If you’ve felt a slight chill in the night air lately, that can only mean one thing: it’s time for the ice hockey season to face off.
The San Diego State University ice hockey team, braced by three South County players in the lineup, will host the University of San Diego Toreros on Friday, Oct. 12, at the Joan Kroc Salvation Army Center in the team’s home opener. Face off is 8 p.m.
It’s an intriguing matchup between local college programs that are both competing this season at the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II level.
The Aztecs finished last season 17-7-2 after posting a 16-7-2 record in 2016-17. Overall, SDSU has posted four consecutive winning seasons.
This season, however, the Aztecs are making a bold shift to compete in the PAC 8 Hockey Conference after posting three successful seasons in the West Coast Hockey Conference. It should be an upgrade in brand recognition for the SDSU program.
The Toreros, a first-year entry at the Division II ACHA level, enter Friday’s game with a 0-3 record following losses to CSU Fullerton (9-3 on Sept. 28), Loyola Marymount University (4-1 on Sept. 29) and CSU Long Beach (22-1 on Oct. 6).
SDSU’s allotment of South County players includes junior forward Devyn Taras, senior forward Aaron Mayer and freshman goaltender Matthew Burbage.
Eastlake High School alumnus Aaron Mayer is among three South County players on this season’s Aztec roster. Photo by Phillip Brents
Mayer is among the team’s veteran players, finishing second in regular season scoring last season with 24 goals and 38 points in 25 games after leading the team in scoring with 19 goals and 41 points in 25 games in 2016-17.
Both Mayer (Eastlake High School) and Taras (Otay Ranch High School) are accomplished and highly decorated roller hockey players. Mayer holds the San Diego Section record for most points scored in one season.
The speedy Taras piled up points for the Mustangs as well during his playing time in the CIF-Metro Conference.
Taras scored a goal in SDSU’s 3-2 loss to San Jose State in the teams’ season opener Sept. 21 in San Jose. The Aztecs dropped the rematch, 3-0, to face off the season 0-2.
Burbage, who played two seasons for the San Diego United team in the Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League, stopped 68 of 74 shots he faced (.919 save percentage) in the two games.
Mayer is the Aztecs’ top returning scorer.
By the numbers
Overall, SDSU’s 2018-19 roster lists 25 players, including 10 players from San Diego County.
The Aztecs list three players from East County: junior forward Isaac Miller and freshman forward Elisha Reece, both from La Mesa, and freshman forward Mason Cook from Lakeside.
Miller (Helix High School) recorded nine goals (including three game-winners) and 11 assists for 20 points in 26 games last season with the Aztecs while compiling 38 penalty minutes.
Reece played in 51 games last season for the San Diego Sabers of the Western States Hockey League while compiling six goals and eight assists for 14 points.
Cook suited up in 14 games for the Poway Unified Hawks in the Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League in 2016-17, notching four goals and three assists with one game-winning goal.
Other county locals include freshman forwards Andrew Hoy (La Jolla), Jake Goldberg (Del Mar) and Callum McRae (San Diego) and senior forward Patrick Miller (San Diego).
Junior defenseman Dustin Ward is from Temecula.
Other Californians on the SDSU roster include junior defenseman Adrien Wisch (Pleasanton), sophomore defenseman Tristan Macalolooy (San Jose), freshman forward Mickey Sullivan (South Lake Tahoe), senior goaltender Austin Hathcoat (Fresno), freshman goaltender Nick Ilvento (South Lake Tahoe), senior defenseman Josh Nobida (Dublin), freshman forward Derian Theberg (Valencia), junior forward Troy Smith (Oxnard), sophomore forward Steven Plante (Santa Clarita), freshman forward Jake Rochford (Saugus) and sophomore defenseman Reece Breuckman (San Jose).
Freshman defenseman Curtis Maltby (Nantucket) and graduate Tyler Smith (Boston) are both from Massachusetts while sophomore forward Zac Mencimer is from Gleenwood Springs (Colo.).
Plante (14 goals, 36 points), Patrick Miller (13 goals, 29 points) and Nobida (four goals, 22 points) are the team’s top returning scorers following Mayer.
SDSU head coach Phil Bateman said the program has taken on a new group of freshmen to compliment the high skill level already on the team from last season’s roster.
“This season the ice hockey program will welcome back 11 of its players from last season, including captains Tyler Smith and Josh Nobida,” Bateman said. “The influx of talent has come in from all parts of the country, including Colorado and Massachusetts, as well as a bumper crop of California-born players.
“A proud San Diego component is the addition of six San Diego-based high school players, products of the Poway and La Jolla Country Day programs (in the Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League).”
