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CIF/Metro Conference
2007-08 Feature Stories
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All-CIF/Metro Conference
Broncos reap awards as Kiwanis Cup champions

Posted April 24, 2008
The Rancho Bernardo Broncos captured their second consecutive Kiwanis Cup championship in 2007-08, emblematic of supremacy in CIF roller hockey. The Broncos completed their championship season despite losing their head coach midway through the season because of a job relocation but pulled together through adversity to stake their claim as perhaps the sport's next dynasty in the making.

The hero of it all turned out to be goaltender Alex Miklovic, who earned honors as the 2007-08 CIF/Metro Conference Player of the Year.

The Broncos lost just two games in 23 starts – both in rugged North County League play – and went a perfect 3-0 in postseason play while racking up a prodigious 235-57 goal-differential.

Top-seeded Rancho Bernardo defeated second-seeded Westview, 7-6, in the Kiwanis Cup championship game on Feb. 27.

Miklovic gave up few rebounds and possessed a body seemingly made of armor.

He was the only Bronco named to the all-conference first team. Rancho Bernardo had two players named second team all-conference: forward Kory Grahl and defenseman Tanner Woodbury.

Grahl finished 14th in regular season conference scoring with 30 goals and 31 assists -- trailing teammate Adam Child's 39 goals and 30 assists -- and had three goals in the championship game. Grahl and Woodbury were among five seniors on the Broncos who second-half coach Pat Sagara showed exemplary leadership skills (the other seniors being Child, Mat Kresky and Miklovic).

That the Broncos did not possess a top 10 conference scorer on their roster was a testament to just how important defense was to the team's ultimate success this season.

The Broncos recorded six shutouts, allowed one goal on two other occasions) and held opponents to under two goals or less 11 times.

Offense seemed to be the name of the game where the rest of the all-conference first team was concerned, however.

La Jolla's Johnny Noris won this season's conference scoring title with 114 points (97 goals and 17 assists)`to earn a coveted spot on the all-conference first team. He was joined by North County League scoring champion Garrett Taylor of Westview who helped lead the Wolverines (17-4-2) to a runner-up finish in this year's Kiwanis Cup finals with 60 goals and 24 assists.

Also earning first team all-conference honors were Otay Ranch's Zach Johnson and St. Augustine's Greg Park. Neither ranked among the conference's top five scorers but made their contributions in other valuable ways as consummate playmakers.

Johnson finished regular season play with 36 goals and 45 assists for the Mustangs (16-6-0) while Park collected 35 goals and 18 assists – many of the latter setting up teammate Carter Pool's team-leading 57 goals. Park helped the Saints (15-5-1 overall) capture this season's Mesa League championship with an 11-1-0 league record. He had the knack for scoring the momentum-changing goal in a game, be it the game-tying goal or the game-winning goal. His senior leadership was instrumental on a young squad.

Johnson also had the ability to take the game on his shoulders and make the Mustangs a contender for the Mesa League title until the last week of the season.

Joining RB's Grahl and Woodbury on the all-conference second team were Otay Ranch's Matt Nafarrete, Poway's Ian Wilson and Eastlake goaltender Jason Campbell.

Nafarrete finished second in conference scoring with 94 points (67 goals, 27 assists) while Campbell, a sophomore, help backstop his team to a second place finish in the Mesa League standings with a 10-2 league record (both losses to the Saints) and 17-4 overall record (second in conference wins). Wilson, meanwhile, helped guide a young Poway team to a 16-4-3 season record and berth in the Kiwanis Cup semifinals.

Noris, Park, Nafarrete, Johnson and Campbell all earned first team All-Mesa League recognition while Grahl, Taylor, Woodbury, Wilson and Miklovic comprised the All-North County League first team.

Hilltop, which captured the South Bay League title with a spotless 8-0 league record, had two first team all-league players: forward Ruben Benavides and defenseman Andrew Ries. Benavides led the Lancers (16-6 overall) with 49 goals and 40 assists to rank fourth overall in the conference with 89 points.

La Jolla Country Day had two players land spots on the All-South Bay League first team: forward Camille Corbin and defenseman Ben Sweeney. Corbin finished the regular season third in conference scoring with 68 goals and 22 assists as the highest-ranking female player in the coed sport. Sweeney ranked seventh in conference scoring with 45 goals and 31 assists (third in the South Bay League behind Corbin and Hilltop's Benavides).

Mar Vista's Federico Alcaraz earned recognition as the South Bay League's first team goaltender despite playing his first year at the position.

All-CIF/Metro Conference Team
First team: Garret Taylor (Westview); John Noris (La Jolla); Zach Johnson (Otay Ranch); Greg Park (St. Augustine); Alex Miklovic (Rancho Bernardo).
Second team: F Kory Grahl (Rancho Bernardo); F Matt Nafarrete (Otay Ranch); D Tanner Woodbury (Rancho Bernardo);D Ian Wilson (Poway); G Jason Campbell (Eastlake).
Player of the Year: Alex Miklovic (Rancho Bernardo).
Championship team: Rancho Bernardo.

CIF/Metro Conference All-League Teams
All-North County League
First team: F Kory Grahl (Rancho Bernardo); F Garret Taylor (Westview); D Tanner Woodbury (Rancho Bernardo); D Ian Wilson (Poway); G Alex Miklovic (Rancho Bernardo).
Second team: F Shane Clements (Westview); F Matt Kresky (Rancho Bernardo); D Gerald Leslie (West Hills); D Phil Sansone (Westview); G Mark Wadowski (Poway).
Championship team: Rancho Bernardo.

All-Mesa League
First team: F Johnny Noris (La Jolla); F Matt Nafarrete (Otay Ranch); D Greg Park (St. Augustine); D Zach Johnson (Otay Ranch); G Jason Campbell (Eastlake).
Second team: F Dante Patron (Eastlake); F Eric Sharp (Chula Vista); D Carter Pool (St. Augustine);D Justin White (Eastlake); G Victor Holland (Otay Ranch).
Championship team: St. Augustine.

All-South Bay League
First team: F Ruben Benavides (Hilltop); F Camille Corbin (La Jolla Country Day); D Ben Sweeney (La Jolla Country Day); D Andrew Ries (Hilltop); G Frederico Alcaraz (Mar Vista).
Second team: F Kekoa Latimore (Hilltop); F Austin McDonald (Hilltop); D James Owsiany (La Jolla Country Day);D Andrew Bronkema (Mar Vista); G Skylar Travis (Hilltop).
Championship team: Hiltop.

Kiwanis Cup playoffs
Broncos repeat as Kiwanis Cup champions
Posted March 18, 2008
The top-seeded Rancho Bernardo Broncos erased an early 3-0 Westview lead to claim their second consecutive Kiwanis Cup championship title with a 7-6 come-from-behind victory Feb. 27 over the second-seeded Wolverines.

The Broncos (21-2) netted the game-winning goal with 1:46 to play as Matt Kresky snapped the 6-all tie. Kory Grahl, who drew the assist on Kresky’s game-winner, notched the game-tying marker on a short-handed goal just four minutes earlier.

Grahl led Rancho Bernardo with three goals while Adam Child collected a goal and two assists.

“Ultimately the game was won on the leadership shown by my five seniors on the team -- Tanner Woodbury, Kory Grahl, Matt Kresky, Adam Child and Alex Miklovic,” RB coach Pat Sagara said. “These five set the tone for the team and refused to give in the least bit when they were challenged by going down in the score early in the game then later in third period when they were down again. They kept the team focused on the fact that we had experienced high pressure games and situations and had won those games.”

Sagara said the ability of his team to keep to its game plan while playing catch-up also was a huge factor that helped give his squad the confidence to come back and ultimately win the game.

“There isn't one single player who stood out but really all five seniors stepped up when they needed to -- whether it was a critical save, a short-handed goal or the game-winning goal,” Sagara said. “Westview has an incredible team and were very well coached and prepared to play us. This was one of those games that the winner was in doubt all the way to final buzzer.”

Miklovic, the Broncos goaltender, was named the 2007-08 CIF/Metro Conference Player of the Year,

Rancho Bernardo completed its playoff run with a 3-0 record after first dispatching ninth-seeded West Hills, 13-3, in the quarterfinals and then zooming past fifth-seeded Poway, 5-0, in the semifinals.

