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SD Prep Sports: Roller Hockey

2006 Kiwanis Cup Championship Playoff Report
Game on! Mustangs roll into Kiwanis Cup semifinals

By Phillip Brents

NATIONAL CITY, Feb. 22, 2006 -- The CIF/Metro Conference Kiwanis Cup championship playoffs kicked into high gear with Wednesday’s quarterfinal-round, and high gear it was with a trio of South County-based teams trying to steady themselves against the roar that epitomizes North County roller hockey. When the final buzzer sounded at Skate San Diego in National City, one South County team was left standing — barely — heading into Monday’s semifinals.

“What a game!” Otay Ranch coach Lyn Dyer said with a well-deserved sigh of relief and sense of euphoria after his Mustangs hung on to defeat Rancho Bernardo, 4-3, in what was easily the best matchup so far in the opening two rounds of postseason competition.

Ahead 2-0 after the opening period on a pair of goals by Matt Naferrete, third-seeded Otay Ranch withstood a pair of goals by the sixth-seeded Broncos in the middle period to take a 3-2 lead into the final 15 minutes of play. That lead grew to 4-2 just 15 seconds into the final stanza as Nafarrete scored his fourth goal of the night.

The Mustangs would need every one of Nafarrete’s goals — and the scintillating goaltending of Victor Holland — to hold off Rancho Bernardo down the stretch. The Broncos rallied with 10:03 left in the game to pull to within one goal on the scoreboard and had more than ample opportunity to notch the equalizer, if not the game-winner, in the final frantic minutes as the Mustangs found themselves in penalty trouble.

The Broncos, who finished fourth in the North County League standings, made it a half-court game for much of the final five minutes of the contest as they peppered Holland with shots. Otay Ranch took three penalties in the final 5:55, including two that overlapped to give Rancho Bernardo a two-skater advantage for 1:24. But the Mustang defense did its job, supporting Holland with its own inspired play.

Otay Ranch finished the game with 13 shots. The Broncos whipped off 15 shots alone in the final period as they outshot the defending South Bay League co-champions 33-13.

Holland finished the game with a season-high 30 saves. Nearly every one was worth a spot in the proverbial game highlight film.
In other words: just what a playoff game is supposed to be like.

“We just got too many penalties at the end. We can’t do that again,” Dyer said. “We were pretty good on the penalty kill. We scored two goals on the power play. We played hard.”

Otay Ranch (18-2-1) was charged with eight penalties in the contest, allowing one odd-strength goal. Rancho Bernardo, which had eliminated Eastlake by a 9-4 score in Tuesday’s opening round, took six penalties, allowing two man-disadvantage goals.

The Mustangs advance to Monday’s semifinal matchup against second-seeded Westview, which ousted South Bay League co-champion Mar Vista by an 8-1 score in Tuesday’s quarterfinals.

The Wolverines, who finished one point off the lead in the North County League standings, take a 16-2-3 overall record into Monday’s 5:30 p.m. semifinal encounter at Skate San Diego.

North County League champion Poway (16-1-4) will meet two-time defending Kiwanis Cup champion Scripps Ranch (15-3-4) in the other semifinal contest, set for a 7:10 p.m. face-off at the Escondido Sports Center.

The Kiwanis Cup championship game is scheduled Wednesday. If Otay Ranch advances, the title game would be at 6:30 p.m. at Skate San Diego. If Westview emerges a winner to make it an all-North County final, the championship game would be played at 7:30 p.m. in Escondido.

The Mustangs will need to play near-error free — as well as duplicate their inspired play — if they are to take their game a step farther in the playoffs.

“We got some work cut out for us. Those northern teams are looking pretty tough out there,” Dyer said.

Otay Ranch grabbed the momentum early in Wednesday’s game and made the Broncos play catch-up throughout the contest. Rancho Bernardo’s Rory Hansen was charged with a slashing penalty just 33 seconds into the game. It took Nafarrete 1:04 into the two-minute infraction to put the Mustangs up 1-0. Otay Ranch doubled its lead to 2-0 two-and-a-half minutes later when team scoring leader Adrian Rodriguez fed Nafarrete for another power play marker.

