SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Roller Hockey

2005-06 CIF/Metro Conference
Eastlake roller hockey team looks to surprise ending for league title

By Phillip Brents

After going 0-4 to start the season with a challenging schedule against hard-hitting and talent-heavy North County League teams, the Eastlake High School roller hockey team hopes to score a breakout campaign in its remaining CIF/Metro Conference games, possibly ending with a Mesa League title.

But this season looks to be a challenge along the way, according to Titans head coach Jeff Mechling.
“Our biggest problem is that we don’t have an established goaltender this year. That’s something we have been very fortunate to have in the past. This is a first for me since I’ve been coaching here,” Mechling said.

When facing tougher opponents, Eastlake has been forced out of necessity to place one of its top field players — junior Zack McElroy — between the pipes to steady the team. That has left a corresponding drain in the scoring department. However, Mechling believes his team can manage to work through this dilemma with improved positional play, hard work, dedication and possibly even the luxury of time to train another netminder in order to allow McElroy some playing time out of the net.

The Titans finished second in last season’s Mesa League standings to Bonita Vista, which has also suffered heavily due to graduation. In essence, the race for this year’s title appears to be up for grabs.

Senior Chris Sexton is the team’s only four-year player this season. He joins McElroy, a three-year player, along with juniors Casey Shotwell and Kyle Wagner, and talented fellow returners Nathan Scharmann and Jonathan Williams as the team’s impact players. Freshman Andrew Abuyo could also prove to be an impact player this season, Mechling said.

“We will have trouble against the North County teams but we still feel we have enough talent and experience to challenge for the Mesa League title this year,” the Eastlake coach said.

The Titans displayed some of that potential in recording a 9-1 victory against the San Diego Jewish Academy on Dec. 12 to get in the win column for the first time after suffering losses against Rancho Bernardo (9-1), Scripps Ranch (18-0), Vista (10-3) and Westview (7-1).

McElroy, who played the goaltender position in youth leagues, turned in a scintillating performance in the game against Westview by keeping the Titans, who had lost a key field player to an injury early in the contest, within one goal through two periods before overall team fatigue set in.

“It’s tough facing 50 shots in games like that but Zack really stepped it up for us. He turned in an amazing performance. It really inspired the rest of the team,” said Titans assistant coach Frank Lopez, a former goaltender with the team.