield played San Diego during the COVID-shortened 2020–21 Pacific Division playoffs, defeating San Diego 2 games to 1 in the best of 3 series.
Tucson Roadrunners
The Gulls also share a rivalry with the Tucson Roadrunners, the AHL affiliate of the Utah Hockey Club and formerly the Arizona Coyotes affiliate. San Diego and Tucson's rivalry has been dubbed the "I-8 Border Cup" with the winner of each season's series between the two teams being presented with the "I-8 Border Cup Trophy", which has been in the possession of the Roadrunners since the 2018–19 season. As of the 2023–24 season, the two teams have faced each other 72 times during the regular season, which is the highest number of games that the Roadrunners have played against any opponent. The Roadrunners current record against the Gulls is 38–31–2–1, with the Roadrunners winning the 2023–24 season series 7–1–0–0.
^The 2021 Calder Cup playoffs were not held; the Pacific Division held a postseason tournament for the division title. The bottom four teams had single-elimination play-in games to qualify for the semifinals (the first two rounds). The division semifinals and finals were best-of-three for the John D. Chick Trophy (the last two rounds).