Westview finished the season 17-4-2. Garrett Taylor and Greg Hawksworth led the Wolverines with three goals apiece in the championship game.

Taylor finished fifth in the conference scoring race (first among North County League players) with 60 goals and 24 assists for 84 points in 20 regular season games.

Westview finished 2-1 in the playoffs. The Wolverines survived a scare in their first playoff game when the seventh-seeded Otay Ranch Mustangs roared back from a 5-2 deficit to trim Westview's lead to 6-5 with 11 minutes remaining in the third period. The Wolverines, however, managed to hang on for the one-goal quarterfinal-round win and then eliminated third-seeded Hilltop, 10-6, in the semifinals.

Taylor keyed Westview with six goals and one assist in the semifinal victory while Phil Sansone had two goals and two assists and Shane Clements contributed four assists.

Clements paced the Wolverines with two goals and two assists in the quarterfinals while Sansone had two goals. A short-handed Taylor stood up as the difference in the 6-5 win.

Playoff notepad
The Mesa League (St. Augustine), South Bay League (Hilltop) and North County League (Rancho Bernardo) champions all received byes to the quarterfinals along with the best at-large team (Westview). St. Augustine received the No. 4 seed but lost 13-3 to fifth-seeded Poway in its quarterfinal opener. Hilltop turned aside an upset bid by 11th-seeded Vista to claim a 5-3 quarterfinal win.

Vista and West Hills recorded the two upsets in the opening round. Vista, the last-place finisher in the North County League, upended sixth-seeded Eastlake by a score of 8-4 while West Hills edged eighth-seeded Scripps Ranch 3-2 on a dramatic goal by Kellen McManus with 3:10 left.

The Kiwanis Cup title game was the fourth meeting on the season between Rancho Bernardo and Westview after the teams met three times in North County League play. The Broncos won two of the three regular season encounters by scores of 5-1 and 7-4 while the Wolverines prevailed by a 6-3 score in a game played in late January.

Rancho Bernardo finished 13-2 in league play while Westview finished 10-3-2. Poway was the only other team to defeat the Broncos in their championship season, claiming a tight 2-1 decision in the league opener for both teams on Dec. 17.

St. Augustine captured the Mesa League title with an 11-1 league record and finished 15-5-1 overall. Hilltop went undefeated in South Bay League play at 8-0 and finished 16-6 overall. Eastlake finished as the runner-up team in the Mesa League standings while La Jolla Country Day finished second in the South Bay League standings. Otay Ranch finished third in the Mesa League standings while Poway was third in the North County League standings.

La Jolla's Johnny Noris won the individual scoring title with 97 goals and 17 assists, totaling 114 points. Otay Ranch's Matt Nafarrete finished second with 94 points (67 points, 27 assists) while La Jolla Country Day's Camille Corbin was third with 90 points (68 points, 22 assists) and Hilltop's Ruben Benavides was fourth with 89 points (49 goals, 40 assists).

Lancers end season in semifinals

Posted Feb. 27, 2008
Hilltop goaltender Skyler Travis summed up the Lancers’ 10-6 loss to second-seeded Westview in Monday’s Kiwanis Cup championship semifinals in one terse sentence.

“I think we wanted it more but we had some bad bounces,” he said.

He then paused and added a few more telling words. “It was a good game. It was a good season.”

The reigning South Bay League champions carried the torch for the CIF/Metro Conference’s South County-based teams into the Kiwanis Cup Final Four and put up a valiant effort against a superior team. The Wolverines scored 39 seconds into the contest and rolled to a 6-1 lead after the opening period. Westview’s lead grew to 8-1 with 5:08 elapsed in the second period but the Lancers (16-6) were far from declaring it “game over.”

Hilltop stepped up the pace — and the pressure — and gave it a championship-type effort with five goals in the second-half of the game. The Lancers reeled off three consecutive goals in the third period to close the gap to 9-6 on the scoreboard with 9:06 left in the game. But the Wolverines’ early lead proved lethal.

“I think we were well prepared,” said Hilltop assistant coach Darin Ries, who will be taking over head coaching duties next season. “We were ready to play. We had some bad breaks in that first period that took us out of the game. We tried to play catch-up hockey. I’m proud of the boys. They never gave up. We gave them two goals (on unlucky deflections). We outscored them 5-1 late in the game. We just ran out of time. They (the Wolverines) are a very good team. They beat us 15-4 in the first game of the season. We improved a greatdeal since then. I think that Hilltop won some respect.”

Superstar Garrett Taylor led Westview with six goals and one assist while Phil Sansone contributed two goals and two assists and Shane Clements added four assists.

The victory advanced the Wolverines to Wednesday’s Kiwanis Cup championship game against top-seeded Rancho Bernardo. The defending champion Broncos (21-2) erased an early 3-0 Westview lead to claim their second consecutive title with a 7-6 come-from-behind victory.

The Lancers tied Monday’s game at 1-1. Westview seemed to gain momentum when a puck bounced off Travis’ goaltending equipment into the net after an apparent save to push Westview ahead 3-1. The Wolverines scored two minutes later to go up 4-1 when the puck took another fortunate bounce after an apparent Hilltop save.

Austin McDonald led the Lancers with two goals and two assists while Greg Watters scored two goals, Kekoa Latimore had a goal and assist and Andrew Ries scored once.

Rancho Bernardo netted the game-winning goal with 1:46 to play as Matt Kresky snapped a 6-all tie. Kory Grahl, who drew the assist on Kresky’s game-winner, notched the game-tying marker on a short-handed goal with just under six minutes to play. Grahl led the Broncos with three goals while Adam Child collected a goal and two assists.

Westview finished the season 17-4-2. Taylor and Greg Hawksworth led the Wolverines with three goals apiece.

Lancers carry torch for South County teams

Posted Feb. 21, 2008
After a poor showing in Tuesday’s opening round of this year’s CIF/Metro Conference Kiwanis Cup championship playoffs, South County teams had to earn a measure of respect from their North County League foes in the two quarterfinal-round games played Wednesday at Skate San Diego in National City.

It took two tries but the reigning South Bay League champion Hilltop Lancers finally ended the Vista Panthers’ season with a thrilling 5-3 come-from-behind victory to advance to Monday’s semifinals. The third-seeded Lancers (16-6) will play the second-seeded Westview Wolverines (16-3-2) after the Wolverines escaped with a 6-5 win against an Otay Ranch team that midway through the contest decided it was ready to play hockey on the same level as its opponent.

There were cheers for the Mustangs as they rolled off the court for the last time this season after their heroic effort against a team many had pegged as unbeatable by a South Bay squad.

The Lancers, meanwhile, reserved their biggest cheer for themselves after the final buzzer sounded in their game, with players swarming winning goaltender Skyler Travis for his heroic performance.

“It’s taken me 10 years to beat a North County team. This is my last year coaching, so I’m pleased as punch,” Hilltop’s Dan Vaccaro said. “I watched Vista play last night (in eliminating Eastlake 8-4) and knew they would come out flying — attack, attack, attack. In order for us to win, we needed to survive that onslaught and then slow the game down. Our goaltender played a heck of a game. Hilltop played well, especially our defense. The thing that impressed me the most was that Hilltop kept going to the puck.”

What had to impress spectators the most was the Lancers’ storming back from an early 3-1 deficit on the strength of four unanswered goals.

The Panthers, the last-place team from the North County League that had just picked up its first win in 15 games the night before against Eastlake in an opening-round playoff game, fired off three straight goals — all by Ethan Gilchrist — to erase a 1-0 Hilltop lead.

Austin McDonald, however, scored what proved to be a momentum-shifting goal for Hilltop with 2:40 left in the second period to trim the Vista lead to 3-2. The Lancers tied the score on a power play goal by Ruben Benavides 52 seconds into the third period and McDonald scored the 4-3 go-ahead goal two minutes later. Kekoa Latimore then scored a decisive power play goal with 7:39 to play in the game to give Hilltop a critical two-goal lead.

The Panthers operated on a five-on-three power play for a minute and ended the game on another power play. But the extra attacker was to no avail for Vista, which was continually denied by clutch saves by an acrobatically-inclined Travis.

McDonald finished the game with two goals and two assists.

