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Metro Conference Championship Playoffs

Division I Preview

Scripps Ranch Falcons (#1 Seed)

The Scripps Ranch Falcons, a two-time finalist in the San Diego County High School Roller Hockey Conference, finished with the best overall record in the 11-team Metro Conference at 18-1-1. Talent (three lines full of it) and discipline define the Falcons.

Dan Comrie, a sophomore, and his older brother Rick, a junior, have played roller hockey for nine years and head a talented, young cast of Scripps Ranch players who have yet to reach their full potential. Their arrival in the Metro Conference has clearly raised the overall level of play. Dan Comrie captured the overall conference scoring title with a phenomenal 105-point season, racking up more than five points per game on 61 goals and 44 assists. He remains an amazing player. Rick Comrie finished third in conference scoring from his rushing defensive position with 77 points (31 goals, 36 assists).

“We have our own styles. Dan is a forward; I’m a defenseman. But we both work together well,” said Rick.

“We have a chemistry,” interjected Dan.

“I know where he’s going to be. I mostly pass to him,” Rick said.

Along with the Comries and Jennings Brieck, a sophomore, the Scripps Ranch lineup has also been buttressed by sophomores Andrew Berrier, Greg Best, Geoff Bjork and Zach Walters, junior Lance Jeremiah and senior Emil Tsaturov. A native of Moscow, Russia, Tsaturov is only one of two seniors on the Falcons (Chris Hu is the other). Goaltenders Brandon George and Colin Beam, both sophomores, combined for seven shutouts, braced by the defensive play of Hu, sophomore Cameron Cerone and Walters.

Opponents see Scripps Ranch as a team led by a few all-stars but it’s rightly the rest of the team that will really kill you. Should foes focus too much on containing the Comries, players like Brieck and Berrier will come in with clutch points. Brieck deserves every bit of publicity he has received this season. He led the Falcons in their Mesa League showdown game against Bonita Vista with a hat trick that included a short-handed and power play goal. Dan Comrie scored the other two critical goals for Scripps, including what proved to be the game-winner on a breakaway, while Rick Comrie contributed three assists. It was particularly the inspired play of Dan Comrie that lifted the Falcons from a 3-1 deficit against the Barons. When Dan Comrie rose to the challenge, his teammates followed.

Roles are assigned and meant to be followed. If the team’s steady defenders stay to their task of disrupting breakaway opportunities by opponents and do not get caught up in the offensive play, Scripps Ranch will be playing its game — which has been lethal when fully deployed.

 

Castle Park Trojans (#2 Seed)

An offensive dynamo second to none in the Metro’s fledgling 11-team circuit, Castle Park comes out with full force. Catch them if you can seems to be their method of operation. With a short bench, offensive pressure is the team’s game plan — and one that can be draining on its players.

The Trojans wrapped up their first league championship in their two-year existence by defeating defending champion Hilltop, 10-0, and Mar Vista, 12-3, to wrap up a 7-1-0 South Bay League campaign. The league title-clinching win against Mar Vista came on Valentine’s Day.

“It was great. My players have struggled a lot this season. They’re happy but it’s been a struggle,” said Trojan head coach Gene Garcia, whose team finished the season with eight players (six skaters and two goaltenders) because of injuries and regular season attrition.

Richard Garcia led Castle Park with five goals and two assists against Hilltop while teammate Je’van Meyers finished the crucial contest with three goals and one assist while Arturo Garcia added two goals and two assists.

Castle Park lost its scoring leader, sophomore Don McGraw, to a broken ankle just a handful of games prior to the end of regular season play. The Trojans have had to rely on their star talent to play virtually all 45 minutes of games to compensate for the lack of a significant bench. Sophomore Richard Garcia, who has assumed the team scoring lead in McGraw’s absence, has played all over the court, from defense to forward. Older brother Arturo Garcia has healed from a dislocated collarbone suffered earlier in the season and has stormed back toward the top of the scoring table.

Besides the two Garcia brothers, other primary contributors this season for Castle Park have been Meyers, senior goalie James Haug, Alex Guerrero, Emmanuel Madrid and Houston Fry, among others.

