WCRHL Regional Champions Crowned!
16 teams compete for the honor of WCRHL Regional Champion in 3 Divisions
WCRHL March 20th, 2008 at 9:00PM March 21st, 2008 4:42PM
The Western Collegiate Roller Hockey League crowned champions in 3 divisions on March 1st-2nd, 2008 at the 949 Roller Hockey Center in Irvine, CA. 16 teams competed for the honor of being called WCRHL Regional Champion for their respective division. Round Robin Play took place on Saturday morning and afternoon, followed in the early evening by the WCRHL's 2nd Mission Hockey College, a free youth clinic, and finally in the evening quarterfinal matchups for Divisions I and II. Sunday morning held semifinal games and championship games for Divisions I, II and B.
The round robin pools for Division I were broken up into: Pool A - #1 UC Irvine, #4 Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, #6 UC Santa Barbara; Pool B - #2 Long Beach State, #3 UNLV, #5 UC Davis. UC Irvine swept pool A with a remarkable goal differential of +20. UCSB earned the #2 spot in the pool by beating Cal Poly by a score of 4-1. In Pool B, all 3 teams went 1-1, beating each other. This came down to goal differential on who would get a bye into the semifinals. Long Beach State ended up being the #1 out of Pool B, with a goal differential of +4. UNLV was the #2 with an even goal differential and UC Davis was the #3 with a -4.
UC Irvine and Long Beach State received byes into the semifinals, while Cal Poly SLO would face UNLV and UCSB would face UC Davis for the other 2 semifinal spots. UNLV defeated Cal Poly SLO by a score of 4-2, while UCSB defeated UC Davis by a score of 5-3. The semifinal matchups were Long Beach State vs. UCSB and UC Irvine vs. UNLV. Long Beach State defeated UCSB by a score of 5-1, led by 2 goals from Bryce Courtney (#1 star of the game) and 3 assists from Ryan Burrows (#2 star). UCSB actually scored the 1st goal of the game, but Long Beach went on to score 5 unanswered goals for the win, and berth in the championship game.
The UC Irvine/UNLV game was the most exciting matchup of the weekend. This game was a back-and-forth, see-saw battle that lasted the entire game and into overtime. The score was tied 2-2 at the end of the 1st period, the score was 3-2 in UCI's favor at the end of the 2nd, and the 3rd period saw 7 goals, 4 from UNLV and 3 from UCI. Shortly into overtime, UNLV's Shawn Pearson had a partial breakaway that was turned away by UCI goaltender Kevin Leonard. UCI quickly turned the puck around and on the ensuing play, UCI's Charlie Middleton score a no-look, backhand shot that was labelled for the upper half of the net. Shawn Pearson of UNLV earned the #1 star of the game with 5 goals, and Charlie Middleton earned the #2 star of the game with 4 goals, one being the game-winner.
The Division I Championship Game was played between UC Irvine and Long Beach State, the #1 and #2 seeds coming into the event. UC Irvine scored quickly, with 3 goals in the first period and 3 goals in the 2nd. Long Beach tallied 2 goals in the 3rd period, but the 6-goal deficit proved too difficult to overcome, and UC Irvine skated away with their first WCRHL Regional Championship! The #1 star was Charlie Middleton with 2 goals and 2 assists, #2 star Jeff Pollock and #3 star Mike Tasch scored 1 goal and 2 assists each. Josh Hackworth of Long Beach State tallied the 2 lone Long Beach State goals.
The round robin pools for Division II were broken up into: Pool A - #1 UC San Diego, #4 UC Riverside, #6 University of San Diego; Pool B - #2 Cal Poly Pomona, #3 CSU San Bernardino, #5 USC. UCSD swept pool A with 2 wins, outscoring their opponents 18-6. UCR finished 2nd going 1-1 and USD finished 0-2. In Pool B, Cal Poly Pomona finished 2-0, with a +13 goal differential, CSUSB finished 1-1 and USC finished 0-2. UCSD and Cal Poly Pomona earned a trip straight to the semifinals. CSUSB would face USD in the quarterfinals and UCR would face USC in the other quarterfinal matchup. Both quarterfinal matchups resulted in 8 goal differentials, with CSUSB and UCR coming out on top.
