AHL Suspends Gulls' Colangelo Two Games, Iowa's Petersen One Game

The AHL's Player Safety Committee handed down a pair of suspensions on March 25 that will cost San Diego and Iowa roster depth at a consequential point in the season.

San Diego Gulls forward Sam Colangelo was suspended for two games as a consequence of a cross-checking incident in a game against Calgary on March 22. Colangelo will miss San Diego's games on Saturday, March 28, and Sunday, March 29, at Abbotsford.

Iowa Wild goaltender Cal Petersen drew a one-game ban as a consequence of a spearing incident in a game at Chicago on March 22. Petersen missed Iowa's game on March 25 against Chicago.

The two penalties stemming from the same night of action underscore how physical the stretch run has become, with the committee ruling that both incidents crossed the line from competitive play into suspendable conduct.

Colangelo's absence is a real blow for San Diego. The 23-year-old is under a two-year contract with Anaheim, the Gulls' NHL parent club, after scoring 10 goals and 12 points in 32 NHL games with the Ducks in 2024-25, ranking third among all NHL rookies in goals per game. He was reassigned to San Diego earlier this season after being recalled for Anaheim's game against the Los Angeles Kings on January 16, spending time as a healthy scratch before returning briefly to the NHL lineup. Back with the Gulls and producing, losing him for a back-to-back weekend set at Abbotsford is not trivial.

The Petersen ruling is a different kind of disruption. The veteran netminder posted a 4-13-0 record with a 2.82 goals-against average, a .897 save percentage, and two shutouts in 17 starts with Iowa this season. The Waterloo, Iowa native owns a 96-111-19 career AHL record across seven seasons with Lehigh Valley, the Ontario Reign, and Iowa, earning AHL All-Star selections in 2017-18 and 2019-20. Iowa will need to turn to its depth behind the crease while Petersen served his one-game ban.

The league's Player Safety Committee has been consistent in applying multi-game penalties for physical infractions this season. In December, the committee suspended Toronto forward Michael Pezzetta three games for an illegal check to the head, and handed three-game bans to three Laval forwards who left the bench during an altercation. The Colangelo and Petersen rulings fit that established pattern: one incident, one ruling, games missed immediately.

For San Diego, two fewer games from Colangelo in a Pacific Division playoff race means the margin for error just got a little tighter heading into that Abbotsford weekend.