Westview 6, Otay Ranch 5
After his team defeated La Jolla County Day, 7-2, in Tuesday’s opening round, Mustang defenseman Zach Johnson said his team needed to play “a perfect game” if it was to beat No. 2-seeded Westview. Otay Ranch may feel bad about its start but there had to be no complaints about the finish as the Mustangs (16-6) outscored the high-powered Wolverines 3-1 over the final two periods.

Westview went up 1-0 just 30 seconds into the game and led 2-0 on a short-handed goal by superstar Garrett Taylor with just under four minutes elapsed in the game. The Mustangs fought back to tie the game at 2-2 on a pair of goals by team scoring leader Matt Nafarrete, but the Wolvernies quickly jump-started their offense again and reeled off three goals in a 1:20 span to hold a commanding 5-2 lead after the opening period.
Westview would not score again until early in the third period to increase its lead to 6-4. Johnson got Otay Ranch to within a goal at 6-5 with 11:29 to play but the Mustangs could get no closer on the scoreboard despite an inspired effort.

The game ended in frantic fashion in front of the Wolverine net.

Nafarrete finished the game with three goals and one assist while Johnson rang up two goals.

Shane Clements led Westview with two goals and two assists while Phil Sansone also scored two goals. Taylor, whose short-handed goal stood up as the difference, contributed a goal and two assists.

Mustangs evade North County match-up, advance 7-2 past Torreys
West Hills, Vista post upsets in opening round

Posted Feb. 19, 2008
North County vs. South County. In high school roller hockey, that has usually added up to a lethal combination since the CIF/Metro Conference welcomed the North County League into its fold four years ago. But South Bay League vs. Mesa League … we’ll that’s another story entirely.

The opening slate of the four first-round games in this year’s CIF/Metro Conference Kiwanis Cup championship playoffs played Tuesday at Skate San Diego in National City pitted a pair of familiar teams in the seventh-seeded Otay Ranch Mustangs and the 10th-seed La Jolla Country Dat Torreys. The Mustangs finished third in the highly competitive Mesa League standings with a 9-3 league record and 15-5 overall record. The Torreys, meanwhile, made it a highly competitive stab at a South Bay League co-championship before falling, 10-7, to Hilltop in the final week of regular season play.

LJCD coach David Brink came up with some fortuitous game strategy as his underdog team had to give the Mustangs some nervous moments after cutting Otay Ranch’s lead to 4-2 early in the third period of Tuesday’s elimination game.

The Mustangs responded by scoring the game’s final three goals to post a 7-2 win and, in the process, become the only South County team to advance to Wednesday’s quarterfinals (where they joined the idle Hilltop Lancers, seeded third after winning the South Bay League title).

Matt Nafarrete, who finished second in the conference scoring race by 10 points to La Jolla’s Johnny Noris, was on fire throughout the game. Nafarrete racked up five goals to lead all players on the court. He was ably assisted by teammate Zach Johnson with two goals and two assists.

Otay Ranch skated to a 2-0 lead before Ben Sweeney halved the Torreys’ deficit to a goal when he beat Mustang netminder Victor Holland with 38 seconds left in the first period. Nafarrete had both Otay Ranch goals in the opening period, including one short-handed.

LJCD (10-10-1) had three power plays in the game but did not score a man-power goal. Sweeney’s second goal came with 2:39 gone in the final period just after Otay Ranch had successfully killed a Torreys’ power play. Camille Corbin, who finished third in conference scoring with 68 goals and 22 assists, drew the assist on the goal.

Nafarrete closed out scoring in the game, putting the Mustangs ahead 4-3 four minutes after Sweeney gave LJCD some impetus. Nafarrete tacked on goals 46 seconds apart two minutes later to pad the Otay Ranch lead. He scored on a breakaway to make it 6-2 with 6:48 to play.

Titans will have to wait until next year to shine in the playoffs

Vista 8, Eastlake 4
After the Titans took the back set in the race for this year’s Mesa League title following a 6-4 loss to St. Augustine on Feb. 12, Eastlake coach Rone Torres still felt his team – despite its relative youth – could do, as he put it, “some damage” in this year’s playoffs. It appears Eastlake’s roller warriors will have to wait until next year to make some noise in the CIF/Metro Conference Kiwanis Cup championship playoffs after making an unexpectedly swift exit in Tuesday’s opening round.

The Titans, seeded sixth in the 12-team draw, trailed 11th-seeded Vista, 3-1, at the end of the first period but quickly showed some spunk by tying the score at 3-3 with 8:15 remaining in the second period. The rest of the game was not exactly highlight material for Torres’ troops, who just as quickly surrendered three unanswered goals to end the period to trail 6-3.

The Panthers, who finished in last place in the North County League standings, roared on the court with two more goals in the third period before the Titans (17-4) could muster a goal with 1:39 to play to close out their season.

Vista had not won a game in 15 tries after going 0-14-1 in North County League play. The Panthers improved to 5-15-1 overall in advance to Wednesday’s quarterfinal game against third-seeded Hilltop.

“We had lost in overtime, we had lost one-goal games, we had lost two-goal games, we lost games for a lot of reasons,” Panthers coach Tim Barrier said.

In other words, paraphrasing the words of an assistant coach, the North County League is brutal … and the fierce competition can only make you better.

Torres made no excuses for his team. “We played flat. We didn’t share or protect the puck like we had been,” he said. “When you see the level of competition that Vista has been seeing all year and you play sloppy, you’re going to be looking the other way.”

Ethan Gilchrist led Vista with three goals and one assist while Jared Johnson contributed two goals and an assist. Guy Lemieux, Jonathon Brown and Tyler Broc all scored single goals for the victors.

Dante Patron led Eastlake with three goals while Andrew Abuyo scored once and Justin White and Nathan Scharmann both added assists.

The Titans appeared to be gathering momentum after taking the puck on the face off to start the second period and scoring to trim the Panthers’ lead to 3-2. But after knotting the score on Abuyo’s unassisted goal, Eastlake coughed up three goals in the span of 1:31. Lemieux scored a power play goal with 5:54 to play in the middle period and Brown followed with a goal off the ensuing face-off. Gilchrest made it 6-3 on a steal with 4:23 to go in the period.

The Titans hurt their chances of making a third-period comeback by taking a penalty. The Panthers capitalized on the man-power opportunity to go up 7-3. Johnson scored on a breakaway with 3:44 left in the game to hike the Vista lead to 8-3. Panther netminder Tyler Barrier played a solid game despite being the focus of numerous rushes throughout the game by the Mesa League runners-up.

“It was a good season for us looking back,” Torres said. “On a positive note, we’re losing only two seniors.”

Is Eastlake theteam of the future? We’ll see next season.

West Hills 3, Scripps Ranch 2
Spectators got a chance to see the competition level of the North County League at full force in the evening’s third game as ninth-seeded West Hills upset eighth-seeded Scripps Ranch, 3-2, on a goal by Kellen McManus with 3:10 remaining.

The victory by the Wolf Pack was the second straight over the Falcons after topping Scripps Ranch, 7-6, in the third and final round of North County League play on Feb. 4.

Both teams were fielding “rebuilding” squads this season, especially West Hills, which finished 3-11-1 in North County League play, 6-13-1 overall. Scripps Ranch went 6-8-1 in league play, 8-11-1 overall, to close out regular season play.

“We had a tough season up in North County,” Wolf Pack assistant coach Randy Leslie said. “We finally managed to put something together. It took us all season to pick it up. We put it together at the end of the season. We knew we there when we played Scripps Ranch the last time and beat them. We said ‘wow!’ It takes time to jell. But it was finally happening. We started to see it the game before we played Scripps.”

Alex Reed got the only goal of the first period to stake the Falcons to a 1-0 lead. But the Wolf Pack evened the score with 1:26 elapsed in the second period as Donnie Keffer beat SR goaltender Derek Flick.

The Falcons went back in front on a power play goal by Max Balaban midway through the period but West Hills came back to tie the game two-and-a-half minutes later on a goal credited to Keith Gurr.

It appeared the third period would remain scoreless despite the back-and-forth nature of the flow of the game until McManus finally managed to whip one past Flick. Scripps Ranch pulled its goaltender in favor of an extra attacker with 1:10 left but the Wolf Pack missed three open net shots to bring the game down to the last 11 seconds before West Hills could secure the win.

