SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Roller Hockey

Carlsbad Lancers can still touch championship magic

By Phillip Brents

Posted Jan. 10, 2003

Despite the passage of three years, Carlsbad High School roller hockey coach Bob Seal said he can still touch the magic of his team’s 2001 championship season.

"The skill of the players was tremendous. The goaltending was very good. We had a lot of guys with a lot of experience, a lot of guys who had been playing since age five. That helps," said Seal while recalling the team’s 3-2 exciting overtime victory against Scripps Ranch.

This is Seal’s third year as coach. He served as the assistant coach during the team’s championship season. While this year’s Carlsbad team may not be nearly as experienced as the 2001 squad, Seal said the team’s goal is to once again qualify for the San Diego County High School Roller Hockey Conference playoffs.

The Lancers are off to a 2-2 start this season. Twelve of the conference’s 18 teams qualify for postseason play.

"That’s a goal this year," Seal said. "We got some new players. We’re missing some players who would be returning who have work commitments. We’ll do the best we can."

Only Mark Wosk, Ross Pfahler and Anthony Payne remain from that championship season. All are four-year players on the team. They form a core of players, along with Alec Nadelle, who has ice hockey experience, who are being looked upon as team leaders.

Wosk set up the game-winner in the 2001 championship game against Scripps Ranch.

Rounding out the team’s 2003-04 roster are Tim Carr, Kenny Hoyle, David Rossi, Ryan Merhab, Drew Oflovar, Cory Spinos, Kurtis Wooden and Jake Ingham.

Carlsbad finished 5-5-1 last season, placing fourth in the North County League. The Lancers, seeded 11^th in the playoffs, defeated sixth-seeded Poway, 2-1, in the opening round to advance to the quarterfinals. Carlsbad’s playoff run ended with a 4-1 setback to San Pasqual.

Seal will find out how far the senior leadership carries the team this season.

Ebb and flow

The 2003-04 schedule had to be revised two weeks into the season with the announcement that three-time conference champion Monte Vista – the circuit’s flagship club – would not be fielding a team this season.

The Monarchs, who captured last season’s Southeastern League title en route to earning the third seed in the playoffs, failed to field enough players for their first two games this season, prompting the decision to withdraw from the league.

Monte Vista came within a pair of goals of advancing to last year’s championship game, dropping a 7-6 decision in the semifinals to eventual runner-up Vista. The Monarchs appeared in the conference’s first four playoff championship finals, finishing second the first season to Valhalla and winning the next three in a row.

"This is a sad way to end it. It’s shocking actually," said former Monte Vista star Tony Mauro.

The Monarchs’ unexpected exit brought the number of teams to five that had at one time appeared in a conference championship game. Monte Vista joins Valhalla (1996 champions), RBV (2000 champions), Scripps Ranch (1999 and 2001 runners-up) and Granite Hills (2002 runners-up) that are no longer fielding teams in the conference.

Scripps Ranch withdrew to compete in the CIF/Metro Conference while the other programs have either disbanded or dropped to house league play.

Conference membership, however, remained at 18 teams this season as former member Grossmont returned to active status to replace Monte Vista. Grossmont will compete in the Southeastern League and will make up the Monarchs’ initial two games.

Grossmont jumped into the fray, three weeks into the season, with a 9-2 loss to Vista but evened its record at 1-1 with a 17-0 shutout win against Mission Bay the following week. Archie Nielson and Andy Dimento led Vista with hat tricks while Anthony DiStefano scored twice for Grossmont. Jonathan Morales had seven goals and four assists for Grossmont in the win against Mission Bay.

Through five games, two teams had yet to taste defeat: Poway and Westview, both at 5-0-0. Three other teams had lost just one: Torrey Pines, Escondido and Vista, all at 4-1-0. Poway led the conference in both goals scored (46) and least goals allowed (3) while Westview ranked second in both goals scored (45) and least goals allowed (15).

Playoffs open Feb. 23.