Richard Garcia finished second in conference scoring with 47 goals and 47 assists while Arturo Garcia finished fourth with 42 goals and 34 assists. Meyers, accounting for his second jersey number, ranked third in team scoring with 40 goals and 30 assists. Fry (17 goals, 15 assists) and Madrid (13 goals, 12 assists) both have been significant contributors.

The team’s resolve, despite its manpower drain, is to roll into the playoffs as best it can. “We had a team discussion and the kids wanted to go on. It’s all about heart,” the elder Garcia said. In a season that has continually produced is share of upsets and late season parity, nothing seems safe until the final buzzer sounds on Feb. 26.

Win or lose, the Trojans figure to be in it. Castle Park took it down to the end in 6-5 and 8-5 losses to top-seeded Scripps Ranch (with fatigue the deciding factor in both setbacks). Both games against La Jolla Country Day (9-8 in CP’s favor and 10-9 in LJCD’s favor) were high scoring and came down to the wire, with the game-winning goals scored with one second to play in both contests. The Trojans have split against Bonita Vista (8-4 win and 6-4 loss) and went 2-0 against Hilltop (7-3 and 10-0 victories).

 

Bonita Vista Barons (#3 Seed)

The Barons climaxed last season by capturing the inaugural Kiwanis Cup with a 5-4 victory against regular season champion Hilltop. Bonita Vista has again proved itself capable of rising to the occasion and appears to have jelled as a complete team in the latter stages of the season if recent performances against such Division I playoff foes as Scripps Ranch (5-5 tie), Castle Park (6-4 victory), Eastlake (10-1 victory) and La Jolla Country Day (4-3 victory) are any indicator. However, the team also has a tendency to be snake-bit in the face of all this success — the team’s 3-3 tie and 7-3 loss to Hilltop and 5-5 draw against Eastlake proves it does have an Achilles’ heel.

Bonita Vista is lead by senior Doug Lentz, who is easily the team’s heart and soul. He dedicated this season to winning Metro, and though the Barons finished a close second to regular season Mesa League champion Scripps Ranch, the playoffs could tell another story and Lentz could yet realize his dream. He was the outstanding player in last year’s Kiwanis Cup-winning effort. Said BV coach Keith Quigley: “We want to play teams like Scripps Ranch every day.”

The Barons’ 5-5 tie against the Falcons was accomplished on equal footing. In fact, Bonita Vista held an early 3-1 lead in the game. Lentz moved back from his normal defender’s position to man the space between the pipes, excelling with a scintillating performance. Much of the same in the playoffs could spell the Barons keeping their hands on the Kiwanis Cup.

Offensively, Bonita Vista is keyed by Joey Galeno. Known as “The Punisher,” Galeno finished fifth in conference scoring with 47 goals and 25 assists. He had a hand in all five Baron goals (4 goals, 1 assist) in the 5-5 draw with Scripps Ranch. Supporting Galeno’s offensive production are teammates James Arakaki (32 goals, 24 assists), Austin Ballow (21 goals, 22 assists) and Reuben Felizardo (24 goals, 14 assists). Felizardo and Lentz (11 goals, 13 assists) are the team’s co-captains. Lending further support are Brent Nash (13 goals, 10 assists) and John Donahoo (12 goals, 8 assists). Players give 110 percent on the floor and hustle into the corners -- always keeping opponents on their toes._

 

La Jolla Country Day Torres (#4 Seed)

The Torres appear to be peaking at the right time of the season. La Jolla Country Day closed the season 5-0 in league play to earn second place in the South Bay League standings behind fast-starting Castle Park. The Torres defeated Castle Park, 10-9, with a furious four-goal rush that reversed a 9-6 Trojan lead, and handed last year’s league champion, Hilltop, a 7-5 loss with yet another fantastic finish.

“Over the course of the season, the team has learned to play as a team,” said LJCD coach Dean Wilson, whose Torres finished the season 11-2-0 in their last 13 games after a 4-3 start. “You can have a superstar and if you play as individuals, you’re not going to win.”

