SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Roller Hockey

Puck drops on CIF roller hockey league's sixth season

By Phillip Brents

NATIONAL CITY, Nov. 30, 2005 -- The ground-breaking CIF/ Metro Conference dropped the puck Monday to usher in another campaign of high school roller hockey, its sixth overall. One new team has joined to hike membership to 19 schools while realignment should ensure more parity.

Besides a single all-conference team, all-league teams will also be selected in the conference’s three competition circuits. Non-league play will also precede league play this season.

If this is beginning to sound a lot like the set-up for prep basketball or soccer, or even football, that’s because it is. The changes bring roller hockey in line with virtually every other high school sport in terms of structure - both on and off the playing court.

“We wanted to mirror the other high school sports. That’s what we are and that’s what we want to be,” Sweetwater district athletic facilitator Don Cerone said.

West Hills, which had been a member of the club-based San Diego County High School Roller Hockey Conference for the past three years, made the jump to CIF play this season with a 10-3 victory against La Jolla on Wednesday as Johnny Baxter scored the first CIF goal and CIF hat trick in team history. The Wolf Pack becomes the first team from the Grossmont Union School District, which encompasses San Diego’s East County, to enter into CIF play.

West Hills’ reward, however, was to be placed as a member of the North County League, inarguably the toughest of the conference’s three competition loops. Other league members this season include two-time defending conference champion Scripps Ranch, conference finalist Poway, along with playoff qualifiers Rancho Bernardo, Vista and Westview.

La Jolla, La Jolla Country Day and the San Diego Jewish Academy, all of which had been members of the North County League last season, move to new leagues this season. La Jolla will play alongside Bonita Vista, Chula Vista, Eastlake, Montgomery and Sweetwater in the Mesa League while LJCD and the SDJA will play in the South Bay League alongside Castle Park, Hilltop, Mar Vista, Otay Ranch and Southwest.

Bonita Vista is the defending Mesa League champion while Mar Vista is the defending South Bay League champion. Poway captured the North County League title last season but was upended in the Kiwanis Cup championship game by Scripps Ranch, the regular-season runner-up to Poway in North County League play.

Cerone said the realignment brings together schools based on enrollment size, which should help in competitiveness. Teams will play a total of 20 regular season games while 12 of the conference’s 19 teams will qualify for the Kiwanis Cup championship playoffs in late February.

Based on the first week of results, Cerone said there is no longer any question that the best high school roller hockey teams in San Diego County are now in the CIF/Metro Conference rather than in the club-based loop.

“It’s pretty apparent the stronger teams are now in the CIF league. The North County League, in particular, is a tough division. There are no easy games,” Cerone said.

North County League teams exuded their dominance over the last season with a 38-8-2 record against teams from the Mesa League and South Bay League. North League teams were off to an early 8-1 edge in non-league matchups through Wednesday, with Otay Ranch the lone team scoring an inter-league win.

Poway and Scripps Ranch look to be the early favorites to rematch for the Kiwanis Cup title.

But that won’t dim the dreams of some South County teams. “Our goal is to win the south division and go a little father in the playoffs. I feel we’ll give these North County teams a tough time,” Otay Ranch coach Lyn Dyer said.

San Diego Jewish Academy 10, Sweetwater 2
Nov. 28 at Skate San Diego: Johnny Simkin scored five goals and one assist and Mikael Levin added six points on one goal and five assists to lead the Lions to the conference’s first win of the season. Aaron Shinoff scored the season’s first goal at the 1:34 mark of the first period, assisted by Levin. Gabe Nussbaum scored twice for SDJA, which put the game out of reach with five third-period goals. Robert Felizardo scored both Sweetwsater goals.

Scripps Ranch 6, Bonita Vista 1
Nov. 28 at Skate San Diego: Ryan Knight scored the game’s opening three goals, all assisted by Matt Comrie to lead the defending Kiwanis Cup champion Falcons. Eric Brody, Josh Lopez and Chad Ruhwedel also scored for Scripps Ranch, which padded a 2-0 first-period lead with a goal in the second period and three more in the final stanza after the Barons’ Daniel Ruelas had made it a 3-1 game.

