SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Roller Hockey

Monarchs tangle with the best, draw 6-6

By Phillip Brents

NATIONAL CITY, Dec. 9, 2002 -- If the Monte Vista Monarchs needed any motivation to make amends for a forfeit loss the previous week against Carlsbad, they found it in Monday’s opponent in undefeated Vista.

The Panthers entered the cross-league contest sporting a 3-0-0 record and, in the words of San Diego County High School Roller Hockey Conference commissioner Don Cerone, “were for real.”

While Monte Vista discovered the full brunt of that statement, the Monarchs also continued their efforts to revive their once dominant dynasty by scoring two goals in the final 41 seconds to come away with a dramatic 6-6 draw against Vista in a game played at Skate San Diego.

“The guys who were around when we had our dynasty still going are seniors now. We’re trying to get them to instill some fire into the team and get the pride back,” said Monte Vista coach Kyle Trelford. “We had a dominant team then and we want to be dominant again. We have some great young players who are enthusiastic about trying to do that.”

The Monarchs trailed the Panthers by two goals on three separate occasions in the game before A.J. Seeger scored Monte Vista’s final two goals to erase a 6-4 deficit. Seeger’s first goal brought the Monarchs to within one goal at 6-5 with :41 to play in regulation. His second goal was even more dramatic. It came with 11 seconds left and came after Monte Vista had pulled senior goaltender Tommy Prewitt in favor of an extra attacker with two men in the penalty box for each team.

The game-tying goal came on a slap shot from just inside the red line after Tony Mauro had won a face-off to the left of Vista goalie Tom Holsheimer.

Justin Spears and Brandon Schaeffer each matched Seeger with two goals in the game. Schaeffer scored the Monarchs’ first two goals while Spears’ initial tally tied the game at 3-3 with one second remaining in the second period.

“It’s been a lot better than I thought with all the new guys coming in. We play a team game. It’s not one guy but everyone contributing,” Trelford said.

The Panthers took a 5-3 lead by scoring the opening two goals of the final period. Richard Solis gave Vista a 4-3 lead on a power play goal with 11:53 left in the period. The Panthers killed two successive Monte Vista man-advantage opportunities before adding a second unanswered goal to lead by two goals. Dennis Furlong got the 5-3 goal, assisted by Chase Ambuter. After Spears made it 5-4, Ambuter’s hat trick goal later gave Vista a 6-4 lead.

San Marcos 11, Mission Bay 0

The Knights picked up their first win of the season after rolling to a 6-0 first-period lead on first-year Mission Bay. Nolan Schmuckle led San Marcos with four goals and one assist while the Knights received two goals each from Jordan Cronan and Greg Bell, a goal and two assists from Adam Knight and a goal and assist each from Reid Hodges and Lorenzo Munger. Brandon Ashley proved to be the game’s play-maker with four assists.

Torrey Pines 11, Pt. Loma 1

Kenny McCubbins had five goals and one assist to pace the winners in the cross-league encounter while teammate Mark Chapparone chipped in with a goal and seven assists.