SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Roller Hockey

SDSU skaters find time together paying off

By Phillip Brents

NATIONAL CITY, Nov. 10, 2003 -- The inaugural season for the San Diego State University roller hockey team has been one primarily of discovery. The team hopes the second half of its first season in the equally new San Diego Collegiate Roller Hockey League produces even more promise – and potentially, reward.

SDSU completed the first half of the season with a 2-2-0 record, ending the first half of play with back-to-back wins against Grossmont College (5-3) and Point Loma Nazarene University (3-1) after opening with losses to San Diego City/Mesa (3-2) and Southwestern College (8-2).

The way many team members now see it, the championship playoffs are wide open, especially after SDSU defeated pre-season favorite Grossmont for its first win on Oct. 19.

"Any team can beat any other team," said SDSU co-captain Ryan Clark, who had a goal in the win against Point Loma Nazarene on Nov. 2.

The top four teams in the modest five-team circuit stood within one standing point of one another at the conclusion of first-round play, with Southwestern College and San Diego City/Mesa leading the loop with 2-1-1 marks and SDSU and Grossmont both trailing with 2-2-0 records. PLNU was three points off the lead with a 1-3-0 record.

In the case of SDSU, the team’s new-found momentum has come with time on the court together. A disadvantage SDSU and PLNU both have had to overcome against their three community college opponents lies in player unfamiliarity. Most of the players on the two teams representing four-year universities are from different parts of the state – and even the country – and therefore had never played together before the season started.

By comparison, both Grossmont and Southwestern possess players who grew up playing together in local house leagues.

Clark and SDSU co-captain Bill Homrich have been playing together six years since first joining forces on their high school club team at Coronado High School. But for the rest of the SDSU team, it’s been six weeks of getting to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses – and developing that all-crucial element in a game: timing.

Homrich (pictured at left) led SDSU with three goals and one assist in its first win while registering a hat trick along with teammate Frank Battistone in a 10-5 midseason scrimmage win against Southwestern that had to boost the team’s confidence through the roof of the Skate San Diego rink.

"It’s more of a genuine league now. It seems there’s some good players here," said Battistone, a junior history major from Moreno Valley, who owns the honor of scoring the first goal in league history. "We’re starting to come together, get some momentum going. We’d never really played together. But that last game, it seemed everyone knew where everyone was supposed to be."

"It’s coming together. That two week break (because of record wildfires throughout San Diego County that prompted the rink to suspend one weekend of play because of poor air quality) did us some good. We were in a bad habit of taking bad shots, not playing as a team," Clark said.

"We have two good lines now. We’ve started to get to know each other. Changing lines every week hurts," said goaltender Oscar Mendoza, a graduate of Chula Vista High School. "We just need everyone to show up."

SDSU coach Richard Clark, Ryan’s father, said second-half goals for the team center on continuing to improve timing between players.

"These guys don’t really need coaching. They’ve found their timing, especially when to drop back passes. That takes timing. We need to work to improve timing between players, the synchronicity to improve passing. Since they don’t have practice, it’s all on court," the SDSU coach said.

The second half of the season opened just like the inaugural week did – with a dramatic one-goal game between instant rivals Grossmont and Southwestern on Nov. 9.

Goaltender Tommy Prewitt (NARCh Varsity Cup with Monte Vista High School) made three acrobatic stops, including one with four seconds to play that stopped the puck an inch from crossing the goal line, to lead Grossmont into sole possession of second place in the league standings with an 8-7 victory.

At right: A Southwestern skater fires a shot at Grossmont goaltender Tommy Prewitt.

Vito Vaiasuso (Patrick Henry High School) was credited with three goals for Grossmont, which used an early 4-0 cushion to hold off a hard-charging Southwestern team led by snipers Jack Shirey (Coronado High School) and Manny Buenrostro (Hilltop High School).

Jonathan Oberg was involved in three goals on one shift for Grossmont early in the game. Also causing havoc on the floor for the Southwestern defense was NARCh veteran Tommy Neer (Granite Hills High School).

"With Tommy and Vito out for two-on-ones, it tough to stop. They’ve got some talent on that team," said Southwestern defenseman Doug Lentz (Bonita Vista High School).

It was Neer’s overtime goal that lifted Grossmont to a 5-4 win against previously undefeated San Diego City/Mesa on Nov. 2 to keep all the teams within striking distance of one another in the standings.

In other first-round highlights, goaltenders Adam Meehan (San Diego City/Mesa) and Louie Valentine (Southwestern) showcased their glove and stick work as both were given a workout by shooters in a 4-4 overtime draw between the teams on Oct. 12.

At left: Grossmont's Jonahtan Oberg ties to prevent Southwestern's Erick Syktich from cruising behind the Grossmont net.

Skate San Diego rink operator Joe Noris said he has been impressed by how the new league has been received by its players.

"Half these guys were playing and half these guys weren’t. This has given them a place to play together. It’s awesome," he said.

San Diego City/Mesa 6, SDSU 3

Jose Casillas (Hilltop High School) had three goals and Sean Sackrider (Patrick Henry High School) added two goals and two assists to lead City/Mesa into sole possession of first place in the league standings. Brian Hamlin had a goal and two assists and Omid Arjomand scored once for the winners. SDSU, which had its two-game winning streak snapped, received two goals from Frank Battistone in the Nov. 9 loss.