WCRHL Kickoff Event Recap

Sean Seal, goaltender for UC Santa Barbara, gives one-on-one instruction to a goaltender in the Mission Hockey College.

The WCRHL also held its first-ever Mission Hockey College.  45 youth, ages 5 ½ to 16 years old came out to participate in the free clinic.  Players from Long Beach State, USC and UC Santa Barbara helped run the clinic along with WCRHL staff.  The players were split up into two age groups and participated in skating, passing and shooting drills.  The 2 goaltenders were given a good workout, as well as one-on-one instruction from UCSB Division I goaltender Sean Seal.  In addition to the free instruction, all players were given a free Mission Hockey t-shirt for participating.

In Division I action, 3 teams remain undefeated after the first weekend, with 2 others close behind.  UCSB, Cal Poly SLO, and UC Irvine finished the weekend strong with 4 wins and 0 losses.  Long Beach State and UNLV finished with a record of 3-1, losing only to UC Irvine and Cal Poly SLO, respectively.  UC Davis and Chapman finished 1-3 and UC Berkeley and Chico State (back from a one-year hiatus) finished without a win.  In 2 weeks, several of the Division I teams will meet up in Santa Barbara for the next event.  This event will feature the rivaled matchup of Cal Poly SLO and UC Santa Barbara, as well as games between Long Beach State, Evergreen Valley College (DIII), and Chapman.

In Division II action, only one team came out of the weekend undefeated.  Cal Poly Pomona won all 4 of their games, with UC San Diego and CSU San Bernardino close behind at 3-1.  University of Nevada, USC and UC Riverside trail slightly, hovering around the 0.500 mark.  University of San Diego, Sonoma State, and CSU Monterey Bay all finished 1-3.  Claremont College, in their first-ever season of competitive college roller hockey, finished the weekend 0-4.  They did play a very good game against Sonoma State (the final game of the event), coming back from a 7-1 deficit, finishing the game 9-4.  They also put up 6 goals against CSU Monterey Bay in their first game of the season, losing that one 14-6.  Claremont and UC Riverside will face off in Santa Barbara in 2 weeks, playing each other as well as 2 games against teams from the B Division.

The lone Division III school this season is Evergreen Valley College.  They are definitely improved since last season, and played very well at their home rink this past weekend.  They finished the event 0-4, but were not at all sour about it.  2 of their losses were by one goal to Long Beach State(3-1) and UNLV (3-1).  Their other 2 losses were to UC Irvine(4-0) and Cal Poly SLO(4-0).  If you want to talk about strength of schedule, Evergreen definitely had the toughest of the weekend.  Evergreen will be playing at UCSB in 2 weeks against UCSB(4-0), Chapman(1-3) and their 2nd and final game of the season against Cal Poly SLO(4-0).

In B Division action, the 07-08 season started off right where 06-07 left off.  UCSB B Gold(3-0-1) is the hot team, with both of Cal Poly SLOâ??s B teams right behind(both 3-1).  UCSB B Blue(3-1) is also right up there this season, and will be a threat to both of Cal Polyâ??s and their own B team.  Cal Poly Pomona(1-3) has entered a B team this season, after a season hiatus.  UC San Diego B(1-3) and UC Davis B(0-4) round out the division.  All B teams except for the Cal Poly teams will face off in 2 weeks at UCSB, playing on Saturday evening and Sunday all day.  The first B division game on that weekend will feature both UCSB squads facing off against each other, with the other B teams coming in later in the day.