SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Roller Hockey

CIF/Metro Conference Report

Poway Titans -- the team to beat for the 2005 Kiwanis Cup?

North County League teams skating in a league of their own

South County teams fall to 0-8-0 in inter-league matchups

By Phillip Brents

Posted Feb. 1, 2005

Scripps Ranch head coach Greg Friedman put it succinctly when he offered up the following assessment of the outcome of the 48 games in this year’s CIF/Metro Conference roller hockey schedule featuring matchups between South County teams and teams from the North County League as the season speeds toward the playoffs.

"The first game will show you what it’s going to be like for the next two weeks," Friedman said in handicapping Monday’s game between Bonita Vista, the best team in South County, and his Falcons squad, the defending Kiwanis Cup champions.

In an ominous start for South County teams, Scripps Ranch turned back Bonita Vista by a score of 6-2. The Falcons, who completed the first-ever 22-0-0 season in the history of San Diego County high school roller hockey (be it club or CIF-sanctioned), broke a 2-2 standoff entering the final period with four unanswered goals.

The Barons had apparently set the benchmark in the 18-team conference with a 13-0-0 start.

Before the evening was over, however, two more South County teams were feeling the pain. La Jolla, with a lowly 3-10-0 record in the North County League, sent Southwest’s Raiders home with a case of whiplash following a 12-1 victory. Poway, which handed Scripps Ranch its only defeat thus far in North County League play, proved why it might ultimately be the team to beat with a 6-0 shutout victory against a Hilltop squad that had just handed Bonita Vista its first loss of the season in its previous game.

However, the Lancers had little time to reflect on their exciting 6-5 victory against the previously unbeaten Barons on Jan. 27 after a rough and tumble Titans team jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first 15 minutes of the inter-league contest.

After the opening round of eight inter-league matchups concluded Tuesday at Skate San Diego in National City, Friedman’s prediction still held true with a vengeance after five more inter-league contests were claimed by North County League teams – most of them in convincing fashion.

The San Diego Jewish Academy, winless at 0-14 in North County League competition, scored its first win in its first season of CIF play with a runaway 13-2 victory against Sweetwater. Vista, with the third best record in North County League play, pulled away from a previously momentum-building Otay Ranch squad to score a 6-2 victory. Rancho Bernardo, with the fifth best record in North County League play, erased a 4-3 Eastlake lead to win 7-5 while La Jolla County Day, at 3-11-0 in North County League play, ran away from Montgomery with five unanswered goals to win 8-5.

Westview, which owns a 3-3 tie against Scripps Ranch this season, punctuated Tuesday’s five inter-league games with a 23-0 victory against Castle Park. The Wolverines scored 10 seconds into the contest against the Trojans, had a 2-0 lead with 40 seconds elapsed on the running scoreboard clock and led 8-0 after the first intermission. It should be noted that Westview took it easy on Castle Park in the final two periods.

North County teams, in general, showed no mercy on the scoreboard. The three games on Monday ended in a 24-3 goal-differential in favor of North County teams. The goal-differential was 51-14 in Tuesday’s five games. The initial eight games ended with a cumulative 75-17 goal-differential favoring the North County League.

If one word were to define the initial two days of inter-league play, it might be "Ouch!" – or "Thud!" from the perspective of South County squads.

In the short span of two days, the North County League quickly defined itself as a league of its own. One now has to ask the obvious question: will the Kiwanis Cup championships be an all-North County affair?

"They keep coming at you," one South County coach was overheard saying as he left the rink following his team’s lop-sided loss.

That statement applied to all the North County invaders, including those with seemingly lesser credentials. From the opening drop of the puck, they brought a higher level of intensity and a higher skill level to the rink.

With the opening of CIF-sponsored roller hockey to a wider geographic base, the rule of thumb that seems to apply to other sports in San Diego Section apparently seems to apply to roller hockey as well: the power base lies north of Interstate 8.