Just prior to the game-winner by McManus, West Hills goaltender Cameron McIntyre made a sensational save to deny the Falcons the potential game-winning goal.

Poway 19, La Jolla 2
Noris, the CIF/Metro Conference’s regular season scoring leader with 114 points on 97 goals and 17 assists, seemed to have the emotional support of the home crowd at Skate San Diego but the fifth-seeded Titans – last year’s Kiwanis Cup finalists – just had too much firepower of their own. Poway reeled off the game’s first four goals before Noris finally found the back of the net with the puck. After that, the Titans’ offense took off, ending the opening period with a 5-1 lead and putting the game on ice with a 12-2 lead at the end of two periods.

Zach Vachris keyed Poway (15-3-3) with four goals and five assists while Darren Barnes and Chase Liebman each racked up three goals and two assists. The Titans received two goals from Ryan Smith and Eric Eyler while Jordan Gallen, J.T. Landon, Nick Maresh, Zach Porter and Luke Richard all scored single goals in support of goaltender Mark Wadolkowski.

La Jolla finished 9-12-0 after a fourth-place finish in the Mesa League.

The puck stops here:
Broncos, Saints, Lancers skate to league titles

Posted Feb. 15, 2008
The CIF/Metro Conference crowned three new league champions to cap 2007-08 regular season play. The Rancho Bernardo Broncos won the rugged North County League with a 13-2-0 league record while the St. Augustine Saints, fielding their first senior class since joining the 18-team circuit last year, captured the Mesa League title with an 11-1-0 record and the Hilltop Lancers won the South Bay League title with a perfect 8-0-0 record.


North County League
The defending Kiwanis Cup champion Broncos did not meet their goal of finishing with a perfect season but did live up to preseason projections by showing they were the undisputed top team in regular season play with an overall 18-2 record. Rancho Bernardo's two losses came against league rivals Poway and Westview. The Broncos jump-started the season 6-0 before suffering their first loss, 2-1, to Poway. The Broncos fell 6-3 to Westview on Jan. 23 to jumble the standings.

But play in the highly competitive North County League quickly unraveled the standings as Poway played to three ties in league play, Westview played to two ties and Scripps Ranch played to a tie to give Rancho Bernardo a final four-point edge in the league standings.

The Broncos were expected to receive the top seed in this year's Kiwanis Cup championship playoffs that were set to face off Feb. 19.

Adam Child scored two goals and two assists to help Rancho Bernardo clinch the league title with a 7-4 victory against Westview on Feb. 12.

Child keyed RB in regular season scoring with 39 goals and 30 assists, followed by Kory Grahl with 31 goals and 30 assists and Matt Kresky with 30 goals and 23 assists.

Westview finished 10-3-2 in North County League play, 15-3-2 overall. Garrett Taylor, who is bound next season for the Western Hockey League, led the Wolverines with 60 goals and 24 assists (fifth in conference scoring). Shane Clements ranked second on the team with 25 goals and 26 assists.

Poway, last year's Kiwanis Cup finalist, finished in third place in the North County League with a 9-3-3 league record. Eric Eyler led the Titans (14-3-3 overall) with 25 goals and 22 assists.

Scripps Ranch – last year's North County League champion -- placed fourth in the league standings this year at 6-8-1while fielding a young team. The Falcons finished 8-11-1 overall, including non-league games. Max Balaban (29 goals, 29 assists) and Christian Chang (30 goals, 15 assists) helped power the Scripps Ranch offense. The Falcons tied Poway, 3-3, in the final week of regular season play to get a confidence boost for the playoffs.

The West Hills Wolf Pack (3-11-1, 6-13-1) and Vista Panthers (0-14-1, 4-15-1) rounded out the standings in the six-team North County League West Hills showed it could be a factor in the playoffs after edging Scripps Ranch, 7-6, on Feb. 4. Both the Wolf Pack and Panthers were in rebuilding seasons.

Keith Gurr and Spencer Gaalas keyed the Wolf Pack with 15 points apiece while Guy Lemieux led the Panthers in team scoring this season with 13 goals and two assists.

Mesa League
Last year's league title was not decided until the final game of the season and the outcome of this year's championship banner race was not known until the second to last game when St. Augustine defeated the defending champion Eastlake Titans in heroic come-from-behind fashion.

The Saints trailed the Titans 4-1 with one minute elapsed in the third period of their fateful Feb. 12 encounter but reeled off the game's final five goals to post an inspirational 6-4 victory. Greg Park keyed St. Augustine with five goals and one assist to cap a remarkable individual performance considering the game was played in a toasty rink because of unseasonably warm weather conditions.

“Greg was tired. It was hot in there,” Saints coach Christian Da Luz said. “But he kept going. Early in the season, he was our go-to guy and then Carter Pool stepped up. It’s nice to have enough depth throughout your lineup that when one guy is having an off game that there is someone else who is on that day. It was a fun game.”

The showdown pitting league co-leaders appeared to belong to the Titans, specifically to speed demon Dante Patron, before the Saints stole the title by scoring five unanswered goals in the last 11 minutes. The physically stronger and faster Titans appeared to have a lock on the championship with a three-goal lead until Saints scored three minutes into the final period to trim the score to 4-2 . From there,the floodgates opened.

“The boys got a glimmer of hope,” Da Luz said. “We’ll take that kind of third period any day of the week.”

Saints goaltender Mick Hammock turned back 25 of 29 Eastlake shots. The defense in front of him blocked half a dozen more excellent scoring chances to round out what Da Luz referred to as a consummate “team victory.”

“In a game like this with a lot of shots, goals can come like lightning,” Da Luz said. “It’s nice to know you can pull one out like this. These guys deserve this title. They’ve worked hard all season. It was a team effort. They really reached down. The guys did what they needed to do. Greg had a great third period and Mick, too.”

Park did not score his first goal until five minutes were left in the second period. Then it only slightly dented a 3-0 Eastlake lead. Park’s second goal came with 11:25 to play in the game. It proved to be a momentum shifter.

Fifty seconds later it was 4-3 Titans. With 8:03 remaining the score was tied. Forty-eight seconds after that, St. Augustine had its first lead of the game at 5-4.

Trent Robinson’s power play goal with 5:02 made it a two-goal Saints advantage.

“Their ’keeper was stopping everything,” Da Luz said. “But we kept on our follow-ups. We missed on a lot of great passes early in the game but they were there late in the game. It was a physical game and we’re not used to playing physical games, They (the Titans) are a great team. Our guys held up pretty well.”

Patron and Justin White led Eastlake each with two goals. White notched the lone goal of the opening period. It came late, with just 2:20 left on the clock. Eastlake doubled its margin just 1:25 into the middle period on the first of Patron’s two goals White made it 3-0 on a goal 1:40 later.

“They had some senior leadership on their team -- our team is still young,” Titans coach Rone Torres said. “We’re clearly a team of the future but could do some damage in this year’s playoffs.”

The Saints (15-4-1 overall) cemented their championship season with a 13-7 victory against La Jolla and conference scoring champion Johnny Noris on Valentine's Day. Pool had five goals while Park contributed three goals and one assist. The win was the sixth consecutive for St. Augustine, which received a bye to the Kiwanis Cup quarterfinals.

Pool finished eighth in conference scoring with 57 goals and 18 assists while Park totaled 35 goals and 18 assists.

Noris finished regular season play with 114 points on 97 goals and 17 assists – 10 points ahead of Matt Nafarrete of the Otay Ranch Mustangs with 68 goals and 27 assists for 94 points. Noris' point title was made amazing in that he missed four games.

Eastlake (17-3 overall) secured second place in the Mesa League standings with a 3-2 victory against Otay Ranch, also on Feb. 14, as Patron scored twice and junior standout Andrew Abuyo notched the game-winning goal in the third period.

Patron and Justin White, both sophomores, produced breakout seasons behind the steady play of sophomore goaltender Jason Campbell and freshman forward Jace White while Nate Scharmann steadied the ship as the team’s senior captain. The team had to deal with the absence of Abuyo for a sizable chunk of the league season due to family emergency, forcing several underclassmen to step up into unexpected leadership roles.