New horizons
SDSU, which returns 11 players from last season’s team, joins Boise State University, Eastern Washington University, San Jose State University and Western Washington University as new members of the PAC 8 during a wave of major expansion. Because the conference now spans the entire West Coast, a north and south division format has been adopted.
SDSU is a member of the PAC 8 South Division alongside Arizona State University, Cal- Berkley, UCLA, San Jose State and USC.
The PAC 8 North Division includes Boise State, Eastern Washington, University of Oregon, University of Washington, Washington State University and Western Washington.
Each team must play 10 conference games. At the end of regular season play the top four teams from the north and south divisions qualify for the playoffs.
Arizona State is the defending PAC-8 champion. UCLA won the championship tournament in 2017.
The Aztecs will host UCLA, USC, Oregon and ASU while meeting San Jose State, Boise State, Cal-Berkeley and Washington in road games
SDSU will play non-conference games against Loyola Marymount University, Long Beach State, Cal State Fullerton, USD, Weber State University, Texas A&M and St. Mary’s.
A highlight on the 2018-19 SDSU schedule is a Jan. 19 date at the Valley View Casino Center against the University of Oregon. The game will be part of a doubleheader with the American Hockey League San Diego Gulls.
“This game will be a celebration of college hockey in San Diego and will give fans the opportunity to watch a college game prior to the San Diego Gulls game at the Valley View Casino Center,” Bateman said.
The Gulls will host the Tucson Roadrunners in their 2018-19 AHL home opener on Friday, Oct. 12, after facing off the season with a 6-4 loss Oct. 6 in Tucson.
SDSU faced off the 2018-19 season with a pair of road contests against San Jose State Sept. 21-22 at Sharks Ice in San Jose. The Spartans won both games, defeating the Aztecs, 3-2, in the first game, and wrapped up the two-game set with a 3-0 shutout victory.
Sullivan scored SDSU’s first goal of the season to give the Aztecs a 1-0 lead in the opener of the two-game series. However, San Jose State rallied with the game’s next three goals to take a 3-1 lead.
Taras scored the only goal of the third period to bring SDSU to within a goal on the scoreboard. But the visitors could not complete their comeback despite piling up a 50-38 advantage in shots.
Burbage made 35 saves in the loss for the Aztecs. Sullivan paced SDSU with a goal and assist in the game while Tyler Smith and Reece each were credited with assists.
SDSU grabbed a 49-36 edge in shots in the second game despite being shut out. Burbage made 33 saves on 36 shots to see his record drip to 0-2.
The Spartans relied on the standout goaltending of Edward Berlin to nudge past the Aztecs in the weekend set.
Berlin, who made 48 saves in the opener, stopped all 49 shots he faced in the rematch to finish the weekend set with 97 saves on 99 shots (.980 save percentage).
Brent Roenick leads USD in scoring with two goals and two assists in three games.
College ice hockey report:
Aztecs sweep weekend set to even season record at 2-2
The San Diego State University men’s ice hockey team picked up a couple wins over the weekend to even its season record at 2-2. The Aztecs defeated the University of San Diego, 13-4, last Friday and edged Loyola Marymount University, 4-3, in overtime on Saturday.
The team’s three South County players collected two goals and five assists as well as a goaltending shutout stretch in both wins.
Eastlake High School alumnus Aaron Mayer collected two goals and three assists to finish as SDSU’s co-scoring leader (with teammate Patrick Miller) in last Friday’s home opener at the Kroc Center. He finished the weekend with six points after tacking on an assist in Saturday’s game.
Otay Ranch High School alumnus Devyn Taras scored one goal in the win over the cross-town rival Toreros and added an assist in Saturday’s game.
Chula Vista’s Matthew Burbage logged 21 minutes of playing time in the win over USD, stopping all seven shots he faced in spelling starter Austin Hathcoat (eight saves on 12 shots in 39 minutes).
Mayer ranks second in team scoring with the six points, trailing Miller with seven points (three goals, four assists). Taras ranks in a tie for third place in team scoring with three points (two goals, one assist).
“The weekend went well,” SDSU head coach Phil Bateman said. “This is a really talented team, but a young team, so they are finding out what it takes to play at the college level.
“As always, Aaron was strong this weekend. I believe he contributed with five to six points in the two games. He played strong down the middle. Aaron also was named as an assistant captain for the season, something I know he is very proud to wear.”
The Aztecs received either a point or assist from 16 players in the weekend sweep.