In the Division II semifinals, Cal Poly Pomona would take on UC Riverside and UC San Diego would take on CSU San Bernardino. Pomona dominated UCR, winning by a score of 10-1. Pomona's Erick Rivas earned the #1 star with 2 goals and 3 assists, and Joey Galeno and Billy Chung (both from Pomona) earned the #2 and #3 stars with 3 points each. The semifinal matchup between UCSD and CSUSB was a much closer battle. UCSD started off strong with 2 goals in the first period. CSUSB answered with one of their own with just over a minute left in the period, a powerplay goal. UCSD took a 3 goal lead by scoring 2 goals in the 2nd period. That 4-1 lead did not last long in the 3rd period, when CSUSB scored just 37 seconds into the period and again about halfway through. For the final 6 minutes, CSUSB would battle, but was unable to net the tying goal. UC San Diego held on to win the game, and a spot in the finals, by a score of 4-3. The #1 star of the game was UCSD's Stephen Lockwood, who scored 2 goals on the game. Michael Craven and Mark Nazzal of CSUSB earned the #2 and #3 stars, with 2 points of their own.
The Division II Championship Game saw a scoreless 1st period, despite a couple powerplay opportunities. UCSD took the lead just 19 seconds into the 2nd period with a powerplay goal by Ben Yeaton. Cal Poly Pomona answered with 2 of their own, one a powerplay goal from Joey Galeno. Going into the 3rd period the score was 2-1 in Pomona's favor. Cal Poly Pomona would add to their lead with 3 straight goals in the 3rd, scored by 3 different players. UCSD had a late power play and was able to get one goal closer, but as time ran out the score was Cal Poly Pomona 5, UC San Diego 2. Cal Poly Pomona is the WCRHL Division II Champion!
The B Division featured the top 4 B teams in California, all in one round robin pool. After the round robin, Cal Poly SLO B Gold was seeded #1 (2-0-1, +10 GD), UCSB B Gold #2 (2-0-1, +8 GD), UCSB B Blue #3 (1-2), and Cal Poly Pomona B #4 (0-3). That ended Pomona's chance at a regional title. The #2 and #3 teams would play a semifinal matchup on Sunday morning, and the winner would face Cal Poly SLO B Gold in the B Division Championship Game.
The semifinal matchup features both UCSB B teams. When the 2 teams met on Saturday in round robin, it was Gold winning by a score of 5-1. With 26 seconds remaining in the 1st period, Gold scored the first goal of the game, scored by Justin Hannah. In the 2nd period, Blue answered back with a power play goal by Joey Ostrand. The score was 1-1 going into the 3rd period. Gold poured it on in the 3rd period, scoring the eventual game-winner just 39 seconds into the period, and adding the nail-in-the-coffin about halfway through the period. The final score was 3-1 UCSB B Gold defeating UCSB B Blue. Gold earned the right to play against their archrival Cal Poly SLO B Gold in the B Division Championship Game.
In the B Division Championship Game, Cal Poly SLO B Gold jumped out to an early lead with a power play goal by Scott Wilson. UCSB Gold answered back with 4 straight goals by 4 different goal scorers. SLO added a goal with 23 seconds left in the period to bring the score within 2 (4-2). SLO would tally another goal just 21 seconds into the 2nd period. The teams traded power play goals as well as another UCSB goal in the 2nd, and the score was 6-4 in UCSB's favor going into the 3rd. UCSB scored 2 goals in the 3rd period to take home their 2nd consecutive B Division Regional Championship! UCSB was led by Josh Haddox (#1 star, 2 goals and 1 assist) and by 6 other goal scorers. SLO was led by Brian Costello and Dan Hepler, each with 1 goal and 1 assist in the effort.
The WCRHL also held it's 2nd Mission Hockey College of the year, and had over 40 youth players in attendance. Players from several college teams served as instructors in the event, along with Mission Itech Hockey's Dave Resky. The youth players were split into 2 age groups and ran through a series of skating, passing, shooting drills as they were mentored by College Roller Hockey's Finest! All youth players received free product from Mission and a few were fortunate enough to also win hats, shirts and jerseys from Revision Hockey in a raffle.
On March 3rd, 2008, the NCRHA Selection Committee extended bids to the 2008 College Roller Hockey National Championships to the following WCRHL teams: Division I - UC Irvine, Long Beach State, UNLV; Division II - Cal Poly Pomona, UC San Diego, CSU San Bernardino, UC Riverside; B Division - UC Santa Barbara B Gold, Cal Poly SLO B Gold. Best of luck to all the WCRHL teams representing the West Coast at Nationals!
UC Irvine - WCRHL Division I Champion
Cal Poly Pomona - WCRHL Division II Champion
UC Santa Barbara B Gold - WCRHL B Division Champion
Group Shots from both rinks
UC Santa Barbara's MJ Jeffires leads the group - Youth goaltender is ready for action!
Mission Hockey's Dave Resky was on hand and lended a hand in the Mission Hockey College.
Youth players demonstrate their skills.
College players provide instruction both in groups and one-on-one. UC Santa Barbara goaltender Jay Schoen mentors a young goaltender.
The obstacles were no match for these youth players. They wove through them like they weave through defenders every game!