One of the keys with the LJCD team, or any of the top teams in the conference, for that matter, is support from the many players who aren’t in the spotlight. “We've really come together as a team. We don't have the monster scorers of the league like some of the other teams. With us, it is more spread out among the roster and that’s what it takes to really be a solid team in CIF — not a few superstars, but a whole team effort,” noted Frankie Warren, who was credited with the game-winning goal with one second remaining in the Feb. 5 game against Castle Park.

As for superstars, the Torres do have one — Nathan Sigmund, who rivals any player in the conference for speed, puck-handling skills and all-around savvy. When he’s clicking and the supported by the rest of the team, anything has been shown to happen. Sigmund paced LJCD with 38 goals and 25 assists to rank eighth overall in conference scoring. He had seven goals in the 10-9 Castle Park win. Max Guise (21 goals, 26 assists) finished 12th overall to cap a personal second-half surge along with defenseman Chris Bartlett (14 goals, 12 assists).

Prior to Castle Park’s title-clinching victory against Hilltop , the Torres faced two do-or-die games against Eastlake. Sigmund keyed LJCD to a 9-5 victory with three goals and two assists and added two goals in a follow-up 5-4 win. Guise had a hat trick in the 9-5 victory while setting up two goals in the 5-4 win.

The Torres spelled just that — H-E-A-R-T — in scoring an inspired 7-5 win against Hilltop. Despite missing two key players, including team scoring leader Sigmund, LJCD kept its league championship hopes alive as the Torres regrouped to put the victory away with two goals in the final 1:35 behind the inspired play by sophomore goalie Ben Bartlett. The huge victory broke a two-game losing streak that included narrow losses to Mesa League powers Scripps Ranch (7-5) and Bonita Vista (4-3). LJCD received gutsy defensive play from a number of players to deny the hard-charging Lancers, including standout play from Adam and Chris Arena, Chris Bartlett and Warren. Guise had two goals and one assist in the game while Sam Hodgson was credited with two goals.

Warren, who finished third in team scoring with 21 goals and 18 assists, played an all-around game both offensively and defensively. He was credited with three assists in the Hilltop victory. As the last man on defense, sophomore goaltender Ben Bartlett also shone brightly. “Ben has played the best he has all year,” said Wilson of the LJCD ’tender. “He’s really stepped it up. For us to win like that, it was a whole team effort.”

 

Hilltop Lancers (#5 Seed)

The defending Metro Conference champion Lancers started the out season in fine form, forging a conference-best six-game unbeaten streak (5-0-1) and eventually extending their record to 12-3-1 — second best in the 11-team conference to invading North County power Scripps Ranch. The success came as somewhat of a mild surprise to many considering the number of impact players Hilltop lost from its championship season of a year ago. Head coach Dan Vaccaro only wishes he had all the players who helped the team to that early season success still healthy and active on the team’s roster.

Untimely injuries and the ominous presence of the parallel competitive club season, have taken their late season toll on the 2001-2002 Lancers. The Hilltop team that will skate into the first round of the playoffs is not the same team that started the season, though the resolve may be greater, according to four-year player Ben Nixon, one of the conference’s top defenders along with fellow four-year Lancer defender Kyle Lew. “It’s been an awesome experience since starting out as a club team. The guys have been upbeat about it — they’re treating it more like a challenge than a disability,” said Nixon.

Challenge might be the right word to use. In the course of one game in the dying weeks of regular season play, Hilltop lost junior Joe Casillas to a broken wrist and standout forward Carl Horten, who had just rejoined the team, to the victim of club play. Couple those losses with the defection of goaltender Adam Meehan to NARCh play after the five-game mark, another player who accompanied his parents to Salt Lake City for the Winter Olympic Games and another placed on academic probation by his family, and the talent drain has been very difficult to overcome — witness a 1-3 ending to the season. Of particular note, late season losses to fellow Division I playoff entrants Scripps Ranch (14-1), Castle Park (10-0) and Eastlake (6-3) are a testament to the team’s recent hurts.