Otay Ranch 3, Vista 2
Nov. 28 at Skate San Diego: Matt Nafarrete, Zack Johnson and Johnathan Reyes each scored single goals to lift the Mustangs past the Panthers, a semifinalist in last season’s Kiwanis Cup championship playoffs. Adrian Rodriguez, last season’s conference scoring leader, set up the game’s first goal. After the Panthers tied the game, Otay Ranch broke free with unanswered goals by Johnson and Reyes, both newcomers to the team with ice hockey experience. Victor Holland was steady between the pipes, holding hard-charging Vista scoreless for a span of 23:53.

Poway 10, Hilltop 0
Nov. 28 at Skate San Diego: Stephan Lockwood led the Kiwanis Cup finalist Titans with two goals and three assists while teammate Matt Pecenco added two goals and two assists. A total of 10 Poway players scored at least a point in the contest. The Titans led 4-0 after the first period and 7-0 entering the final frame.

Rancho Bernardo 9, Eastlake 1
Nov. 29 at Skate San Diego: Adam Child scored four goals and Andy Meisner added three assists to lead the Broncos, who opened up leads of 4-0 and 7-0 through the opening two periods. Rancho Bernardo also received two goals from Kory Grahl and a goal and assist from Rory Hansen. Jonathon Williams got Eastlake’s lone goal, assisted by Nathan Scharmann.

Westview 28, Castle Park 0
Nov. 29 at Skate San Diego: Shane Clements tallied a game-high seven points on five goals and two assists while Jon Cohen racked up six points on three goals and three assists,Ryan Aguirre contributed four goals and two assists and Mike Kiraly added four goals and one assist for the Wolverines, who led 8-0 after the first period. Seven Westview players ended the game with at least three goals as Josh Dykman (three goals, two assists), Leo Scheiler (three goals, one assist) and Drew Ness (three goals) also recorded hat tricks. Andy Wiens scored twice for the Wolverines, who scored 11 times in the second period.

Mar Vista 15, Chula Vista 0
Nov. 29 at Castle Park HS: Ian Nicklen (nine goals, two assists) and Jeremy Tanaka (three goals, eight assists) each scored 11 points to lead the defending South Bay League champion Mariners. Shan Stenvall, Marc Rodriguez and Mike Ellison were each credited with single goals for Mar Vista, which scored five goals in each period.

La Jolla 19, Southwest 1
Nov. 29 at Castle Park HS: Johnny Noris was credited with four goals and three assists while John Gibson was credited with three goals and three assists, Gabe Rudolph with three goals and two assists, Natalie Noris with a goal and four assists and Matt Cox with three goals as the Vikings opened the season with a victory.

Scripps Ranch 18, Eastlake 0
Nov. 30 at Skate San Diego: Ryan Knight collected eight points on five goals and three assists while Matt Comrie added four goals and two assists as the Falcons skated to a 2-0 start. Eric Brody scored a hat trick and Brent Friedman was credited with two goals as Scripps Ranch faced off the season with an imposing 24-1 goal-differential. Eastlake dropped to 0-2 after being outscored 27-1 in two starts.

Vista 12, Bonita Vista 1
Nov. 30 at Skate San Diego: Zach Cameron led the Panthers (1-1) with four goals while Guy Lemieux and Andrew Peattie each contributed hat tricks. Vista led 8-0 in the game before Bonita Vista (0-2) got on the scoreboard courtesy of a goal by Steven Micaleff, assisted by Blake Tanner.

West Hills 10, La Jolla 3
Nov. 30 at Skate San Diego: Johnny Baxter scored the first goal and first hat trick in West Hills’ first-ever CIF-sanctioned game as the Wolf Pack opened up a 9-0 lead in downing the Vikings, a playoff qualifier a year ago. The win ran West Hills’ fledgling Metro Conference record to 2-0 after a prior forfeit win against Montgomery. Travis Peters and Andrew Delgadillo each scored two goals and one assist for West Hills, which also received a pair of goals off the stick of Keith Gurr. Brian Cordes started in net for the Wolf Pack and was relieved by Cameron McIntyre. Johnny Noris scored twice for La Jolla (1-1), which received two assists from Daniel Bogle.