SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Roller Hockey

High School teams reload for NARCh Varsity Cup matrix

By Phillip Brents

Posted June 10, 2003

Though this year’s NARCh Varsity Cup tournament is being conducted through an open registration format to ensure maximum participation from across the country, there is never any substitute to live tournament competition – as evidenced at the high school division’s showing at the NARCh regional qualifying tournament May 10-11 in Irvine.

Eight teams participated, with El Dorado High School defeating Marina High School from Huntington Beach, 4-0, in the championship game. Santiago finished third, followed by a second team comprised of students from the Corona school, the Sharks.

Joining the four aforementioned semifinalist teams were squads representing Damien, South Hills, Temecula Valley and Huntington Beach high schools.

This is the second year the tournament has veered from a strictly regional championship format. Previously, only regional winners competed at the NARCh Finals.

Last year’s NARCh Finals drew a record 10 teams, including four from California: Dana Hills, Santiago I and Santiago II and Temecula Valley.

Santiago I got a chance to defend its national title but fell 5-2 to the Detroit region champion Varsity Blues in the national championship game that demonstrated the shift in the balance of power in the emerging sport.

The same could be said for the state of California after two-time national finalist Santiago finished third in this year’s regional field.

Wes Garlick scored three goals to lead El Dorado past Marina in the title game while teammate Kevin Adams contributed a goal and assist. Justin Simpson and Jeff Ceccacci also were credited with assists in the game in which El Dorado held a narrow 1-0 halftime lead.

The semifinals were hotly contested as El Dorado defeated the Sharks 5-4 in overtime and Marina edged Santiago 6-4 with the final goal scored into an empty net.

The Sharks, who played with only four skaters in the second day of competition because of prior commitments, certainly had to earn the respect of friends and foes alike for their gutsy performance. The Sharks held a 4-0 lead on El Dorado before the eventual tournament champions stormed back with five unanswered goals, advancing to the championship game on Adams’ goal with 44 seconds left in overtime.

Adams led El Dorado with three goals in the semifinal win against the Sharks.

Marina held leads of 3-0, 4-1 and 5-2 before Santiago made things interesting with a pair of late goals. Goals by Brad Ellis and Andrew Kleinhans had given Marina a seemingly safe 5-2 advantage. Derrick Burnett led Santiago with two goals and an assist.

The teams had tied 3-3 to tee off the tournament in preliminary round play.

El Dorado’s championship team included Kevin Adams, Jeff Ceccacci, Brent Cowles, Wes Garlick, Neal Kapur, Ryan Kress, Joey Miller, T.J. Miller, Frank Rotunda, T.C. Rotunda, Justin Simpson and goaltender Michael Abarca.

Adams (four goals, four assists) and Garlick (six goals, one assist) paced El Dorado in scoring in the team’s three preliminary round games – victories against the Sharks (6-3), Huntington Beach (8-2) and Damien (4-3) – while Abarca earned the Top Goaltender award with the top save percentage of .854.

El Dorado finished with a 27-12 goal differential in the tournament (18-8 in preliminary round play).

Garlick and Adams had two goals apiece in the win against Damien while Ceccacci led the way with three goals and one assist against Huntington Beach.

Josh Laricchia (4 goals, 3 assists) and Ellis (5 goals, 1 assist) led Marina in preliminary round scoring. Teammates included Jared Gibo, Chaz Grant, Matt Kelinhans, Tim Kraus, Bryan Sakagouchi, Jared Yonekura and goaltender Mike Urbano.

The Vikings finished with a preliminary round best 19-6 goal differential following a 7-2 win against Temecula Valley and a 9-1 victory against South Hills.

Laricchia, Matt Kleinhans and Ellis each had goals in the 3-3 draw against Santiago, with both Laricchia and Kleinhans also contributing an assist. Ellis had a hat trick while Andrew Kleinhans scored twice and Laricchia had a goal and two assists in a 7-2 victory against Temecula Valley.

Santiago, despite finishing third, produced tournament lows by allowing only six goals and 32 shots in three preliminary-round games. Will Munson (five goals, two assists) and Michael Doran (three goals, two assists) paced Santiago in the three preliminary games that featured victories against Damien (4-2) and Huntington Beach (9-1).

Santiago received single goals from four players in the win against Damien – McClain Berg, Munson, Andrew Armendariz and Burnett -- as well as two assists from Jonathan Flutts. Burnett’s goal with 2:27 left gave Santiago some much needed breathing room after holding a 3-2 lead against Damien, which received goals from Randy Sierra and Andrew Dillon.

Santiago scored the game’s final nine goals Huntington Beach took a 1-0 lead on Chad Pelliccioni’s jump goal. Doran tallied three times in the game while adding a pair of assists. Munson had two goals and one assist and teammate Michael Bracy added a goal and two assists.

Munson notched the game-tying goal against Marina. He finished the contest with two goals and one assist while Burnett had a goal and assist in the high profile matchup.

Alex Hudson, Peter Sarkis, Marc Toso, Brett Williams rounded out the Santiago roster in front of goaltenders Eric Estes and Tim Henkemeyer.

