March 7, 2011
UC Santa Barbara captures Division I title
UC Berkeley (Division II) and Saddleback B Gold (B Division) win their 1st championship
The B
Division championship was the first of the day that featured Saddleback B Gold
and UC Santa Barbara B Gold. The two
teams met in pool play the day before where Saddleback B Gold was able to skate
away with a 6-3 victory and all the confidence they needed to tear through the
rest of the tournament. The
championship game started off with a flurry of goals from Saddleback B Gold,
three in the first 38 seconds actually. Anthony Squirek of
Saddleback Gold put in the first two goals of the game and finished the game
with a total of three goals to earn the games second star. By the end of the first period Saddleback B Gold
was up 6-0, a mountain that proved to be to tall for UCSB Gold to climb. The game ended with a 9-2 score in favor of
Saddleback B Gold and earned them their first B Division championship.
Up next was
the Division II championship that saw UC Berkeley against USC. Cal finished pool play undefeated while USC
started off the tournament with a frustrating loss to Chico State but proved
why they are one of the nation’s elite Division II teams by winning their next
three games to earn a spot in the championship game. Four of USC’s five games were decided by a
single goal margin, the only exception being at 8-6 win over Sonoma State that
ended with an empty netter. The
championship game would be no exception as the two teams played in a very
exciting game that saw Cal narrowly beat USC by a final score of 6-5, shortly
into the overtime period.
Our final championship game of the day was the
much-anticipated Division I final that had favored Arizona State taking on UC
Santa Barbara. The teams met four times
during the regular season where Arizona State was able to take three out of the
four. They also met during pool play
this weekend and again Arizona State came out on top with a 7-5 victory, but
the championship game would be much different.
UCSB topped Arizona State by a final score of 5-1 to win their second
Division I championship (fourth in school history) in the last three years. The first half of the game went scoreless, as
the teams played a chess match that featured very little quality chances for
either team. Travis Noe of UC Santa
Barbara scored 2 power play goals late in the 2nd period and would
add 2 more in the 3rd period for a total of 4. Goaltender Jay Schoen of UC Santa Barbara
proved to be the difference, stopping 31 of 32 shots for the win.
19 games
this weekend were decided by two goals or less and every game was exciting for
fans and fellow players to watch.
Congratulations to our three WCRHL champions and good luck to all teams
that receive a bid to the 2011 NCRHA National Tournament.