SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Roller Hockey

San Diego Collegiate Roller Hockey League rolls out

San Diego Collegiate Roller Hockey League record book

By Phillip Brents

NATIONAL CITY, updated Oct. 5, 2003 -- Sean Sackrider scored the first game-winning goal and Matt Speck recorded the first goaltending victory as San Diego City/Mesa defeated San Diego State University, 3-2, in the first-ever San Diego Collegiate Roller Hockey League game at Skate San Diego.

"Good game, good competition," City/Mesa coach Dave Guimont said after the matchup. "Both teams played tough. It was outstanding. I'm just pleased to be around these guys."

At left: Sean Sackrider, a Patrick Henry High alumnus, scored first game-winning goal in league history.

SDSU coach Richard Clark concurred his counterpart's observations. "The great part about it is that these guys don't need coaching. They know how to skate, stick handle and shoot the puck. They bring what they already know to the rink."

The game – the first of a double-header at the rink -- officially jump-started the fledgling five-team circuit that wishes to model itself after the newly-established Western Collegiate Roller Hockey League, according to Skate San Diego rink operator Joe Noris.

The WCRHL, which geographically includes California and Nevada, lists 24 member teams from 17 different colleges and universities this season. Teams participating at its 2003-04 Kickoff Event Oct. 10-11 at the California Roller Hockey Center in Upland include: Cal Poly Pomona, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Chapman University, Chico State, CSU Monterey Bay, CSU San Bernardino, Monterey Peninsula College, Moorpark College, San Jose State, Sonoma State, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, University of Nevada-Reno and USC. Colorado State will be playing two exhibition games at the event.

The WCRHL is a member of the National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association. Cal Poly Pomona is ranked first in the nation among Division I teams while Moorpark enters the season ranked first among Division III teams.

Teams in the San Diego collegiate circuit will play a modest 10-game season that includes playoff contests. A second season may be held in the spring.

SDSU’s Frank Battistone, an all-state player while leading Canyon Springs High School to a third-place finish at the 1998 Six-Pac state championships, was credited with scoring the first-ever goal in league history after receiving a pass from the right side of the net and putting it to the left side of the goaltender, who was standing in the middle of the cage.

However, City/Mesa responded with its own history-making goal off the stick of Kirk Christiansen to tie the game at a goal apiece.

"We definitely needed that. If they had gotten another one at that point, I think we might have collapsed," said Christiansen, who added the goal was special because as a defenseman he normally does not score that many goals.

Sackrider, who has been playing roller hockey for eight years, was not necessarily elated that he registered the first game-winning goal in league history -- he was just happy he scored in the game.

It was a nice one, too -- top shelf on a wrist shot.

"We needed the win. That was the main thing," said Sackrider, a 2001 graduate of Patrick Henry High School. "After getting hit all game, it was nice to get that game-winning goal and put it in their face."

Sackrider was not finished with his record-setting exploits after scoring the first natural hat trick in league history via a 9-3 victory against Point Loma Nazarene in the team's second game a week later.

Speck is also no stranger to life in the roller hockey fast lane after helping backstop teams at Scripps Ranch High School to regional prominence.

Grossmont scored the second official victory in league history on opening night by skating back from an early 2-1 deficit to claim a hotly contested 7-6 victory against Southwestern in a game that looks to spark an ongoing rivalry between the two teams.

Southwestern had played two exhibition games -- defeating City/Mesa and SDSU -- while Grossmont countered with its array of high profile snipers.

Both Southwestern and Grossmont looked strong on the floor, with their rosters peppered with former high school and NARCh standouts. Grossmont's Mike Morrow, who assisted on the game-winning goal, had even played in the NARCh Pro Division and NARCh Division I.

At right: San Diego City/Mesa coach Dave Guimont accepts handshakes from SDSU players following first-ever San Diego Collegiate Roller Hockey game.

The star of the game, however, turned out to be Lance Dyer, who led all scorers in the game with four goals, after arriving after the opening whistle had been blown. Grossmont had started the game with only four players. "We had to play defensive to start the game," said Grossmont's Vito Vaiasuso, a Patrick Henry High alumnus, who scored the first goal in team history by employing a quick burst of speed to blow by the SWC defense and put the puck past Mar Vista grad Louie Valentine.

While Grossmont was getting its wheels sorted out, goaltender Tommy Prewitt literally stood on his head to make one save. A NARCh Varsity Cup and AAU Junior Olympics veteran, the Monte Vista High alumnus made several acrobatic saves to deny Southwestern snipers in the first half of play.

Morrow's top shelf goal with 5:01 to play gave Grossmont a 6-5 lead. Dyer added an insurance goal with 1:35 to play before Southwestern attempted one last comeback on a goal by Monte Vista grad Vince Rappelyea with 1:09 left. Prewitt just managed to keep the puck out of the net on Southwestern's last rush at the Grossmont cage.

Grossmont was missing several key players, making the East County-flavored squad the early "team to beat."

"This game gave us a first chance to get together. We have four or five strong players -- four or five guys who are tournament players," Vaiasuso said. "It's a lot more fun than a regular house league. I know just about everyone out there."

The league looks to spread its new-found fame quickly. On court play is physical and spectators are treated to a very high level of skill with some players bringing more than a decade of experience to the playing surface.

Think of players with adult strength but who are still playing with a lot of youthful enthusiasm.

