WCRHL Teams Secure Playoff Spots

After the weekend of play on January 24th, 2004, seven WCRHL teams can count themselves in for the WCRHL Regional Championships, to be held at Rollin' Ice in San Jose, CA on March 6-7, 2004. In Division I, CSU San Bernardino, Cal Poly Pomona and Moorpark College secured playoff spots after the La Verne event on January 24th. CSUSB and Moorpark both had 3 wins and 1 tie(versus each other) on that date. The CSUSB/Moorpark game was the best game in the WCRHL so far this season. It was fitting that this was the last game of the day. A 4-4 score going into the 3rd period assured for an exciting 3rd. But as it would turn out, neither team would score in the 3rd, thanks to CSUSB goaltender Jason Keith, thwarting the great efforts of Moorpark's great scorers. Not that either team was happy with a tie, I think they both can respect the game ending that way. It truly was the greatest game to date. Pomona had 3 wins and 1 loss to put them into 2nd place. Cal Poly SLO can clinch their playoff spot with 1 win this weekend in Lathrop. UC Santa Barbara and Chapman are only 2 wins away. In Division II, UC Riverside, Sonoma State and UN Reno have clinched playoff spots. UCR went 4-0 on January 10th, while UN Reno went 2-0 in regular season games and Sonoma State went 3-0-1 on January 24th. UC San Diego and San Jose State are battling for that final playoff spot. Only 1 game separates these 2 teams, so it is bound to be a battle til the end. In the B Division, only 1 team has secured their playoff spot. Cal Poly SLO B Gold has 14 points, and cannot be reached by the 5th place team, UC Santa Barbara B Gold. In fact, the other 3 teams to participate in the Regional Championships in the B Division can be determined with 1 win each in their coming events. Cal Poly SLO B Green can clinch their spot this weekend in Davis, as can UC Davis B. Cal Poly Pomona B will have to wait until February 21 in Lancaster to clinch their spot, although it may already be clinched for them at that point. It is sure to be an exciting end to the regular season in the next 3 weeks. Stay tuned for details and for the list of teams to participate in the WCRHL Regional Championship Tournament.