SDSU was quick to get out of the gate against the winless Toreros (0-4) by taking a 3-0 lead in last Friday’s encounter. Mayer assisted on the game’s second goal, scored by Miller at 5:07, and scored the team’s fourth and fifth goals as SDSU skated to a 5-1 advantage to end the opening period.
Mayer scored back-to-back goals at 17:27 and 19:51. Miller drew the assist on the front end of the two tallies while Reece Breuckman and Miller drew the assists on the latter goal to end the period.
Mayer collected two goals and one assist in the period while Miller netted one goal and two assists. Both players finished the game with two goals and three assists.
The Aztecs led 10-4 through two periods. Mayer picked up an assist on teammate Derian Theberge’s goal at 14:04 of the period to hike the SDSU lead to 10-3.
Taras scored the final Aztec goal at 10:38 of the third period.
SDSU’s East County players contributed three points on the score sheet in the home opening win. Helix High School alumnus Isaac Miller scored the game’s opening goal while Lakeside’s Mason Cook finished the game with a goal and assist.
Jake Rochford (two goals, one assist), Hoy (three assists), Theberge (two goals), Troy Smith (one goal, one assist) and Curtis Maltby (two assists) all recorded multiple points in the win over USD.
The Aztecs out-shot the Toreros 57-19. Adam Jacobs made 44 saves in the loss for USD while Samuel Shrout and Brent Roenick each collected two goals and two assists to pace the Toreros (0-4) in the scoring column.
SDSU had little time to celebrate their home opening win as they quickly hit the road for a game at the Bay Harbor ice sheet.
Marymount led, 2-1, after the first period, though the Aztecs rallied with the only two goals of the second period to take a 3-2 lead. Marymount tied the game with the only goal in the third period before SDSU skated off the ice on Mickey Sullivan’s game-winner at 4:00 of overtime.
Mayer and Taras both earned assists in the game while Isaac Miller scored one goal.
Patrick Miller had a goal and assist in the OT victory.
Tyler Smith drew the assist on Sullivan’s game-winner while Nick Ilvento, one of three goaltenders on the Aztec roster, stopped 26 of 29 shots he faced against Marymount to record the goaltending victory
SDSU hosts UCLA in its second home game of the season on Friday, Oct. 19. Face-off is at 8 p.m. at the Kroc Center.
Additional photos by Eric J. Fowler:
Ice Chips: Young Gulls to face off fourth AHL season
The Gulls will face off their fourth season in San Diego with a full array of festivities for Friday’s home opener. All fans in attendance will receive a Gulls cowbell upon entry.
Fans are encouraged to be in their seats by 6:55 p.m. for the opening sequence and player introductions.
Face-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. The game will be telecast live on FOX 5 San Diego and broadcast live on ESPN 1700-AM. Friday’s game also will streamed by Facebook Watch (facebook.com/theahl) and AHL TV (theahl.com/AHLTV).
The Gulls bring a 0-1 record to their home opener after surrendering a 4-2 lead through two periods to the host Roadrunners in last Saturday night’s season opener in Arizona. Tucson scored four unanswered goals in the third period to record the come-from-behind victory.
Sam Carrick led the Gulls with two goals and one assist. He scored a short-handed goal just 1:28 into the contest and later provided his team with a two-goal lead on a power play goal at 16:42 of the second period.
Native Southern Californian Chase De Leo (La Mirada) scored his first regular season goal as a Gull at 6:13 of the first period to stake the visitors to a 2-0 lead. Rookie Jack Kopacka added a goal at 13:23 of the opening period to push the Gulls in front 3-1.
The game featured 34 minutes in penalties by the Gulls and only eight minutes charged to the Roadrunners, who finished 2-for-11 on power play opportunities. The Gulls were 1-of-2 on man-advantage opportunities.
Tucson racked up a 44-20 edge in shots, including a blistering 20-4 advantage in the deciding third period.
The Gulls’ inability to hold a pair of two-goals leads in the season opener followed the course of the team’s two preseason games against the arch rival Ontario Reign in which they twice lost two-goal leads in bowing 4-3 in a 13-round shootout on Sept. 27 and let a three-goal lead slip away in a 4-3 regulation loss to the Reign Oct. 1 at the Honda Center.
The Gulls missed the Calder Cup playoffs for the first time during their tenure in San Diego last season by one standings point. The Gulls closed out regular season play with three games against Tucson, needing to take the Roadrunners to overtime in just one of them to advance to postseason play.
However, the Gulls were unable to accomplish the feat, losing by scores of 4-0 (at home) and 3-2 and 6-3 in Tucson.
Gulls head coach Dallas Eakins said the team’s failure to produce in critical situations at the end of the 2017-18 season was a hurtful process for everyone involved.