The new league has also created some interesting combinations. Southwestern's Doug Lentz and Erick Syktich played against one another in the first-ever officially-sanctioned CIF Metro Conference game in November 2000. Syktich scored the first-ever CIF goal and racked up the first-ever CIF hat trick in Eastlake High's 4-4 draw against the eventual Kiwanis Cup champion Bonita Vista Barons. Lentz, who played on defense for Bonita Vista in that game, got a chance to earn his own footnote his history by scoring the first-ever goal for Southwestern.

Both players spoke about the promise and opportunity the new league brings to the court.

“It’s a real good opportunity to expand the game of hockey and to introduce new players and new sponsors. It’s real exciting to play against different schools and be involved in this together,” Lentz said. “It’s looking like it’s going to be a respected league with a lot of talent. I think it’s a good opportunity to keep playing from high school and up. Most everybody is friends with each other.”

“I’m excited about it. Hopefully, it will get big like high school did. It’s another level of play for us to be involved in,” Syktich said. “I know all these guys from RollerSkateLand and over the years. I know where they’re going to go and when they’re going to pass.”

Coronado High School alumnus Jack Shirey, who grew up playing against both Lentz and Syktich in youth house league games at RollerSkateLand in Chula Vista, recorded the first hat trick in team history in Southwestern's 8-2 victory against SDSU on Oct. 5. Shirey opened with the season with a pair of goals in the one-goal loss to Grossmont.

Like many players in the league, he has competed at the NARCh Finals.

At right: Jack Shirey (Coronado High School) scored two goals for Southwestern College in its season-opening 7-6 loss to Grossmont College

The Southwestern team is coached by Shirey's father, also named Jack (and easily confused with singer Kenny Rogers). The elder Shirey, who has coached the sport for 12 years, wore nothing but smiles after his team's first-ever victory -- a dominating one.

"The guys were out to prove a point. They were told that the team that won that first game between Grossmont and Southwestern would win the league, so when they lost that made them mad. They felt they played to Grossmont's tempo in that first game but set the tempo against State," the Southwestern coach said.

Garrett Mitchell, a graduate of Christian High School in El Cajon, who plays for Point Loma Nazerene, termed the competition level "high" for the collegiate level.

"If we get the word out, it will get big," he said.

With the makeup of the Point Loma Nazarene team, that should not be a problem. One player hails from Colorado and another from New York while the remainder of players grew up playing throughout Southern California.

Many have left their imprint on the game across the North American continent.

Nathan Sutton, a graduate of Temescal Canyon High School in Riverside County, helped his high school club team capture third place at this summer's USA InLine national championship tournament in Georgia. He also owns the honor of playing on two NARCh Finals runner-up teams for the Anaheim Mission Bulldogs.

"It's good competition. We're not the best team out there but it's for fun. It's a good way to stay in shape," Sutton said.

For the record, Jake Gilbertson scored the first Point Loma Nazarene goal in team history while Mitchell racked up the first multiple-goal game with a pair of late markers in the 9-3 loss to City/Mesa. Jordan Armitage (pictured at left ripping a shot) picked up two assists in the game for PLN.

City/Mesa goaltender Adam Meehan, a AAA ice hockey tournament veteran, established the early goaltending standard in the league with a 29:28 shutout streak (games consist of two 20-minute halves).

"It's a lot like high school. It's a mixture of some guys who have been playing a while and some guys who are new players. I had some apprehensions about how good the quality of play would because I didn't know who was playing on the other teams. But it's turned out to be pretty good," he said.

Meehan, who has played at the NARCh level, is joined on the City/Mesa team by fellow Hilltop High School graduate Joe Casillas, a member of the Lancers' trailblazing first regular season CIF championship team in 2000-01.

"I thought after high school that I was done with it. Now this offers me another place to play," Casillas said.

The new league with its new avenue of opportunities looks to be an attractive draw for players in adult leagues.

"This is a good opportunity to support the rink and for hockey down here,” said Grossmont's Nathan Clookie, a one-time stick boy for the RHI San Diego Barracudas who has links to Grossmont's Collegiate Roller Hockey League national championships in 1998 and 1999.

Certainly, all the players would like to believe that the best is yet to come.

SDCRHL Scoreboard

Games of Sunday, Oct. 12:

Grossmont 11, Point Loma Nazarene 6
Strength in numbers? Grossmont clearly defied that Sunday in its 11-6 victory against Point Loma Nazarene. Playing ironman hockey from start to finish, the three Grossmont skaters in front of goaltender Tommy Prewitt put on a clinic. Jonathan Oberg set league records for most goals in one game with six and for most points in one game with nine by adding three assists. Vito Vaiasuso contributed five goals and two assists in the Grossmont victory.

Jordan Armitage scored the first-ever hat trick in Point Loma Nazarene team history while also collecting two assists to record the team’s first-ever five-point game. Jake Gilbertson had two goals and one assist for PLN, which also received one goal from John Ferreira.

San Diego City/Mesa 4, Southwestern 4
Southwestern goaltender Louie Valentine and City/Mesa goaltender Adam Meehan both came up with big stops in the conference’s first-ever overtime game to keep the extra five-minute period scoreless. Southwestern (1-1-1) erased a 4-2 City/Mesa lead with a pair of unanswered goals in the final 3:07 of regulation play off the sticks of Reuben Felizardo and Jack Shirey. Shirey’s game-tying goal came with 32 seconds to play.

Turnabout only served as fair play as unbeaten City/Mesa (2-0-1) scored four consecutive goals to rub out an early 2-0 Southwestern lead on goals by Shirey and Vince Rappelyea. City/Mesa got goals from Luis “Speedy” Gonzalez, Bill Bond, Kirk Christiansen and Sean Sackrider.

Sackrider leads City/Mesa in scoring with five goals. Shirey tops Southwestern with seven goals.