The teams took turns skating in transition, attacking and defending, with the Broncos starting to slowly compile more rushes than their opponent as the game wore one. Rancho Bernardo halved the score to 2-1 with 8:17 to play in the second period on a goal by Adam Child. Matt Kreskey got the Broncos on the scoreboard again but not before Nafarrete had extended his team’s edge to 3-1.

Rancho Bernardo (12-9-1) hampered its game early by taking four penalties in the opening period and the Mustangs nearly let the game slip away from them by taking four penalties in the final frame.

“I can’t believe that one went in,” Nafarrete said of one of his four goals.

The Broncos were simply left scratching their heads as to how so many of their shots didn’t go in.

Mariners thumped 8-1, eliminated by Wolverines
Wednesday’s CIF/Metro Conference Kiwanis Cup championship tournament quarterfinal-round playoff game ended with a bang, but it wasn’t the type of bang that Mar Vista coach Ron Cole was expecting.

“Totally unexpected,” Cole said after his team was humbled, at least on the scoreboard, by an 8-1 final score courtesy of the Westview Wolverines.

Cole, as did many observers, expected a much tighter outcome. While the defending South Bay League co-champion Mariners skated evenly in the early going against the second-seeded Wolverines, the inability to put rubber between the pipes eventually cost the South Bay powerhouse squad.

Mar Vista had entered the game riding a 15-game unbeaten streak (14-0-1) that included Tuesday’s exciting 4-1 victory against Mesa League runner-up Bonita Vista.

The Wolverines, meanwhile, must be considered a prime contender to win this year’s championship title. Westview scored early, 2:10 into the contest, on a goal by Mike Kiraly. But the game seemed to settle down with seventh-seeded Mar Vista gaining more and more down-court rushes. However, the inability to put anything especially dangerous on Westview goaltender Ben Cohen cost the Mariners a 2-0 first-period deficit when Garrett Taylor scored for the Wolverines with 2:17 left in the first stanza.

The late first-period goal handed the visitors the momentum entering the second period and four goals later the Wolverines held a commanding 6-0 edge. Anthony Sansone, who drew the assist on Westview’s second goal, scored the first of what would be four goals on the night 3:39 into the middle period. Josh Dykman then ignited a flurry of three Westview goals in a 3:16 span with a tally, set up by Leo Scheiler, with 6:18 left in the period. Sansone closed out the second period with goals 42 seconds apart.

The Wolverines led 7-0 before Mar Vista could finally get a shot past Cohen as Trevin Tuovenin, assisted by conference scoring leader Ian Nicklen, finally put the Mariners on the scoreboard with 5:36 left to play in the final period. Taylor picked up his second goal of the game for Westview with 2:01 left.

Sansone led all scorers in the game with four goals and one assist. Taylor had two goals and one assist.

Nicklen finished the season with 78 goals and 28 assists for 106 points. Sansone, playing in the more competitive North County League racked up 56 points on 26 goals and 30 assists. Sansone was a prime reason the Wolverines posted a 1-1-1 mark against top-seeded Poway and a 1-0-2 record against Scripps Ranch.

Westview improved to 6-0 in games this season against teams from the Mesa League and South Bay League. Overall, North County League teams hold a commanding 33-3 edge in inter-league competition this season, including six playoff contests.

Westview previously had defeated Mar Vista, 10-2, in early-season non-league play.

“We’ve got a solid core of players who have been playing together eight years, led by our captain Anthony Sansone. We’re getting great goaltending from Ben Cohen. No matter who we put in there we have a solid lineup. There’s no moral victories — we’re good enough to win the championship, as are the other teams in the semifinals,” Wolvernies coach Gordon Wiens said.

Wednesday’s outing by Mar Vista (16-5-1) came in sharp contrast to Tuesday’s 4-1 first-round victory against Bonita Vista. Mike Ellison, Adrian Avalos, Tuovenin and Nicklen each scored goals against a begrudging Baron defense braced by goaltender Cody Mazzarella that held the score in a 1-1 deadlock until the final six minutes of the middle period.

“It was a fun game to watch,” Cole said.