But it’s also been a season to celebrate emerging talent. Sophomore Erick Morgan, whose main attribute is his pure speed and puck-handling abilities, has doubled his scoring output of last season by totaling 48 goals and 20 assists to finish sixth overall in conference scoring. (In their too brief pairing, Morgan and Horten created true sparks on the floor.) Sophomore Everett Hinojosa (19 goals, 18 assists) assumed the team’s No. 2 scoring position after the loss of Casillas (12 goals, 17 assists) while freshman Trevor Stutzman (15 goals, 7 assists) has also contributed offensively. Contributing defensively has been senior Eddie Hernandez, who moved from defense (where he had racked up 9 goals and 7 assists in a fourth of a season) to take over the Lancers’ goaltending duties (where he also excelled).

“it’s been a tough time at this time of the year,” admitted head coach Dan Vaccaro. “We started out well. We’ve had a good run for a few years. Now we have to regroup. But it’s tough to make up for all the talent we lost. That puts a lot of pressure on Erick to score.”

 

Eastlake Titans (#6 Seed)

The Titans received goals from five players, including a pair from Royce Leomo, in taming defending Metro Conference champion Hilltop by a 6-3 score to end regular season play. Despite its youth (with five freshman starters), Eastlake proved that was no fluke after holding Mesa League and regular season Metro Conference points champion Scripps Ranch to a 6-1 win and rallying to tie Mesa League runner-up Bonita Vista 5-5 after surrendering an early 4-1 lead.

Victor Mancillas had a goal and two assists for Eastlake in the final game against Hilltop, which held an early 2-0 advantage. The Titans broke a 3-3 deadlock with three unanswered goals to end the game. Chad McElroy had a goal and assist for Eastlake, which also received a goal from Alex Verdugo and two assists from Patrick Johnson.

Verdugo scored the game-tying goal with 5:50 to play in regulation time to thwart a four-goal Bonita Vista rally. The Titans built a 4-1 lead on two goals by McElroy and single goals by Leomo and Kyle Hughes. Leomo also picked up two assists in the game between eastside rivals.

Leomo is the team’s leading scorer heading into the playoffs with 21 goals and 9 assists. He’s followed on the scoresheet by Brian Baker (20 goals, 6 assists), McElroy (18 goals, 9 assists), Mancillas (10 goals, 15 assists), Erik Gallardo (11 goals, 11 assists) and Mike Cerwonka (11 goals, 10 assists). When he wants to do so, Gallardo has proven he can be an explosive offensive force on the court after scoring seven goals in one game this season. The team has also received inspirational play from Johnson, a freshman. The otherwise young Eastlake squad is braced in the net by senior veteran goaltender Azuma Franklin, whom head coach Jeff Mechling likes to believe may be the conference’s top goalie. The team is hurt offensively by the loss of Baker but the season-ending chemistry (good) could be the catalyst to a strong playoff effort. Franklin was exceptionally strong in the cage in the 6-1 loss to Scripps Ranch, holding the high-flying Falcons to just four goals until the final minutes of the contest. Johnson had the team’s lone goal in that effort.

 

Division II Preview

The Division I and Division II championship games are scheduled Tuesday, Feb. 26 at Skate San Diego in National City. It’s a fitting manner to conclude what has turned out to be nothing short of a fantastic sophomore season for the fledgling CIF-sanctioned circuit.

The top six teams in the 11-team conference qualify for the Division I playoff field with the lower five finishing teams competing for the Division II championship.

Champions in both the Mesa League and South Bay League receive first-round byes in the single-elimination Division I playoff bracket with the third-seeded team facing the sixth-seeded team and the fourth-seeded team meeting the fifth-seeded team in opening round games on Tuesday, Feb. 19. The top-seeded team will play the lowest remaining seed in the semifinals, scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 21, while the second-seeded team will face off against the highest remaining seed. The two semifinal winners will then square off in the Division I title game on Feb. 26 at 7 p.m.