“It was hard and not fun to go through,” Eakins explained. “We have something (missing the playoffs by one standing point) that recently reinforces that message.
“We’re here to develop players and, of course, we want to develop players in a winning atmosphere. The playoffs are part of that.”
Coming into this season, Eakins has thus stressed that every shift is critical in producing enough momentum – and standings points — to steer the team back into playoff contention. That the Gulls will be fielding a young squad, with about half of its forwards still with the parent NHL Anaheim Ducks, places an extra premium on performance, especially in the early part of the season.
“It is what it is,” Eakins noted in regard to his team’s current player pool.
However, the Gulls bench boss also stressed patience.
“You make a conclusion each day, and make another conclusion the next day, and so on, and keep moving forward,” Eakins said.
Eakins said the roster drain at the forward position is due to injuries with the Ducks. He suggested the disadvantageous situation could work to the benefit of players currently with the Gulls, including players recently signed from the ECHL to provide depth for the team’s roster.
“With injuries to the forward ranks (in Anaheim) that will leave us a little light for sure,” the San Diego head coach admitted. “But it also offers an opportunity for others (to prove themselves on the Gulls roster). I hope some of these guys can step up and make something of this opportunity.”
Eakins suggested the Gulls will have to figure out how to score goals “by committee” until the team receives more players from Anaheim.
Tailfeathers
De Leo, Kopacka and goaltender Jared Coreau, who won a Calder Cup championship with Grand Rapids two seasons ago, were among the new faces on display in the Gulls’ season opener.
De Leo was obtained in a trade from the Winnipeg Jets to the Anaheim Ducks, the Gulls’ parent NHL club, during the offseason. De Leo had spent three seasons with the Manitoba Moose, the Jets’s AHL affiliate.
Kopacka, a fourth-round draft pick (93rd overall) by the Ducks in 2016, finished up four seasons of major junior hockey play with Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the Ontario Hockey League. He recorded 31 goals and 63 points in 65 regular season games with the Greyhounds last season before tacking on 13 goals and 21 points in 24 playoff games.
Players still with the Ducks include several standouts from September’s Vegas Rookie Faceoff, including centers Sam Steel and Isac Lundestrom, both first-round draft picks, and left wing Max Comtois, a second-round pick. Comtois has two goals and three points in four games.
Left wing Kevin Roy, center/left wing Kalle Kossila, right wing Kiefer Sherwood and defenseman Marcus Pettersson, all of whom spent time with the Gulls last season, remain with Anaheim.
Left wing Max Jones, another first-round draft pick, is injured.
Fans are invited to make the San Diego Gulls Home Opener festivities interactive by using the hashtag #LetsGoGulls on social media platforms, and using the Gulls Home Opener-themed Snapchat filter.
TUCSON RINGS UP 3-2 WIN TO DIM GULLS’ HOME OPENER
All fans in attendance at Friday’s Gulls 2018-19 American Hockey League home opener received free cowbells, a longstanding hockey tradition to ring when the home team scores a goal or otherwise does something outstanding in the game.
The 12,467 fans had little to ring their bells about after the visiting Tucson Roadrunners ended the opening period with a 1-0 lead. Gulls fans got to ring their cowbells during the final two periods but the din wasn’t loud enough to drown out a 3-2 Tucson victory.
Both Gulls’ losses to face off the season have been to the Roadrunners, last season’s regular season Pacific Division champions.
Each match-up featured a different storyline.
Whereas the Gulls surrendered a 4-2 second-period lead in last Saturday’s 6-4 loss in the teams’ season opener in Arizona, the San Diegans clearly had the upper hand in the late stages of Friday’s game. But overcoming a 3-0 deficit proved too large of a hurdle.
Gulls head coach Dallas Eakins was steadfastly proud of his group of young ice warriors.
“There’s a whole lot to like from my end,” he told the media in a post-game briefing. “I think if we can play that way, minus those two mistakes, we’re going to win a lot of hockey games.”
Michael Bunting scored his first goal of the season and picked up his second point when he broke a scoreless standoff with a shot that crawled past San Diego starter Kevin Boyle at the 8:20 mark. Connor Garland and Cam Dineen picked up assists as the Arizona visitors scored their fifth consecutive goal against the Gulls dating back to the previous Saturday’s season opener in Tucson.
The point on the secondary assist was the first pro point for Dineen, a third-round draft pick (68th overall) by the Arizona Coyotes in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.
The Gulls out-shot the Roadrunners 16-15 in the opening frame but the speedy visitors seemed to have the better run of play. Less than a minute after Bunting’s ice-breaker Tucson went on the power play when San Diego’s Ben Thomson was called for tripping. But the Gulls penalty-killing unit continued to star, pushing the Roadrunners to just two goals in 13 opportunities to start the season.
