Apart from a few short breaks, San Diego has been home to a professional (or at least semi-pro) hockey team since 1966. The majority of those years, the team was known as the Gulls, so the name means something in our town.
On Sunday afternoon at the Valley View Casino Center, we saw just how much it means when 8,500 people showed up to celebrate the return of hockey to San Diego.
The Anaheim Ducks held an ice breaking to welcome their new American Hockey League team to San Diego, and it was a no-brainer to call the team the Gulls. Even the logo is familiar, with a few minor tweaks, which were explained in a statement from the Ducks like this:
“The new logo pays homage to the legacy of the WCHL Gulls logo and features the Ducks color palette and other design elements, including the Ducks trademark windswept font. A touch of the signature Gulls blue was added to the Ducks color palette to embrace the hockey history and tradition of the community. The clubs new colors are orange, black, and blue.”
Ducks owners Henry and Susan Samueli made the drive down for the event and almost didn’t make it in time due to traffic, but did not seem to mind because it confirmed to them what a good idea it was to move its top developmental team down the road to San Diego.
The Gulls first game back will be this October.