"The North County teams are definitely more physical and play an up-tempo game," said Don Cerone, who serves as an athletic facilitator within the Sweetwater Union High School District, after watching the initial two days of inter-league competition.

For those who follow ice hockey, it was easy to see why the North County League teams excelled against their southern counterparts. Many players from the northern teams also play competitive travel team ice hockey – a luxury lost on many South County players who depend on school-funded equipment just to step onto the court.

Ice hockey is traditionally faster, more physical, tactically more complex and more of a power game (including mentality) all around than inline hockey. All those facets, combined with superior depth, gave the North County League teams their decided advantage.

One example: nine of Scripps Ranch’s 13 rostered players also play AA- or AAA-level ice hockey.

Key stat: the Falcons received goals from six different players, and points from eight, in turning back South County’s top team, which was limited to goals from two players and points from three.

"We’re as good as last year," Friedman said of his squad that can play with both power and grace on the floor. "The only difference is that we have more tough games in the North County League now than last year. Every game is fast in the North County League. There’s no let-up."

The last sentence is clearly an understatement. Relentless might be a better way to describe the style of play.

In Monday’s opener, Scripps Ranch took a 1-0 lead just 4:40 into the contest and led 2-0 after the first period during which the Falcons handily controlled territorially. To their credit, the Barons displayed some resiliency by getting back in the game with a pair of unanswered goals – one each by Kelly Nash and James Arakaki – to pull into a 2-2 tie at the end of two periods. But that only proved to be part of the Falcons’ game-plan: to slow down the tempo only to turn it back up at breakneck speed.

Assistant captain Andrew Reinhold scored a nice goal, skating across the goal mouth to beat BV goalie Cody Mazzarella (previously nearly unbeatable in South County play), to put Scripps Ranch (12-1-1) up 3-2 with 4:39 gone in the third period. Andrew Woodfine terrorized Mazzarella just over a minute later with another goal and Ryan Knight followed 1:22 later with yet another goal to hike the Falcons lead to 5-2 and make the mighty Barons look like just an ordinary team.

It was a humbling sight.

"The first two periods we played three lines. The last period we played out top two lines and wore them down. We go hard the third period and pull away from teams," Friedman said. "When (our guys) get moving, passing the puck back and forth in front of the net, you can’t follow the puck. We played well in the third period. They gave us a tough game, though."

It did not help that the Barons were playing without Willy Anderson, their top defenseman, who was not available because of eligibility issues. Both Arakaki and Nash – the Mesa League’s top two scorers – also had to stay out on the floor for nearly the entire game in order to help buttress their team.

"They (Scripps Ranch) played a very solid game. They slowed it down, showed they could be very patient. Our passes weren’t clicking and yet here we are 2-2 going into the third. At that point, I think we ran out of gas. We didn’t have a lot of real good scoring chances and they had a lot of real good scoring chances. I told the guys to look at it as a learning experience and go from there," said Bonita Vista coach Keith Quigley, whose team fell to 13-2-0.

La Jolla’s John Noris (son of Skate San Diego operator Joe Noris, a former pro in the NHL and WHA in the 1970s) had a part in all 12 Vikings’ goals against Southwest with seven goals and five assists. Ryan Purdy had three goals and two assists while Natalie Noris, John’s older sister, contributed two goals and one assist to the victory.

In Poway’s win against Hilltop (8-6-1), the puck was not the only thing flying around the rink: bodies did as well in an exceptionally rough and haphazard contest that seemed to defy the sport’s supposedly "non-contact" nature. The contest featured 16 penalties, including 10 by the visitors.

"My kids were totally unprepared the first 10 minutes in terms of how they were going to get knocked around," Lancer coach Dan Vaccaro said. "Poway's an explosive team. They have three good lines coming at you. When you don't have the physical bodies to match up with that, you do the best you can. But it takes its toll on you. After we saw what we were up against in the game, I think our team played well. We held our own the last two periods even though we didn't score. I was very proud of my kids for that."