The Division II playoff field will feature five games on Feb. 19 and five games on Feb. 21 to determine the final order of finish, with each team playing four games. The two teams with the highest point total will advance to the Division I championship game on Feb. 26 at 6 p.m.

Mesa League champion Scripps Ranch (18-1-1) earned the top seed in the Division I playoffs while South Bay League champion Castle Park (15-5-0) earned the second seed. In first-round games, third-seeded Bonita Vista (14-3-3) will face sixth-seeded Eastlake (11-8-1) while fourth-seeded La Jolla Country Day (15-5-0) will square off against fifth-seeded Hilltop (13-6-1).

Teams entered in the Division II field include Sweetwater (6-13-1), Chula Vista (6-14-0), Mar Vista (5-14-1), Montgomery (3-17-0) and Southwest (0-20).

Sweetwater finished third in the Mesa League standings with a 5-5 record; the Red Devils own a 6-1-1 record against Division II opponents. SuHi is led on the court by top scorers Marvey Ferrer (20 goals, 10 assists), Steve Martinez (11 goals, 14 assists) and late comer Gerardo Ortega. Season-long contributors have been Richard Kolerich and goaltender Louie Valentine. Kolerich can pinch in with goals when needed while Valentine has absorbed — and rejected — a wave of plastic fired his way. Valentine has routinely made 30 to 40 saves per game this season.

“When you play hard, it’s fun. It’s fun when you play hard,” Red Devil coach Mike Duffey told his team following a pre-playoff practice.

Mar Vista may be the team to watch in the Division II playoffs, however. The Mariners have generally subdued their fellow Division II opponents while holding the score down against Division I foes. In a recent matchup, Sweetwater defeated Mar Vista by a 4-2 score — any rematches are expected to be just as close. The Mariners are led by Clint Jones, who compiled 29 goals and 11 assists to rank among the conference’s top 15 scorers.

Mar Vista boasts three players with club experience: Jones and fellow sophomore Anthony Arciga and junior Fisak. Top players on this season’s team include those three key players along with juniors Ricky Osorio and Dan Rumsey.

Head coach Ron Cole said enthusiasm is the guiding force on his squad. “The coaches and administrators in the district have put together a quality league that gives the players a great hockey experience. The league will only get better over the next few years with the individual skills of the players improving. Every player I’ve seen out there is having fun,” he said.

Chula Vista is led by standout Thomas Doran (28 goals, 9 assists) and braced between the pipes by Kristina Villanueva, whose play has improved markedly since the start of the season. Other offensive contributors include Mike Foster, David Ruiz and David Rodriguez.

Montgomery is keyed by sophomore standouts Josh Royal and Bobby Palma. Team captain Royal is the all-around play-maker on the nine-member squad while Palma can get the clutch goal when needed. Head coach Brian Phillips is optimistic despite the team’s poor on-court record — though that necessarily isn’t the focus of the building process. Only about a third of the Aztecs rostered players have prior hockey experience.“They’ve grown a lot as a team and as individuals,” Phillips said.

Palma leads Montgomery with 25 goals and 10 assists while Royal scored 18 goals and 13 assists to push for inclusion among the conference’s top 20 scorers. Forward Mike Mortensen (8 goals, 11 assists) has shown promise the second half of the season. “He’s got a lot of hustle,” Phillips said of Mortenson. Another key player is defenseman Chris Troie, whom Phillips said displays “a lot of heart.”

The focus has been clearly on learning for the Southwest Raiders, according to coach Mark Garvin. The Raiders finished 0-20 in their second season of play but have made steady progress in picking up the fundamentals of play. Enthusiasm remains high. “Just teaching them how to play — that’s the main job. They’re basically all beginners. Most of the guys didn’t know how to do a face-off at the beginning of the season,” Garvin said.

Senior forwards Billy Thorton and Tony Crenshaw rank among the team’s top players. Like many on the team, Crenshaw (a member of the team’s football team) is a first-year introductee to the game of roller hockey. J.P. Buenaflor faces a lot of shots each game but the team’s high goals-against average isn’t for lack of talent.

 

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