The Sharks were keyed by tournament High Scorer Kyle Daniels, a freshman, who scored six goals and four assists in the team’s opening three games and later added two goals in the semifinal loss to El Dorado. Senior Michael Erbacher and junior Cory Daniels also registered goals for the Sharks in the semifinal game.

Sophomore Josh Thompson had five goals and one assist in preliminary round play to help provide a major influence on the offensive side of the floor in front of the standout play of senior goaltender Sean Hosseinzadeh. Both Erbacher and Cory Daniels helped anchor the team’s defense.

Kyle Daniels had four goals and one assist in the Sharks’ 5-3 come-from-behind win against South Hills. Chris Lendzien had a pair of assists in the game that saw the Sharks erase a 3-0 deficit with five unanswered goals.

The Sharks, who were also supported in the tournament by Colin Radovovich, played out of the LaVerne rink this past season. Goals for entering the regional tournament included to play strong against the top teams in the area and have a good time – both of which were definitely met, according to a team spokesperson.

Damien’s roster included Jared Osborne, David Hewlet, Kyle Cooper, Andrew Dillon, Zachary Walthers, Josh Frazier, Stefan Chan, Randy Sierra, Matt Baiza, Alex Faught, Preston Chan and goaltenders Steve Brennan and Erik Montes.

Frazier tied for second in preliminary round scoring with three goals and five assists for eight points while Sierra led the team with four goals.

Damien was unlucky not to have advanced farther than fifth place after narrow losses to tournament heavyweights Santiago (4-2) and El Dorado (4-3). Faught scored twice in the game against El Dorado, which scored the last two goals of the game to overcome a 3-2 Damien lead.

Sierra and Frazier both had hat tricks in a 7-5 win against Temecula Valley.

South Hills finished in sixth place. The Huskies roster included Ryan Alverado, Gabriel Campos, Carissa Emerson, John Mark Galloway, Adam and Josh Gustawes, Matt Laird, Bobby Lowry, John Mispiretta, Scott Stafford and goaltenders Itan Chivera and Ryan Medley.

Mispiretta and Campos both scored two goals in South Hills’ 4-3 victory against Huntington Beach.

Temecula Valley, which finished 2-2-0 at last year’s NARCh Finals, failed to win a game in the May 10-11 NARCh regional along with Huntington Beach. Temecula Valley was outscored 20-7 while Huntington Beach was outscored 21-6.

Doug Wenglare led Temecula Valley in scoring with three goals and one assist, including a hat trick in the 7-5 loss to Damien. Rounding out the Golden Bears roster were Lafe Ball Jr., Christian and Eric Bernard, Matt Bollinger, Kris Kardos, Justin Lerner, Scott O’Neill, Shaun Rogers and goaltenders Jordan Lockrey and Dylan Ramos.

Chad Pelliccioni keyed the Huntington Beach offense with three goals. Joining him on the floor were teammates Michael Mongelli-Ott, Peter Ryan, Skyler Hoar, Andrew Watt, Devon Thormodsgaard, Ryan Pelliccioni and goaltender Tim Stanton.

Many of these teams will now reload for the NARCh Finals scheduled July 17-30 at Teco Arena in Estero, Fla.

NARCh Varsity Cup - West Regional

May 10-11, 2003 in Irvine

Final Standings

School W L T Pts GF GA

El Dorado 3 0 0 6 18 8

Marina 2 0 1 5 19 6

Santiago 2 0 1 5 16 6

Sharks 2 1 0 4 14 9

Damien 1 2 0 2 12 13

South Hills 1 2 0 2 8 17

Temecula Valley 0 3 0 0 7 20

Huntington Beach 0 3 0 0 6 21

Preliminary round results

El Dorado 6, Sharks 3

South Hills 4, Huntington Beach 3

Santiago 3, Marina 3

Damien 7, Temecula Valley 5

El Dorado 8, Huntington Beach 2

Sharks 5, South Hills 3

Santiago 4, Damien 2

Marina 7, Temecula Valley 2

El Dorado 4, Damien 3

Sharks 6, Temecula Valley 0

Santiago 9, Huntington Beach 1

Marina 9, South Hills 1

Semifinals

El Dorado 5, Sharks 4/OT

Marina 6, Santiago 4

Championship game

El Dorado 4, Marina 0

High Scorer

Kyle Daniels (Sharks) – 6 goals, 4 assists

Top Goaltender

Michael Abarca (El Dorado) - .854 save percentage

Scoring Leaders

Player (school) G A Pts

Kyle Daniels (Sharks) 6 4 10

Kevin Adams (El Dorado) 4 4 8

Josh Frazier (Damien) 3 5 8

Wes Garlick (El Dorado) 6 1 7

Will Munson (Santiago) 5 2 7

Josh Laricchia (Marina) 4 3 7

Goaltending Leaders

School Shots Saves GA SPCT

El Dorado 49 41 8 .854

Sharks 49 40 9 .816

Santiago 32 26 6 .813

Damien 51 38 13 .745

South Hills 53 36 17 .679

Temecula Valley 62 42 20 .677

Huntington Beach 37 16 21 .432