Patron and Justin White each racked up more than 60 points to lead the team in scoring, with White (39) edging Patron (37) by two goals for the team lead. Scharmann contributed 28 goals as the team’s third-leading scorer with more than 40 points. Campbell, an accomplished ice hockey goaltender, logged a 90 percent save percentage while holding opponents to less than three goals per game.

Otay Ranch, which shared last year's Mesa League title with Eastlake, finished third in the league standings this season at 9-3 but tallied a strong 15-5 overall record to rank among the top seven teams in the conference. Zach Johnson had 81 points on 36 goals and 45 assists to rank second in team scoring.

South Bay League
Hilltop (8-0, 15-5) officially claimed this year’s South Bay League title with a 10-7 win against an inspired La Jolla Country Day team on Feb. 12. The Lancers had claimed the teams’ initial league match-up by a 7-2 score but had to work much harder against a Torreys squad that has continued to improve throughout the season.

Austin McDonald keyed Hilltop’s offense with five goals while Ruben Benavides collected two goals and one assist and Kekoa Latimore added a goal and two assists in support of winning goaltender Skyler Travis.

The game was tied 3-3 after the opening period, with the Lancers taking a 7-4 lead heading into the final period.

Ben Sweeney and Camille Corbin each scored three goals in the game to continually revive LJCD (6-2, 10-9-1). Corbin finished the game with six points by adding three assists. She entered the game ranked second in conference scoring with 65 goals and 19 assists.

James Owsiany contributed a goal and assist in another workhorse effort.
Matthew Kuehn and Greg Watters were both credited with single goals for Hilltop, which receives a bye to the Kiwanis Cup quarterfinals. McDonald iced the game with an empty-net goal with five seconds to play after the Torreys had pulled goaltender Eric Williamson after trimming the score to 9-7 with 1:15 to play.

Corbin finished third in conference scoring with 90 points on 68 goals and 22 assists while Benavides was fourth with 89 points (49 goals, 40 assists).Sweeney finished seventh in conference scoring with 76 points (45 goals, 31 assists) while McDonald was ninth with 74 points (44 goals, 30 assists).

Saints are surprise champions!

Posted Feb. 14, 2008
Surprise, surprise … the St. Augustine Saints are 2007-08 Mesa League champions.

In a game that early on seemed to belong to the Eastlake Titans — specifically to Dante Patron and Justin White — the Saints stole the title by scoring five unanswered goals in the last 11 minutes of Tuesday’s league championship game at Skate San Diego in National City. Ahead 4-1 with 1:28 elapsed in the final period, the Titans — physically stronger and faster — appeared to have a lock on the championship.

But then something intangible happened. The Saints scored two minutes later to trim the score to 4-2 and from there the floodgates opened — one measured in a barrage of goals that turned a three-goal deficit into an unbelievable 6-4 victory.

“The boys got a glimmer of hope,” St. Augustine coach Christian Da Luz said flatly. “We’ll take that kind of third period any day of the week.”

Greg Park finished the game with a herculean effort that included five goals and one assist while Saints goaltender Mick Hammock turned back 25 of 29 Eastlake shots. The defense in front of him blocked half a dozen more excellent scoring chances to round out what Da Luz referred to as a consummate “team victory.”

“In a game like this with a lot of shots, goals can come like lightning,” Da Luz said. “It’s nice to know you can pull one out like this. These guys deserve this title. They’ve worked hard all season. It was a team effort. They really reached down. The guys did what they needed to do. Greg had a great third period and Mick, too.”

Park did not score his first goal until five minutes were left in the second period. Then it only slightly dented a 3-0 Eastlake lead. Park’s second goal came with 11:25 to play in the game. It proved to be a momentum shifter.

Fifty seconds later it was 4-3 Titans. With 8:03 remaining the score was tied. Forty-eight seconds after that, St. Augustine had its first lead of the game at 5-4.

Trent Robinson’s power play goal with 5:02 made it a two-goal Saints advantage.
It was a whirlwind finish to what proved to be a championship season.

“Their ’keeper was stopping everything,” Da Luz said. “But we kept on our follow-ups. We missed on a lot of great passes early in the game but they were there late in the game.”

The game was played in a hot rink due to unseasonably warm temperatures. Trailing by three goals, one might have thought that the Saints would be run into the ground trying to catch up.

Surprisingly, that didn’t happen.

Call it resiliency — call it heart.

“It was a physical game and we’re not used to playing physical games,” Da Luz said. “They (the Titans) are a great team. Our guys held up pretty well.”

White notched the lone goal of the opening period. It came late, with just 2:20 left on the clock. Eastlake doubled its margin just 1:25 into the middle period on the first of Patron’s two goals in the match-up. White made it 3-0 on a goal 1:40 later.

Patron’s second goal made it 4-1 as play was just getting under way in the final period.
Titan netminder Jason Campbell has been superb all game long. But something inexplicable happened. St. Augustine began to link up a great passing game, with three touches of the puck from one end of the rink to the other leading to one inspired goal. Almost immediately, players who were supposed to be dead tired suddenly got a second wind — and shots started going in.

“Greg was tired. It was hot in there,” Da Luz said. “But he kept going. Early in the season, he was our go-to guy and then Carter Pool stepped up. It’s nice to have enough depth throughout your lineup that when one guy is having an off game that there is someone else who is on that day. It was a fun game.”

The win secured first place in the league standings for the Saints, who were scheduled to receive a forfeit win from La Jolla in their last regular season game. St. Augustine improved to 10-1-0 in league play, 14-4-1 overall.

Tuesday’s win was the fifth consecutive for the Saints, who defeated Eastlake, 3-1, in the first round of league play.

As league champions, St. Augustine receives a bye to the quarterfinal round of the upcoming Kiwanis Cup championship playoffs.

“I would see us as the second or third seed but not lower that third,” Da Luz said in advance of Saturday’s playoff selection meeting.

Conversely, a win by Eastlake would have given the Titans (9-2-0, 16-3) no worse than a co-championship with one game remaining against arch rival Otay Ranch, which had a chance to forge a tri-championship with a season-ending victory against Eastlake.
The Mustangs (9-2-0, 15-4) stopped La Jolla (6-5, 9-10) by an 18-4 score on Tuesday behind seven goals from Matt Nafarrete.

The Kiwanis Cup playoffs start next week.

Lancers triumph
Hilltop (8-0, 15-5) officially claimed this year’s South Bay League title with a 10-7 win against an inspired La Jolla Country Day team on Tuesday. The Lancers had claimed the teams’ initial league match-up by a 7-2 score but had to work much harder against a Torreys squad that has continued to improve throughout the season.

Austin McDonald keyed Hilltop’s offense with five goals while Ruben Benavides collected two goals and one assist and Kekoa Latimore added a goal and two assists in support of winning goaltender Skyler Travis.

The game was tied 3-3 after the opening period, with the Lancers taking a 7-4 lead heading into the final period.

Ben Sweeney and Camille Corbin each scored three goals in the game to continually revive LJCD (6-2, 10-9-1). Corbin finished the game with six points by adding three assists. She entered the game ranked second in conference scoring with 65 goals and 19 assists.

James Owsiany contributed a goal and assist in another workhorse effort.

Matthew Kuehn and Greg Watters were both credited with single goals for Hilltop, which receives a bye to the Kiwanis Cup quarterfinals. McDonald iced the game with an empty-net goal with five seconds to play after the Torreys had pulled goaltender Eric Williamson after trimming the score to 9-7 with 1:15 to play.

Face-offs
The defending Kiwanis Cup champion Rancho Bernardo Broncos (17-2) all but secured this year’s North County League title with Monday’s 7-4 win against Westview. Adam Child had two goals and two assists to lead the Broncos, who entered Wednesday’s regular season finale with a four-point bulge in the standings on the runner-up Wolverines (9-3-2, 14-3-2). Poway and Scripps Ranch played to a 3-3 draw to take each team out of championship contention. The second-place finisher in the North County League is expected to receive one of the top four seeds in the playoffs.

