SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Roller Hockey

Talent shines on 2002-03 Metro Conference roller hockey teams

By Phillip Brents

Posted April 12, 2003

With only seven spots and a ton of talent, Metro Conference roller hockey coaches had to be very selective in penciling in this season’s First Team All-Conference picks. The same goes for the Second Team All-Metro selections.

In a young sport that continues to parade out players with an increasing level of experience, the caliber of athletes who participated in the 2002-03 campaign certainly brought the conference to new heights. The standard was clearly raised.
It expects only to get better if perennially tough and battle-tested North County teams gain admission to the conference next season, as expected.

La Jolla Country Day junior forward Nathan Sigmund received the nod as this season’s Metro Conference Player of the Year. For anyone who has seen him play on the court this season, his selection was a most deserving one. Some observers are picking him to one day play in the NHL alongside current Scripps Ranch junior standout Dan Comrie, the 2001-02 Metro Player of the Year.

Both are members of the Junior Gulls Midget 17-and-under AAA ice hockey team that finished its season last month in the semifinals of the Pacific District championships in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Sigmund led the Torreys (the school changed its nickname this season) to this season’s Division I Kiwanis Cup title by scoring four goals in his team’s 7-5 championship game victory March 4 at Skate San Diego in National City against Comrie’s regular season champion Falcons. Sigmund led all playoff scorers with eight goals and four assists for 12 points in just two games. He notched 28 goals and 14 assists for 42 points in the last 10 games of regular season play and finished the season with 51 goals and 35 assists for 86 points to rank third in overall Division I scoring.

Castle Park senior forward Donny McGraw led the conference in scoring with 119 points on 86 goals and 33 assists while Hilltop senior defenseman Carl Horten finished second with 87 points on 54 goals and 33 assists.

McGraw, who averaged 5.4 points per game the final 10 games games of the regular season, paced the conference in goal scoring. Trojan defenseman Richard Garcia, who finished fourth in scoring with 44 goals and 40 assists, led all Division I scorers in assists.

Horten joins Sigmund as First Team All-Metro Conference picks along with La Jolla Country Day senior forward Frankie Warren, Bonita Vista senior defenseman Joey Galeno and Scripps Ranch teammates Rick Comrie, a senior defenseman, and Brandon George, a junior goaltender.

Garcia and McGraw key the Second Team All-Metro selections along with Bonita Vista defenseman James Arakaki, Eastlake defenseman Adrian Rodriguez, Hilltop forward Erick Morgan, Castle Park forward Arturo Garcia and Hilltop goaltender Chris Romero.

There are a few more players who easily could have had their names listed on either of the above two teams.

Sigmund and Warren helped comprise what LJCD coach Dean Wilson liked to refer to as the Torreys’ “Fab Four” that also included defensemen Max Guise and Chris Bartlett.

Wilson called Sigmund the quintessential “all-around” player.
“He can play defense, he can score, he can pass. There’s pretty much not anything he’ll do,” said Wilson of Sigmund.

Bartlett and Guise — both ice hockey players — were two players who deserved more recognition than they received. Bartlett, in particular, had a great second half of the season by doubling his first-half point total in the like number of games.

Arakaki (43 goals, 25 assists) and Galeno (40 goals, 25 assists) finished first and second in scoring for Bonita Vista. Rick Comrie (42 goals, 36 assists) and Dan Comrie (49 goals, 27 assists) ranked as the top sibling duo for a Scripps Ranch team that finished 16-3-1 in regular season play in 2002-03 and hiked its two-season run in Metro play to 34-4-2.

As for my personal awards:

The Newcomers of the Year award goes to Eastlake’s Rodriguez and Scripps Ranch freshman Andrew Woodfine for their fine play and contribution in a veteran-like manner.

This year’s Unsung Hero is Eastlake’s Scott Powers, who scored 24 goals and 14 assists for 38 points to lead Eastlake to a school-record 12 wins this season while playing the second-half schedule against top-notch Division I competition.

Other awards of note include the “110 Percent” award that otherwise defines the exceptionally driven Dan Comrie, Forward of the Year (Castle Park’s Donny McGraw) and Golden Goal of the Year (Hilltop’s Carl Horten).

McGraw was a one-man wrecking crew with six goals and one assist in an 8-7 overtime loss to Hilltop in the first round of the Kiwanis Cup playoffs. After trailing 6-0, the Trojans leveled the game at 7-7 on a goal by McGraw only to have Horten shatter Castle Park’s comeback bid with a goal 26 seconds into sudden victory overtime.

CIF-Metro Conference

Division I All-Stars

First team: Rick Comrie, Scripps Ranch (D); Carl Horten, Hilltop (D); Joey Galeno, Bonita Vista (D); Frankie Warren, La Jolla Country Day (F); Nathan Sigmund, L Jolla Country Day (F); Dan Comrie, Scripps Ranch (F); Brandon George, Scripps Ranch (G).

MVP: Nathan Sigmund, La Jolla Country Day (F).

Second team: Richard Garcia, Castle Park (D); James Arakaki, Bonita Vista (D); Adrian Rodriguez, Eastlake (D); Erick Morgan, Hilltop (F); Arturo Garcia, Castle Park (F); Donny McGraw, Castle Park (F); Chris Romero, Hilltop (G).