Despite playing at a disadvantage, the Titans (13-1-0) won convincingly as Matt Pecenco scored twice and Danny Barnes and Chris Van Holle added scores for a quick 4-0 lead. Team scoring leader Stephen Lockwood was limited to two assists in the game to demonstrate Poway’s superior depth.

Tuesday’s contests were especially disheartening for South County fans.

The San Diego Jewish Academy, winless in 14 North County League games, had been outscored 161-27 but captured its history-making first win in school history with a 7-0 outburst before Sweetwater could respond with its first goal. Johnny Simkin led the Lions with eight goals and one assist.

Otay Ranch put forth a good effort for most of the early going against a Vista team dealing with a short bench, playing the Panthers to a 1-1 draw through one period and trailing just 3-2 after two periods. But fatigue did not play a role in Vista’s win as the Panthers, displaying some nifty moves, capitalized on Mustang errors to finish the game with three unanswered goals.

There was clearly no love lost between the South County’s resident superstar – Adrian Rodriguez – and Vista’s Manny Alvarado. Rodriguez scored twice but Alvarado got the better of first-year Otay Ranch with four goals.

The loss by the Mustangs gave both teams identical 10-4-1 overall records but the disparity in play between the two leagues was apparent.

The ensuing pair of games – Rancho Bernardo against Eastlake and La Jolla Country Day against Montgomery – both expected to be competitive contests. Both games lived up to that billing but South County teams once again came up short on the scoreboard.

Eastlake coughed up a 4-3 lead in the final period as the Broncos reeled off three goals in a span of four minutes to go up 6-4. The Titans attempted a late rally as Zack McElory scored with 4:40 to play to bring the score to 6-5. However, Eastlake could not bring the score any closer as Rancho Bernardo iced the game with an empty net goal by Justin Michitsch with two seconds remaining for a 7-5 victory.

Freshman sensation Rory Hansen led the Broncos (7-7-1) with two goals and four assists while teammate Corey Grahl registered a hat trick and RB captain Justin Michitsch contributed two goals and one assist.

Jonathan Williams and Kyle Wagner, perhaps Eastlake’s most improved player from last season, each had two goals in the game. The Titans fell to 10-4-1.

In the next game, Montgomery held a 3-0 first period lead en route to absorbing an 8-5 setback. The Aztecs, who look to vie with LJCD and La Jolla for the final playoff berth in the upcoming playoffs, continued to lead 5-4 heading into the final period. But the Torreys – 2002 Kiwanis Cup champions – scored four unanswered goals in the third period to skate to the come-from-behind win. It was only the fourth victory this season for LJCD, which dropped a 15-3 decision to Rancho Bernardo in a North County League game on Monday.

"We fell apart in the third period," Montgomery coach Jeremy Parker said.

Chris Warren paced the Torreys (4-11-0) with four goals while Matt Mulligan scored twice and team scoring leader Max Guise added one goal and two assists. Mike Mortensen scored twice for the Aztecs (6-9-0).

Westview (9-4-1) received hat tricks from five players in its lop-sided victory, including five- goal games from Drew Ness and Leo Scheiler. Matt Durschlag, Mike Kiraly and Dan Luczak all chipped in with three-goal performances while Andy Wiens scored twice.

The bad news for South County teams: there are 40 more inter-league games prior to the start of the playoffs.

Also to be seen is whether Mesa League champion Bonita Vista or South Bay League champion Mar Vista will even gain enough respect from their North County League opponents to garner berths among the top four-seeded teams in the Kiwanis Cup championships.

Both the Barons and Mariners started the season 12-0-0 before their heralded matchup Jan. 26. The game turned out to pale by comparison to what the North County League teams brought with them south.

Scripps Ranch and Poway pair up in the North County League championship game on Feb. 14. It could be a preview of the Kiwanis Cup championship game unless South County teams can raise their level of play a notch … or even two.