Saints roll past Mustangs into first place

Posted Feb. 7, 2008
The St. Augustine Saints roller hockey team took a bold step toward claiming this year’s Mesa League title by defeating the Otay Ranch Mustangs by a 6-3 score on Monday. When the final whistle blew in a game in which the Saints — just second-year entrants in the 8-year-old CIF-sanctioned Metro Conference —had out-scored the defending league champion Mustangs by a 4-1 margin in the second half of the game, players on the winning St. Augustine team formed a frenzied swarm around goaltender Mick Hammock.

It wasn’t the Stanley Cup but it was new territory the Saints — a team without seniors a year ago. A win on Tuesday against Mesa League co-leader Eastlake will give the Saints (8-1, 12-4-1 overall) sole possession of this year’s league title.
St. Augustine topped Eastlake, 3-1, in first-round league play.

“I think this win meant more to the team than the one against Eastlake because of its significance,” Saints coach Christian Da Luz said. “We played in the league last year and knew just how strong some of these teams were. Our guys played the full rink — forwards skated back to play defense if they had to and defenders skated up if they had a chance to score. If you get enough shots, you’re going to get some goals. We did what we had to. Defenders were sliding blocking shots. Steven Curran had puck marks on his stomach and back. I told the team before the game that we had to beat Otay Ranch and Eastlake if we wanted to win league and that we could make it a moot point if we beat them both.”

The Mustangs (8-2,14-4) rang up the game’s jump goal, scored by Zach Johnson on a power play just 4:30 into the contest, but held a slim 1-0 lead at the end of the opening period despite owning the run of play. St. Augustine then racked up two short-handed goals while killing the same penalty midway though the second period. Greg Park tied the score on an unassisted goal and Carter Pool made it 2-1 Saints just 23 seconds later.

Otay Ranch leveled the score by finally scoring with the man-advantage (giving the teams three goals in one two-minute span), with Matt Nafarrete ramming in a feed from teammate James Dionicio.

The Saints then took a 5-2 lead on three unanswered goals, including one on a power play. Daniel Deiters made it 3-2 with a man-power goal and Pool doubled the St. Augustine lead by scoring with just five seconds left in the middle period. Pool may have scored the back-breaker 2:10 into the third period when he collected a puck that had squirted loose from a scramble involving numerous players along the dasher boards and skated in one-on-one against Otay Ranch netminder Victor Holland.
Park was credited with the assist.

The Mustangs, who topped the Saints by an 8-5 score on Jan. 24, made it a frantic finish by scoring with a two-man advantage with 6:25 left to play, with Carlos Melendez scoring on an assist from Johnson. But the Saints scrambled, hustled and focused on blocking everything thrown toward the net in the closing minutes, with Park finally icing the game on an unassisted goal with 40 seconds left on the clock.

“It took us a while to get going. We didn’t practice last week. We just had one game.” Park said. “If we beat Eastlake, we have first place.”

The Titans (8-1, 15-2) can secure sole possession of the Mesa title by defeating St. Augustine and Otay Ranch this coming week. However, a win by the Mustangs in the regular season finale could scramble the standings, producing either a co- or possibly tri-championship.

“It was a good game. We just got tired at the end,” Johnson said. “Saints played one of the best hockey games I’ve seen this year.”

Power plays
Mar Vista’s Emmanuel Alcaraz likely recorded a first in Mariners history when he scored three short-handed goals on the same penalty in a game against Southwest on Jan. 28. Alcaraz finished the contest – a 6-3 win – with four goals. His last three goals snapped a 3-3 tie between the teams after the Raiders had made an inspired comeback.

Mar Vista is starting nearly from scratch because of key players lost to graduation after a run of several years at the top of the South Bay League. The Mariners improved to 3-3 in league play, 4-14 overall, by defeating Castle Park, 12-2, on Monday and fall 9-0 to La Jolla Country Day on Tuesday. Andrew Bronkema had four goals and Jeff Longley was credited with two goals and two assists in Monday’s win while Robert Doyle was credited with two goals and one assist.

"We have a young team but the good thing about it is that all the kids want to play hockey," seventh-year Mariners coach Ron Cole said. "We’re better than (the 9-0 loss to the Torreys)."

Camille Corbin had eight goals and one assist in Monday’s 17-1 South Bay League victory against Southwest (1-5, 2-15) and tallied four times in Tuesday’s win. She entered the week with 53 goals and 18 assists — fourth overall in the conference scoring race behind La Jolla’s Johnny Noris (69 goals, 14 assists), Otay Ranch’s Nafarrete (53 goals, 21 assists) and Westview’s Garrett Taylor (51 goals, 21 assists).
Nafarrete had three goals and one assist in Tuesday’s 11-1 Otay Ranch win against Sweetwater (1-8, 4-11). Ryan Vazquez and Danielle McAvenia were each credited with two goals … Michael Kelley and Justin White each scored twice in Tuesday’s 6-1 victory against Chula Vista (0-9, 6-11) ... Noris solidified his conference scoring lead on Tuesday with six goals and two assists in La Jolla’s 12-4 win against Bonita Vista (2-7, 6-11). Steven Micallef had three of the Barons’ four goals.

Mesa League: The puck stops where?

Posted Jan. 30, 2008
There are two weeks left in regular season play for the CIF/Metro Conference’s 18 roller hockey teams. While it may seem that Hilltop has a lock on the South Bay League title after Monday’s 7-2 victory against La Jolla Country Day, much intrigue remains as to the outcome of the championship race in both the Mesa League.

Eastlake, Otay Ranch and St. Augustine are all tied with identical 6-1-0 records atop the Mesa League. Eastlake has beaten Otay Ranch but lost to St. Augustine while Otay Ranch scrambled the standings with an 8-5 win against the Saints last week.

Who will win this year’s Mesa League title? At this stage, it remains very much unknown.

After dropping a 3-1 decision to St. Augustine (13-2 overall) on Jan. 17, Eastlake has rebounded with a pair of wins against La Jolla (16-4 on Jan. 24 and 18-0 on Monday) while Otay Ranch skated past Bonita Vista, 12-0, on Tuesday and St. Augustine rolled past Chula Vista 9-1.

“I told the kids that (from now on) all we can do is lose league,” Titan coach Rone Torres said. “We just want to make up for our lousy performance against St. Augustine. We won league last year in the last game of the season and apparently it’s going to be the same way this year. That’s the way I’d like it to be — starting the playoffs early (with meaningful games to end regular season play).”

Torres and the Titans will get their wish: Eastlake will play St. Augustine and Otay Ranch in their final two games of regular season play. The Titans and Mustangs, in fact, will tangle in the league’s regular season finale on Feb. 14. Eastlake will test the Saints’ wheels on Feb. 12.

“All the kids have seen all the teams in the league once, so now there’s no surprises,” Torres said.

Dante Patron led Eastlake with five goals and four assists in the Jan. 24 encounter against the Vikings (4-4-0, 7-7-0) while Nate Scharmann added four goals and two assists and Justin White collected three goals and one assist. Patron registered eight points (five goals, three assists) in Monday’s win while Scharmann had three goals and one assist and Michael Kelley had two goals and two assists and Jace White added a goal and three assists.

Otay Ranch (12-3-0) and St. Augustine (10-4-1) get to set the table for what rates to be a fantastic finish by hooking up Monday, with the winner assured of retaining at least a share of first place. In the Mustangs’ Jan. 24 win against the Saints, Matt Nafarrete (four goals, two assists) and Zach Johnson (two goals, four assists) each spearheaded the offense with six points apiece.

St. Augustine notched the game’s jump goal but Otay Ranch stormed back with three unanswered goals to lead 3-1. Short-handed goals by St. Augustine’s Greg Park and Carter Pool narrowed the Otay Ranch lead to 5-4 heading into the third period. However, the Mustangs responded with three goals in the final period — all by Nafarrete and the first two assisted by Johnson.

Park led the Saints with three goals and one assist while Pool — the conference’s No. 9 scoring leader — had two goals.

Nafarrete entered the week positioned fourth in the conference scoring race with 41 goals and 17 assists.

“It definitely helps out knowing they beat Eastlake and we beat them,” said Johnson, who entered the week with 20 goals and 26 assists. “In the final 10 minutes, no one on our team slowed down,” Johnson said. “We picked it up when it came to crunch time.”
The Mustangs’ lone league loss was 5-4 to Eastlake on Jan. 10.

“We’re not going to put any pressure on ourselves,” Johnson said. “We know where we stand. We can’t lose. We know the little mistakes that will lose a game can’t happen again.”

