SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Roller Hockey

Falcons' comeback nets 7-7 tie against fast-starting Hilltop

Dan Comrie rescues Scripps Ranch with 4 goals, 1 assist -- in half a game

By Phillip Brents

NATIONAL CITY, Jan. 30, 2003 -- How much does Scripps Ranch junior Dan Comrie impact a game? His Falcon teammates — and the rest of the Metro Conference — discovered just how much in Thursday’s game against Hilltop.

Comrie — the reigning Metro Player of the Year — did not initially dress for Scripps Ranch in its high profile Division I showdown against the Lancers because of an injury diagnosis. Without their leading scorer in the lineup, the Falcons dropped behind 2-0 after the first period. The Hilltop lead grew to 3-0 with 12:35 left in the second period before Comrie strode into the rink with the mind set to play. Before he could dress and actually get out on the court, the Lancers scored again to go up 4-0.

The cheers for the opponent must have been all Comrie needed for motivation.

Four goals and one assist later in what amounted to a half game of playing time, Comrie and his teammates skated off the floor with a 7-7 tie.

“This is going to be a good second half of the season,” Scripps Ranch assistant coach Don Cerone said after the contest.

Cerone’s words were echoed almost to the letter by Lancer head coach Dan Vaccaro.

Despite some degree of disappointment, Hilltop players wore well-deserved smiles after the game.

If there were any doubters beforehand about Comrie’s impact on the game, they were laid to rest with his performance in this matchup. Within two minutes after stepping onto the court, he scored a goal — assisted by older brother Rick — to make the score 4-1. Lancer scoring ace Carl Horten — who scored three of his team’s opening four goals while setting up another — promptly answered Comrie’s goal with one of his own to advance the Hilltop lead to 5-1. However, the confidence was clearly back on the Falcons’ side and two goals later — a goal by Andrew Woodfine assisted by Comrie and a second goal by Comrie — Scripps Ranch trailed just 5-3.

It took just 2:29 of the third period for the Falcons (11-1-1) to tie the game at 5-5.

Comrie scored his third goal in just over five minutes to close the gap to 5-4 while Woodfine notched his second goal of the game, assisted by Kevin Pope, to knot the contest at five goals apiece. It took less than a period — 8:40 — for the Falcons to pull even after Comrie first stepped onto the floor.

The rest of the game served only to motivate the Lancers (8-4-1), who raised their level of play in return. Joe Casillas gave Hilltop a 6-5 lead, assisted by Horten. Jennings Brieck tied the game for Scripps Ranch with an unassisted goal. Casillas then put the Lancers ahead 7-5 on a deflected shot off the equipment of Falcons goalie Brandon George with just 1:03 remaining in regulation play.

Comrie — or rather— the Comries were not done, however.

Dan Comrie — assisted by Rick — capped another showman performance with the game-tying goal with 45 seconds to play.

Mr. Clutch? Believe it.

“It was disappointing for us,” said Horten, who finished the game with four goals and two assists. “He showed up and had an impact but I think we still should have stopped them.”

Kudos certainly go to Hilltop goalie Chris Romero, whose focus — and athletic ability in front of his goal crease — paid dividends.

Erick Morgan contributed a goal and assist for Hilltop while Brian Mark added an assist. Rick Comrie finished the game with three assists to lead the Falcons in that department.

The game marked a trend thus far in second-half Division I play: there does not seem to be a favorite when stepping onto the floor any more.

“It’s a lot more fun than playing teams like Southwest,” Horten said succinctly.

The draw against the Falcons brought into perspective the set of circumstances that befell Hilltop in its 9-6 loss to La Jolla Country Day. Horten was a late arrival, and the Torres built a 4-0 first-period lead before holding off a late Lancer charge.

"If you're without your top player or top players or your top player has an off-game, you're in trouble. You've got to bring your 'A' team to be able to win," Hilltop assistant coach Paul Newell said.

La Jolla Country Day 11, Castle Park 9
Nathan Sigmund racked up seven goals and three assists and teammate Chris Bartlett scored three times to lead the Torres to their 10th consecutive victory and an 11-2 record — second best in the 11-team conference to Scripps Ranch. One of those 10 straight wins was a 9-5 decision against the Falcons to hand Scripps Ranch its only loss of the season thus far on Jan. 23.

Max Guise had three assists and Frankie Warren added a goal and two assists for LJCD, which recovered from an early 3-2 deficit against the Trojans (9-4-0) in what would become a game separated by a goal or two at various margins.

The Torres led 10-8 with 5:01 left in the game, then 11-8 before Castle Park attempted one last comeback bid.

The success for LJCD has come despite an influx of new players this season. “We got a lot of new players. Nathan and the other guys have had to step it up more with the division split the second half of the season,” said Torres coach Dean Wilson.

The “other guys” Wilson alluded to are veteran returners Warren, Bartlett and Guise.

“They’re pretty much our Fab Four,” the LJCD coach said.

Add goalie Ben Bartlett to that list of skaters. He put together another solid performance. “The play the slot well,” Bartlett said of the Trojans, who can seemingly create offensive out of thin air at times.

Warren said the key was just to keep shooting in an offensive game like this one that featured 20 goals between the two teams. “Just to get the puck on the net. It was close all game,” Warren said.

“Everyone stepped it up on defense, especially Chris Bartlett on Comrie,” Ben Bartlett said of the high profile victory against the Falcons, who dropped just one game in 20 regular season contests last season — also to the Torres.

“We just want to finish as one of the top two teams so we don’t have to play Scripps Ranch until the end (of the playoffs),” Wilson said.

For Castle Park, Donny McGraw had five goals and one assist, followed by Arturo Garcia with two goals and two assists and Richard Garcia with one goal and four assists.

Eastlake 10, Bonita Vista 4
The Titans continued their inspirational season by recording their second victory against two-time defending Kiwanis Cup champion Bonita Vista this season — a team first for Eastlake.

The win raised the Titans’ record to 8-5; the Barons saw their record fall to 6-7.

“I think our guys have the confidence that they can play with any team. They just need to execute,” said Eastlake coach Jeff Mechling. “Whenever we play our system, we’re successful. When we don’t play our system, we get beat. That’s the bottom line.”

Execution definitely was on Eastlake’s side as the Titans methodically built a 4-3 second period lead before outscoring Bonita Vista 6-1 in the final period. Scott Powers paced Eastlake with three goals and two assists while Emmanuel Castro contributed three goals and newcomer Adrian Rodriguez added two goals and an assist. Captain Chad McElroy had a goal and two assists while Royce Leomo had one goal and Guillermo Briseno had one assist.

Joey Galeno led Bonita Vista with three goals and one assist. Chi Hom scored once while Reuben Felizardo had one assist.

Perhaps the biggest man of the game for the Titans? Freshman goalie Dustin Tewilliager, whose positional play proved critical in stopping numerous down court rushes by the Barons.

“I think the key tonight was that we did everything we had practiced,” Mechling said. “We played good defense. We were more patient in serving up the puck. Our forwards drove to the net. We covered our checks. We talked about some things. We executed.”

For Bonita Vista, the third-period collapse continued any ugly trend for the team of late. The Barons led Castle Park 7-6 with two minutes to play in a Jan. 23 game, only to lose 8-7. In a 9-3 loss to Scripps Ranch on Jan. 28, Bonita Vista trailed 5-3 after two periods before surrendering four unanswered third-period goals.

“We’re not finishing. We’re not playing 45 minutes,” Bonita Vista head coach Keith Quigley said.