Gulls Get Another Shutout : Hockey: Dudley praises defense after his team beats Cleveland, 4-0. It is the third time the Gulls have blanked an opponent this season and second time in a week.

SAN DIEGO —  America’s Finest City has been anything but to visiting International Hockey League teams this season.

For one thing, they bunk at a hotel across the street from the Sports Arena, which is less than two miles from the sewage treatment center on Fiesta Island.

The wind was coming in off the Pacific on Wednesday, passing over the refuse before making its way to the arena. It was enough to make the Cleveland Lumberjacks long for the banks of the Cuyahoga River.

Later Wednesday, the Gulls caught fire and burned the Lumberjacks, 4-0. It was goalie Rick Knickle’s second shutout of the season against Cleveland. His first came Oct. 20 in Ohio.

Knickle has allowed only six goals in his past six starts and lowered his goal-against average to 1.57.

Afterward, he shrugged his shoulders.

“There’s really not much I can say,” he said. “Some games are easy, and tonight I might have been tested . . . five times.”

The Lumberjacks mustered only 22 shots on goal, compared to the Gulls’ 42.

The shutout was the Gulls’ third this season and second in less than a week. Clint Malarchuk blanked Salt Lake on Friday.

The credit isn’t going to the goalies as much as it is to the defense.

“Our defense is playing unbelievable right now,” said Gull Coach Rick Dudley. “It’s playing as good defensively as I’ve ever seen a hockey team play. It’s the best combination I’ve ever had, because the players are not only strong, but they’re also mobile and get out of their end pretty easily.”

The Gulls improved to 16-0-1, the best start in IHL history. And it doesn’t appear odds are catching up to the Gulls as fast as frustration is creeping up on the rest of the league.

“You can almost see it on their faces,” Knickle said. “Fifteen, 16, 17 in a row. A lot of teams are going to start thinking, ‘Why are we so special, if no one else can beat them?’ ”

As has been the case all season, special-teams play complemented a strong defense. The Gulls converted two of four power-play opportunities and survived five short-handed situations.

Hubie McDonough scored the Gulls’ power-play goals, both in the first period. McDonough has eight goals and 30 points this season. His 30 points are second in the IHL to the 31 points of Atlanta’s Keith Osborne.

The Gulls have allowed only eight goals in 101 short-handed situations this season. They also have scored six goals while skating a man shy. Conversely, they have scored 35 times in 112 power plays.

“If anyone wants to get into a penalty-plagued game with us,” Dudley said, “they’re going to be in trouble.”

The third period sort of punctuated Dudley’s statement. There were no penalties on either team--and no scoring.

The Lumberjacks (8-9-1, 17 points) kept things close at the outset, too--at least for the first nine minutes.

But soon after that point, McDonough broke the scoreless tie with a power-play goal, and from then on the Gulls made it look easy.

Actually, the Lumberjacks made it easy. Twice in that first period they were called for two-minute minors only seconds after going on power plays.

McDonough scored both his power-play goals in that period and sandwiched them around an even-strength tally by Robbie Nichols.

The significance of Nichols’ goal was the second assist--it went to newly signed Len Hachborn, who started the game despite practicing with the team only twice since his arrival from Scotland.

Hachborn was second in points for the Gulls last season with 107.

“He’s a well-conditioned athlete,” Dudley explained. “But he’s not a game-conditioned athlete. And the only way he’s going to get to that level is by playing. I thought he did really well.”

The Lumberjacks were able to keep the Gulls in check for most of the second period. San Diego’s fourth goal came as only 1:36 remained on the clock. Larry Floyd tapped it in from in front of the net off a pass from Lindy Ruff.