St. Augustine coach Christian Da Luz termed his team’s impending match-ups against the fellow Mesa League leaders “a battle.”

“We’ve got to figure out some better match-ups against Otay,” Da Luz said. “They have great speed. I think we can adjust. We need to play smart. We didn’t string enough goals together.”

Rolling thunder … Lancers post 14-1 win over Mar Vista

Posted Jan. 23, 2008
The season is ticking down for the Hilltop Lancers roller hockey team … ticking down to perhaps a South Bay League championship.

The Lancers improved to 3-0 in league play (10-5 overall) after demolishing a young Mar Vista team, 14-1, at Skate San Diego in National City. The win raised Hilltop’s league record to a perfect 3-0 with the Lancers’ chief challenger – the La Jolla Country Day Torreys – awaiting in a long-awaited match-up on Monday.

Hilltop entered the week with three of the CIF/Metro Conference’s top eight scorers in with Ruben Benavides (first overall with 34 goals and 27 assists), Austin McDonald (sixth overall with 25 goals and 25 assists) and Kekoa Latimore (eighth overall with 28 goals and 18 assists. The trio combined for 17 points in Tuesday’s win. Latimore (four goals, four assists) led the scoring parade ahead of teammates Benavides (four goals, one assist) and McDonald (two goals, two assists).

“Right now, we have five games left,” said Hilltop coach Dan Vacarro, who previously announced he would be retiring from coaching at the end of this season after more than a decade with the team. “I think looking at the schedule, we could end up 15-5. I know our division (South Bay League) isn’t the strongest but it’s who we play.”

The Lancers would receive a bye to the quarterfinals of the upcoming Kiwanis Cup playoffs by winning the South Bay League title. Depending on the seeding of the 12-team post-season tournament, Hilltop could face rematches with both Eastlake (11-2 overall) or Otay Ranch (10-3), both contending for the Mesa League banner against a maturing St. Augustine team (9-3-1).

Hilltop has met all three Mesa League contenders in non-league play this season, going 1-2. The Lancers edged St. Augustine, 8-6, while dropping an epic 7-5 contest against Eastlake and coming up short by a tight 3-1 score against Otay Ranch.

“I think Otay Ranch, Eastlake and Hilltop are all right there together. They would make a nice round robin,” Vacarro said. “I think we match up well. I’m looking forward to the playoffs.”

The Torreys are 3-0 in South Bay League play, 6-7-1 overall and boast two of the conference’s top 10 scorers in Camille Corbin (fourth overall with 39 goals and 11 assists) and Ben Sweeney (11th overall with 25 goals and 16 assists).

“When we play La Jolla Country Day next week, I think that we’ll have a good game,” Vacarro said. “Our goaltending (starter Skler Travis) is coming along. Fifteen and five would be a nice season. It will be my last.”

Team of the Month
Saints benefit from senior leadership

Posted Jan. 18, 2008
The 2007-08 edition of the St. Augustine High School roller hockey team looked to be good skating out of the gate but just how good? That question has been answered with a 5-0 start in league play in the CIF Mesa League. For good measure, the Saints own a 7-6 come-from-behind non-league victory against perennial San Diego County prep power Scripps Ranch, a team by which the standard has been measured in recent years in the CIF/Metro Conference.

The difference, according to St. Augustine coach Christian Da Luz, is having seniors on the team this season.

Last year, the Saints skated in their first season in the CIF/Metro Conference without any seniors, missing the Kiwanis Cup championship playoffs with an 8-12-0 record.

This year, the St. Augustine line-up boasts four seniors.

Da Luz said the veteran leadership has proven invaluable in his team’s 9-3-1 start to the 2007-08 season.

“It’s nice,” he said. “Everyone seems to have stronger skills. The leadership is noticeably stronger in practice. Our practices have been great this year.”

The Saints hold practices at 4S Ranch in Rancho Bernardo, a 30-minute car ride from the 400-enrollment all-boys parochial school’s North Park campus. “None of the kids complain. They show up at every practice,” Da Luz said.

St. Augustine served notice it would be a contender this season from its very first game – a 6-5 loss to the Poway Titans, a finalist in last year’s Kiwanis Cup championship playoffs. The Saints became the team to beat for this year’s Mesa League title after slipping past the defending league champion Eastlake Titans, 3-1, in a high profile match-up on Jan. 17.

Said Eastlake coach Rone Torres: “They celebrated like they had just won the Stanley Cup.”

In zooming to a 5-0 start, the Saints had outscored league rivals 50-9. They are set to close out first-round league play Jan. 24 against the Otay Ranch Mustangs. Eastlake edged Otay Ranch, 5-4, in an epic battle on Jan. 10 to set the tone for what shapes up to be a dramatic chase for the Mesa League championship and an automatic berth in February’s Kiwanis Cup playoffs.

“A year in, we know what to expect,” Da Luz said. “When the kids lock it down, they can play a real skilled game.”

He added: “The second year in CIF, we definitely want to be a playoff team. We want to be competitive with the stronger, more established teams in the conference.”

The team’s seniors this season include forwards T.J. Acierno and Alex Kraft and forwards Greg Park and Quinn Pendleton.

Park, who is an experienced ice hockey player, led the Saints in scoring last season with 40 goals and 27 assists to rank eighth in the conference with 67 points.

The team’s large junior class includes forwards Carter Pool and Cameron Kayfish, defensemen Trent Robinson and Stephen Curran and goaltender Mick Hammock.

Jordan Jodzio and Daniel Deiters are the team’s two sophomore forwards while defenseman Ian Vedder is the team’s impact freshman this season.

Pool has emerged as one of the conference’s top players, bar none. He had collected 32 goals and 12 assists for 44 points in the Saints’ opening 13 games to rank ninth overall in conference scoring (18 teams). He had all three goals in the titanic victory against Eastlake. Park was the team’s early go-to man, always somehow seeming to score a goal when the team needed it the most. Through 13 games, he ranked second on the team with 31 points (21 goals, 10 assists).

Eastlake, which had just edged Scripps Ranch 3-2 the previous week in another high impact non-league game, out-shot St. Augustine 40-32 but fell behind early 2-0 because of penalty trouble. The Saints’ defense clamped down from there in northing short of an eye-popping performance.

In the prestige victory against Scripps Ranch on Dec. 3, the defending North County League champion Falcons led 6-2 early in the final period before St. Augustine erupted for five goals to skate to the upset victory. Pool led the Saints with four goals and three assists to record a point on every St. Augustine goal while Park scored twice.

Pool led all scorers with five goals and three assists in an 11-4 win against the La Jolla Vikings on Dec. 20 to help his team improve to 2-0 in Mesa League play after facing off league play with an 11-1 victory against the Sweetwater Red Devils the previous day as Pool and Acierno each recorded hat tricks.

The Saints continued with strong start with an 11-1 league win against the Chula Vista Spartans on Jan. 8 as Pool led the way with four goals and one assist and a 14-2 win against the Bonita Vista Barons on Jan. 15 as Pool paced the winners with four goals and Pendleton added a hat trick.

Overall, St. Augustine boasts a 3-2 record against teams from the potent North County League, adding 6-4 and 4-3 victories against the West Hills Wolf Pack and Vista Panthers, respectively. Park scored four goals and added an assist to lead St. Augustine past West Hills on Dec. 5. Park scored three goals in the Dec. 10 encounter against Vista but it was Pool’s goal, assisted by Dieters, that won the game with 18 seconds left.

In one of the team’s more dramatic outings this season, the Saints scored twice in the final 3:10 to force a 6-6 tie game against the La Jolla Country Day Torreys on Dec. 11. Pool led a St. Augustine squad racked by sickness with three goals and an assist while Park had four points on two goals and two assists.

In another show of resiliency by St. Augustine, Poway blitzed to a 5-0 first period lead and then held off a ferocious third-period charge by the Saints to register the 6-5 non-league win in the teams' season opener on Nov. 26. St. Augustine dropped a narrow 6-4 decision against Westview, a playoff semifinalist last season.

