Roller Hockey

Carlsbad tops Scripps Ranch in overtime for San Diego high school club roller hockey title

By Phillip Brents

The Carlsbad Lancers defeated the Scripps Ranch Falcons, 3-2, in an exciting overtime game to capture this year's San Diego County High School Roller Hockey Conference championship title. The game, which epitomized the string of upsets in this year's 16-team tournament, was played March 30 at the Escondido Sports Center.

Andrew Milks lifted a shot above the stick hand of goaltender Matt Speck to provide the winning margin in the third-seeded Lancers' victory against the ninth-seeded Falcons. The championship game win by Carlsbad (12-3) served to make amends for a 5-1 loss in the regular season to Scripps Ranch (9-5).

Mark Wosk set up Milks' overtime game-winner after Carlsbad goaltender Sean Seal had made a game-saving stop on a breakaway by Scripps Ranch's Matt Gilroy with three seconds remaining in regulation play to prevent a Falcon victory and send the game into the extra period. Milks' winning goal came with 4:26 to play in the first 10-minute overtime period.

Scripps Ranch, which was making its second appearance in the championship game in the six-year history of the high school club circuit, scored the game's jump goal in the second minute of the opening period when Gilroy fed teammate Sean Hall for a 1-0 lead.

Carlsbad tied the game at a goal apiece five minutes later when Milks scored the first of his two goals in the contest. Mark Collier provided the set-up pass.

The Falcons scored the go-ahead goal with just over four minutes to play in the third period to lead 2-1. Dan Comrie got the goal off an assist from brother Rick Comrie.

Scripps Ranch continued to play with the momentum on its side, outshooting the Lancers 36-29 in the game, but could not put Carlsbad away in regulation play.

The Lancers played -- and won -- without one of their scoring leaders, Bobby Cottrell, who was unavailable because of another athletic commitment.

Carlsbad defeated Torrey Pines, 4-3, in the semifinals while Scripps Ranch defeated fifth-seeded Granite Hills, 4-3, in overtime to advance to the title game. Dan Comrie scored the winning overtime goal for the Falcons. In Carlsbad's win, Cottrell notched the game-winning goal with 1:22 left in regulation after the Lancers had trailed 3-1 at one point in the matchup.

Granite Hills (12-4) played the semifinal contest without three of its top players who had drawn one-game suspensions for fighting in the team's quarterfinal-round victory against San Marcos. But no one can question Scripps Ranch's credentials after the Falcons upset top-seeded San Pasqual, 5-4, in the quarterfinals.

Torrey Pines (6-7-1) proved the surprise of this year's playoff tournament after entering the 16-team draw seeded 15th and eliminating three-time conference champion Monte Vista in the opening round and then skating past Vista in the next round. Torrey Pines nearly extended its Cinderella run in the semifinals when a shot bounced off the crossbar with 30 seconds to play to prevent the game from going into overtime.

A total of 23 teams participated in this year's high school club conference season. Besides Monte Vista's three playoff titles and Carlsbad's 2001 championship, conference championships have also been won by Valhalla (in the inaugural season) and Rancho Buena Vista (last year).

The San Diego County club playoff tournament brought to a close a busy season of high school roller hockey action within the county. The first-ever CIF-sanctioned high school roller hockey league ended its inaugural season prior to the finish of the club league with nine teams involved in play within the Metro Conference in South County San Diego.

There are plans to expand play next season within the Metro Conference, with several clubs from the San Diego County club circuit expected to gain admission. As many as 20 teams could be operating under the umbrella of the Metro Conference next season, according to optimists. Such a number might force a major realignment of the county's club circuit, or at the least, a major downsizing.

Ironically, though the Metro Conference received the honors of being the first officially-sanctioned CIF league within the state, the balance of power may have resided in the county's non-CIF-sanctioned club league. A major expansion of the former with teams from the latter could put a whole new face on the sport, as played at the CIF level, next season.

The emphasis was clearly placed on participation and development during the Metro Conference's inaugural campaign in which Bonita Vista High School defeated regular season champion Hilltop High School to cap a four-team end of season tournament.

"This season was full of surprises. We came in to this league being one of the teams to beat. In the end, we were considered the underdogs. But we surprised everybody by overcoming the odds and beating Eastlake and Hilltop in two very intense matches to win the championship," explained Bonita Vista junior Doug Lentz, who added, "I felt our team strove to be the very best it could possibly be. We showed much improvement."

"Having hockey turning CIF was very exciting. It opened doors for new opportunities," interjected Bonita Vista's Ben Felizardo.

"It became very competitive. It was very hard work to stay on top," summed up brother Reuben Felizardo.