Tucson made it 2-0 at 5:15 of the second period when Trevor Cheek slotted the puck past Boyle. Tyler Steenbergen picked up the primary assist on the play while teammate Hudson Fasching earned the secondary assist.
The goal came seconds after Roadrunners starter Hunter Miska had denied the Gulls on two excellent scoring chances.
But the Arizona visitors did not stop there. The Roadrunners hiked their advantage to 3-0 just 1:09 later as Trevor Murphy deposited the puck past Boyle, beating the San Diego netminder through the five-hole, at 6:24
Bunting and Garland received assists.
The Gulls got one back at 8:43 to give their fans a chance to ring their cowbells. Pontus Aberg, assigned to the Gulls on Oct. 9 from the NHL parent Anaheim Ducks, scored an even-strength goal, with assists going to Logan Shaw and Jack Kopacka (who picked up points in back-to-back contests following his first career goal in the season opener).
Aberg proved to be a catalyst to the San Diego offense with a game-high six shots.
The second period was wide open and exciting with end-to-end rushes by both teams. The hosts definitely had the better of play, finishing the period with a 14-7 advantage in shots to lead 30-22 in that department through two periods.
The Gulls maintained a territorial edge to start the third period but Miska, and a tenacious Tucson defense, kept the hosts from doing too much damage, at least early on.
Meanwhile, the Roadrunners turned up their play as the third period wound on, reaching 30 shots on Boyle with four minutes to play.
But the hosts turned on the fire with 3:28 to play as Sam Carrick beat Miska from the left face-off circle to trim the Tucson lead to 3-2. The goal was Carrick’s third goal in two games. Mitch Hults and Simon Benoit picked up assists as the Gulls neared the 40-shot mark in the contest.
The visitors had a chance to ice the win when Boyle stopped Bunting on breakaway with two minutes left. It was then Miska’s turn for heroics as the Gulls began to throw all they had at the Tucson netminder.
The Gulls pulled Boyle with 1:10 to play and quickly fired two shots on Miska. The hosts fired a third shot with the extra attacker but Miska gloved the puck with 2.7 seconds left to effectively end the game.
The Gulls out-shot the Roadrunners 44-32, but the number that mattered most was 3-2 in favor of Tucson.
Eakins’ bunch hopes to carry the momentum from the second and third period of Friday’s game into Saturday’s contest against the arch rival Ontario Reign at Citizens Business Bank Arena (6 p.m. start).
“It’s always frustrating getting chances and not putting them in the back of the net, but, but it’s just a bounce of the puck,” Gulls defenseman Keaton Thompson told the media following Friday’s setback. “We’re going to start putting them in the back of the net eventually and be rolling. We’ll get hot from there.”
Eakins gave credit where it was due — to Miska, the game’s No. 1 star with 42 saves on 44 shots.
“It’s one of those things, I thought their goalie was excellent,” the San Diego coach said. “He played one hell of a game. When you end up with over 40 shots and just a couple of power plays, it really shows how good he was.”
“I think we battled hard from the beginning,” Dineen told TucsconRoadrunners.com. “We got a lead, and [the Gulls] battled back, but we stayed with it, chipped pucks out, worked hard, and it paid off in the end. Miska had a great game and made some key saves, so it was a good overall effort.”
Gulls take flight
After a 0-2 start to the 2018-19 season, the Gulls claimed the upper hand against their Southern California arch rival by edging the host Reign in a shootout on Saturday, Oct. 13. Ontario whittled away at an early San Diego lead, eventually tying the game at 5 in the third period to force overtime.
Andy Welinski scored two second-period goals to supercharge the Gulls’ offense. He finished the game with three points. Chase De Leo recorded two assists and scored the winner in the shootout. Sam Carrick became the first Gull to score a goal in his first three games to face off a season. Logan Shaw scored his first goal in a San Diego uniform while Josh Mahura picked up his first professional point on an assist. Jared Coreau made 38 saves in regulation and overtime and stopped two of three Ontario shootout attempts.
The Reign out-shot the Gulls 43-27. San Diego finished 2-for-6 on the power play and killed four of five penalties. Carrick leads San Diego in scoring with five points (four goals, one assist), followed by De Leo with four points (one goal, three assists) and Welinski (two goals, one assist) and Corey Tropp (three assists) each with three points.
The Gulls (1-2-0-0) now have two standings points. The San Jose Barracuda (4-0-0-1) tops the Pacific Division with nine standings points.