Player of the Month
Camille Corbin standing tall for Lady Ducks, LJCD Torreys

Posted Jan. 18, 2008
Camille Corbin has a dream. It is to one day play women’s collegiate ice hockey. She isn’t saying she’s going to play in the Olympics, though that certainly would be a welcome once-in-a-lifetime experience. She just wants to be considered good enough to play at the collegiate level.

For a high school freshman, that seems like a fulfilling goal.

“There’s times I think I’m putting too much pressure on it. But I need to be realistic. It’s something I really want to do,” said Corbin, who is participating in her first year as a left wing on the Lady Ducks AAA 16-and-under team.

Corbin also plays roller hockey during the week for her high school team, the La Jolla Country Day Torreys. She has quickly made a name for herself in a sport that officially brands itself as co-ed but has rosters that are 95 percent male dominated. She could be the second-best female player ever to play CIF high school roller hockey in San Diego County. The best player, of course, would be Kelly Nash, a 2007 graduate of Bonita Vista High School in Chula Vista, who is now playing for the defending NCAA champion University of Wisconsin women's ice hockey team.

Corbin is familiar with Nash from watching games when her older brother Alex played. "She was kind of my idol," Corbin said of Nash.

The La Jolla Country Day frosh wants to follow in Nash's elite footsteps.

Corbin has played ice hockey 10 years and roller hockey two years. Prior to joining the Lady Ducks program, she skated for the Lady Saints team out of the Kroc Center in San Diego. "I wanted to push myself up to a higher level," she said of her decision to switch to the Lady Ducks program. "I want to try to get into a prep school and play hockey and go as far as I can."

Corbin is currently juggling a very busy schedule.

"I go up three times each week (for practices with the Lady Ducks). It takes a while to get there (from San Diego to Anaheim),” she said. “I try to get all my school work done. Whenever I don't have ice hockey, I have roller hockey to work on."

Corbin got into hockey because of family connections. "My Dad is from Ohio and he played (ice hockey) on ponds. My brother played (roller hockey) at La Jolla Country Day two years ago," she said..

Corbin said playing roller hockey has helped her passing game on ice. "You're always moving in roller hockey, there's less stopping. You're always moving your feet. It uses more hand-eye coordination," she said.

The Lady Ducks competed in the 23rd annual Connecticut Polar Bear Christmas tournament over the holiday break, finishing with one tie and three losses while playing up an age division (17-AA). The Lady Ducks tied Syracuse (N.Y.) 1-1 for their only game point but dropped a narrow 3-2 decision against a powerful Assabet Valley (Mass.) team that finished second in the Division 4 standings.

"We were the youngest team there, we're going to be better next year," Corbin promised.

Despite being on a women's team, Corbin said the Lady Ducks play a sizable number of boys teams during the regular season besides selected scrimmage games against other elite women's teams. "We're getting tougher by playing against boys but the boys are getting stronger now at the Midget level," she said.

Perhaps not surprisingly, she has taken her share of punishment on the rink because of her gender in coed game situations.

Case in point: During a recent La Jolla Country Day roller hockey game, she was checked unnecessarily hard into the dasher boards. Right behind the Plexiglas were a group of male players waiting to play in the next game. They cheered when Corbin was driven to the floor. It was a low moment for the sport.

But Corbin handled herself with the utmost sportsmanship. She retrieved her stick, got back into the flow of the game and scored a goal within a minute of the check -- all right in front of her hecklers.

“It gets tough,” Corbin said of playing against physically-stronger boys. “It can be embarrassing totally. But I try to score goals to make up for that. Standing tall and keeping my chin high is about the best I can do. But scoring helps."

Scoring is exactly what Corbin has become quite proficient at with the Torreys. She has passed teammate Ben Sweeney, an all-league player last season, for the team lead and now ranks among the 18-team conference’s top 10 point-scorers. Her 50 points through 13 games ranked fourth best out of more than 200 players in the conference. Her 39 goals stood third best.

Her top attributes include passing and shooting accuracy. She totaled nine goals and three assists in a Jan. 8 CIF South Bay League game against Castle Park High School, collected seven goals in a Jan. 14 CIF league game against Southwest High School and and tacked on six goals and an assist in a Jan. 15 CIF league game against Mar Vista High School.

While Corbin may not possess the "soft hands" that Nash is famous for, she has a decided height advantage. LJCD coach David Brink calls Corbin more or a grinder than a finesse player such as Nash.

"We're happy to have her on the team this year," Brink said. "She may not be the most graceful skater but she's a grinder. She's a team player. She always seems to make the right decisions on when to pass and when to shoot. She complements the play of several other players on the team. She does a nice job of finishing, especially when two of our more experienced players, Ben (Sweeney) and James (Owsiany), are feeding her."

In the meantime, Corbin will continue to do what she does best: pile up goals and points for her team. She definitely stands tall in that department.

Sibling rivalry:
Eastlake’s Justin and Jace White give it their best shot on the hockey court

Posted Jan. 18, 2008
Fierce might be too soft a word to describe Eastlake High School roller hockey standout Justin White when he’s on the playing court. Mean doesn’t fit, nor does wild or reckless.
Hard core might be too cliche.

“I run off intensity,” White said bluntly.

“Playing angry” is simply how his father Jim likes to put it.

“When he puts on that mask, his whole face changes,” the elder White said. “He gets all serious and aggressive.”

White made an impression last season by finishing sixth in team scoring with 12 goals and 17 assists as a freshman. This season he is joined in the Eastlake lineup by his younger brother Jace, a freshman forward. Both have quickly risen to become team leaders to help propel the Titans to a CIF/Metro Conference-best 11-1 record.

“Both have extensive ice hockey and travel team roller hockey experience,” Eastlake coach Rone Torres said. “They’ve definitely made an impact on our team.”
Torres likes to call Justin White the team’s “captain in training.”

“He started as a freshman. He’s the most fundamentally sound player we have on our team,” said Torres of the now sophomore defenseman. “He’s not the fastest player we have on our team and he doesn’t score all the goals but he’s the most complete player we have.”

Jace White, as a member of the team’s No. 2 line, gets just as much playing time as the team’s starters, according to Torres.

“He’s the first substitute when we play big guns,” Torres said of the talented freshman.
Given the brothers’ background, it’s not too surprising they have excelled in hockey — be it the version played on ice or on hardcourt.

Father Jim and mother Marla are what they term “huge” hockey fans. The family has made trips to watch NHL games in Anaheim, Los Angeles and Phoenix and once even took in a Calgary Flames game in the Saddledome in Canada.

Justin’s introduction to the sport began at age 2 by watching two neighbors play pick-up games.

“Justin has always wanted to play hockey. He’s never wanted to play any other sport,” said Jim White, who played football and ran track at Bonita Vista High School.
Jace got hooked on the sport after watching his older brother practice.

“My brother played and I liked it,” Jace said about his introduction to hockey. “I’m used to playing with my brother but it’s nice to do it in high school.”

It might be difficult to find anyone (except perhaps in Canada) more dedicated to the sport than Justin, however. His room is adorned with all sorts of personal hockey memorabilia, including posters of NHL players.

It’s the look of sheer intensity on his face while on the court that commands attention.
He said his motivation is simple.

“I want to be the best and I want to win,” he said. “I want our team to be the best out there. I hate to lose.”

Justin led the Titans in overall scoring with 21 goals and 14 assists for 35 points — two points ahead of teammate Dante Patron (22 goals, 11 assists). Jace ranked sixth in team scoring with six goals and five assists.

Jace set up the game-tying goal in the Titans’ 5-4 victory against Otay Ranch on Jan. 10 that propelled them to the top of the Mesa League standings. Jace also helped set up the game-winning goal in Eastlake’s heroic 3-2 victory against defending North County League champion Scripps Ranch the following day. Torres called the match-up against Scripps Ranch a battle for the second and third seed in the upcoming Kiwanis Cup championship playoffs.

Justin scored two goals in the win against Otay Ranch and supplied the game-tying goal on a blast from half court in the Titans’ win over Scripps Ranch.

The White siblings have played in the North American Roller Hockey Championship series (NARCh), regarded as the top amateur roller hockey championship series in the world, and have three years of ice hockey experience behind them. Roller hockey travel teams have included the Chula Vista Hawks and San Diego Samurai. They currently play ice hockey for the 16-and-under Midget A San Diego Ice Arena Oilers in Mira Mesa. The ice and high school