After a scoreless first period in which Cole estimated his team took between 20 and 25 shots on Mazzarella to no avail, Ellison gave Mar Vista a 1-0 lead 2:18 into the second period. But Bonita Vista, which finished one point off the Mesa League lead with an 0-1-1 showing in the final week of regular season play, stood up to tie the contest at a goal apiece when Eric Enciso, assisted by Willy Anderson, beat MV goaltender Mike Gisi 4:24 into the period.

The score stood at a stalemate for nearly five minutes — with most of the action directed at Mazzarella — until Avalos finally found a chink in the BV netminder’s armor. Tuovenin made it 3-1 with 2:59 left in the frame and the Barons held the score down until 3:01 remained in the contest when Nicklen finally put his name in the score book. Jeremy Tanaka picked up two assists in the game for the victorious Mariners, who ran their unbeaten streak to 15 games (14-0-1).

Scripps Ranch 20, La Jolla 3
The fifth-seeded Falcons struck early and often to eliminate the Mesa League champion Vikings. Matt Comrie had five goals and four assists and Ryan Knight had four goals and four assists to lead Scripps Ranch, which had four players record hat tricks in the game. Wes Crooks and Andrew Reinhold each scored three goals while Chad Ruhwedel had a goal and three assists and Josh Lopez contributed a goal and two assists. Patrick Secord and Brendan McMenamy each tallied a goal and assist for the Falcons, who led 6-0 after one period and ran off six unanswered goals to close the game. Johnny Noris and Nick Whaley each had a goal and assist to pace La Jolla.

Round 1 Playoff Summaries

Scripps Ranch 14, Hilltop 1
Feb. 21 at Skate San Diego: Chad Ruhwedel had five goals and two assists and Ryan Knight added four goals and one assist to lead the two-time defending Kiwanis Cup champion Falcons. Scripps Ranch received points from eight players and goals from six skaters. Matt Comrie had two goals and one assist while Patrick Secord added a goal and assist and Wes Crooks and Andrew Reinhold each scored once. The Falcons opened a quick 4-0 lead, held a 6-1 advantage after one period and closed the game with 10 unanswered goals. Kevin Mark got Hilltop’s lone goal, assisted by Austin McDonald.

Rancho Bernardo 9, Eastlake 4
Feb. 21 at Skate San Diego: Matt Kreskey scored three goals and one assist, Kory Grahl netted a hat trick and Rory Hansen added two goals and one assist to lift the Broncos past the Titans, who trailed by a 3-2 score after the opening period and 5-3 with two minutes left in the second period. J.K. Williams and Casey Shotwell paced Eastlake each with two goals while Andrew Abuyo was credited with two assists. Williams’ second goal tied the game briefly at 2-2. Grahl’s second goal, scored with 1:28 to play in the middle period after the Titans had answered back with a pair of unanswered goals, proved to be a momentum-shifter for Rancho Bernardo, making the score 6-3 heading into the final period.

Vista 15, La Jolla Country Day 2
Feb. 21 at Skate San Diego: Manny Alvarado scored the jump-goal en route to a hat trick performance to lead the Panthers, who growled to a 6-1 first period lead in eliminating the Torreys.

Tie lifts Titans into Kiwanis Cup playoff draw
If there was one game that likely enabled the Eastlake Titans to qualify for this year’s CIF/Metro Conference Kiwanis Cup playoffs, it was the Titans’ 5-5 tie against Bonita Vista on Feb. 14 — or rather, the Barons’ draw against Eastlake. The Titans held a hard-fought 5-4 lead before Bonita Vista, fighting to stay on top of the Mesa League standings, tied the score with time running out. Eastlake goaltender Daniel Hoshina then made a last-second save on a laser shot by the Barons’ Blake Tanner that prevented a dramatic comeback win by Bonita Vista.

“Our guys played with a lot of composure to come back from being down 2-0. It was a great effort,” said Eastlake coach Jeff Mechling, whose team finished 0-2-1 against its longtime eastside rival, losing two games each by one-goal margins.
“Two goals separated us in three games against Bonita,” Mechling said.

Eastlake finished regular season play 8-9-1. Hoshina’s save likely cost the Barons a chance at a league co-championship.