SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Roller Hockey

Just one of the guys

It's everyone's game these days

By Phillip Brents

Posted Feb. 5, 2003

Whoever said that hockey was strictly a man’s sport certainly never took these girls into account. In a sport that is still finding its wheels, females playing in the predominantly male-dominated sport of high school roller hockey are not necessarily finding themselves to be pioneers, trend-setters or activists but simply part of the team.

“Have you seen my goalie?” Castle Park High coach Gene Garcia asks excitedly. “Have you seen her play? She’s awesome.”

Certainly, anyone who saw Allison Martinez play in Tuesday’s Metro Conference game against league leader Scripps Ranch would be hard pressed to say that she did not belong between the pipes for the Trojans. Though Castle Park (9-5) fell 8-5 to the Falcons (12-1-1), Martinez was hardly to blame. She stood her ground repeatedly against some of the best talent the sport has to offer locally and opened eyes with several veteran-like saves.

Forget her gender, the Trojans have done well to have her on their side this season.

Martinez’ success has not been lost on anyone associated with the program, much less herself.

“I’m surprised how well I’ve been doing. This is the first time I’ve picked up the goalie gear,” said Martinez, a junior.

She had not even played the sport competitively until just shortly before this season began when her boyfriend, who is a member of the team, began training her for the position.

“I got the gear a couple weeks before the season started,” said Martinez in a soft calm voice. “I get all the support from the defense and all the players.”

It’s Martinez’ calm demeanor that seems to buoy her play on the court.
While Chula Vista has not had the same degree of success that the Trojans have had this season, the Spartans can also claim a female goaltender in the guise of Kristina Villanueva. As with Martinez, Villanueva got involved in the sport because of a boyfriend associated with the team.

Villanueva, who may have surprised onlookers last year by wearing makeup under her mask, has played well at times for a Chula Vista team that still finds itself in the throes of building a foundation for its program.

The Spartans entered Tuesday with an overall record of 2-9-1.

Villanueva is joined this season by a second female player on the Chula Vista team -- fellow senior Dorothy Tamayo, who has begun to skate with more confidence on the court.

“She's come a long way this season,” said Spartan coach Korry Belmontez.

Both Castle Park and Chula Vista are by no means unique in possessing female players (roller hockey is officially classified as a coed sport for lack of a separate girls division). Heather Lamb also played last season for Mar Vista. La Jolla Country Day has two girls on its roster this season: Kelly Guise and Hana Justice Guise is the sister of standout sophomore Max Guise, an All-Metro Second Team selection as a freshman. Justice competed during the fall on her school’s cross country team, helping the Torres to the San Diego Section Division IV championship and a berth in the state finals meet in Fresno.

Torres teammate Frankie Warren finds himself in a unique position to assess coed play both as a teammate and opponent.

“I don’t have any problem with it,” said the LJCD senior, a returning First Team All-Metro selection. “I still try to be aware of them when they’re on the rink, so it ends up changing my style a little. I think it’s what a sport needs to progress and maybe later on it can split like soccer or a sport like that.”

As for altering his style of play, Warren said the differences are minor, though observers would have to say that the girls certainly do not shy away from going into corners against larger male opponents while digging for pucks.

“I wouldn't say I “let up.” I try to keep up the same intensity without throwing an elbow or any cheap stuff I might otherwise do,” Warren said.

With dedicated locker rooms on short supply — or simply unused by choice — in older roller hockey rinks, there is the potential issue of males and females dressing together in open areas for games. Thus far, there does not seem to be a problem — again, pointing to the acceptance of females by their male peers.

“Well, it doesn’t bother me,” Warren said. “They’re part of the team and if they want to be excused, I respect that also but I haven’t changed my habits as of yet. Boxers are just like shorts anyhow.”

The Metro Conference does not own the market on female players. The La Jolla Vikings, who compete in the club-based San Diego County High School Roller Hockey Conference, have two female players on their modest roster. The West Hills Wolf Pack, who compete alongside the Vikings in the conference’s Southeastern League that plays its games Monday afternoon and evenings at Skate San Diego in National City, also have a female rostered on the team.

Natalie Noris, the daughter of coach and rink operator Joe Noris, scored her first high school goal Monday in an 18-6 loss to Pt. Loma. Jamie “Bam Bam” Huntley had two goals and two assists for La Jolla in the same game. Huntley, who is a longtime roller hockey enthusiast, has become one of her team’s most consistent — and persistent — players this season. In a Jan. 13 game against San Marcos, the sophomore produced a dynamite performance with four goals in a 12-6 loss.

Her breakthrough game, however, came in the team’s lone win this season — 14-9 against fellow first-year twin Mission Bay on Dec. 2 — when she tallied five goals to complement six goals and three assists by junior Jacob Glover and two goals and four assists by senior Paul Schön, who also competes for the Vikings’ wrestling team (a two-time City Conference championship finalist).

“It’s great fun. It’s neat,” said Joe Noris, who continues to play with the San Diego Old Hosers after a standout career in both the NHL and WHA in the 1970s. “You take a bunch of these players who are ice hockey players who no one at school knows they play and who play on different teams. But now they are meeting and forming new friendships. Now they have something that connects it to school.”

Torrid Torres
La Jolla Country Day picked up its 11th consecutive win by defeating Eastlake 6-3 on Tuesday. The Torres, who improved to 12-2 overall, received two goals and an assist each from Nathan Sigmund, Chris Bartlett and Max Guise.

High-flying Falcons
Coming off a 7-7 draw with Hilltop the previous Thursday, Scripps Ranch found itself in another battle against Castle Park. Though holding a comfortable two or three goal lead for most of the game, Scripps Ranch was pushed in the final minutes after the Trojans scored to reduce the Falcons’ lead to 7-5 with two minutes to play in regulation time. A goal off a face-off shortly thereafter gave Scripps Ranch some much needed breathing room — and the final margin of victory.

Credit defense to this one, according to Falcons coach Greg Friedman. “We’ve got six-foot, 200-pound defensemen. How are you going to go around them?” the Scripps Ranch coach asked rhetorically.

The Trojans couldn’t adequately answer that question.

Big boost
Bonita Vista’s playoff fortunes have to be bolstered after dealing Hilltop a smart 5-3 defeat in one of the Barons’ better-played games in recent weeks. Bonita Vista posted a 6-1 victory against the Lancers in the teams’ latest meeting but that came without Hilltop’s top firepower present in the lineup. The win against a full-strength Lancer squad has to please Baron head coach Ketih Quigley, who had felt his team had lost its finishing power of late.

James Arakaki led Bonita Vista with a pair of goals, including a nifty goal off a pass from teammate Austin Ballow with 20 seconds left to provide the Barons with some insurance after nursing a 4-3 lead. Reuben Felizardo, Chris Wolfe and Joey Galeno also chipped in with goals. Galeno also had two assists, as did Ballow.

Carl Horten scored twice for Hilltop while also contributing an assist. Erick Morgan had a goal and two assists for the Lancers.