The Kiwanis Cup championship playoffs faced off earlier this week with two games Monday at the Escondido Sports Center and two games at the Castle Park High School roller rink.
The four winners advanced to Wednesday’s quarterfinals in Escondido.
For the second consecutive year, four Sweetwater district roller hockey teams were included in the playoffs. The qualifiers this season included Mesa League champion Eastlake, South Bay League champion Castle Park and at-large selections Hilltop and Otay Ranch.
The 2014-15 CIF-Metro Conference season will be remembered as one of the most competitive in its 15-year history for local skaters. That vibe has continued into the playoffs.
In games Tuesday:
Eastlake 15, Castle Park 4
Braced by the record-setting trio of Aaron Mayer, Sam Bawden and Michael Mechling, three-time defending Mesa League champion Eastlake rolled to an 18-2 regular season finish behind an explosive attack. The Titans received the No. 5 seed in the 12-team playoff field and faced off post-season play against the 12th-seeded Castle Park Trojans, who skated onto the playing surface after winning their first league championship in 11 years.
The Trojans quickly showed they belonged in the playoffs after knotting up the score, 2-all, early in the contest. Castle Park trailed by just one goal, 4-3, late in the opening period.
But Eastlake showed why it deserved the No. 5 seed after scoring goals 12 seconds apart to open the game.
Bawden scored the Titans’ opening goal, assisted by Mechling, and Mayer quickly made it 2-0 after taking a feed off the ensuing face-off.
But if the Mesa League champions thought it was going to be easy, they quickly found out it wasn’t. Miguel Flores scored an unassisted goal to put Castle Park on the scoreboard and teammate Julian DeAla followed with another goal, assisted by Flores, to tie the game early on 2-2.
Mayer quickly put the Titans back on top, 3-2, and Mechling scored off a feed by Mayer to increase Eastlake’s lead to 4-2.
But the Trojans continued to remain a thorn in the Titans’ side, cutting the Eastlake lead to a goal when Flores notched his second score of the night.
The Titans turned on the jets when needed.
Eastlake reeled off five unanswered goals to lead 9-3 midway through the second period and, after the Trojans scored to make it a 9-4 game on a goal by DeAlba, assisted by teammate Marvin Cirignano, closed out the contest with six unanswered goals.
The Titans netted a power play and short-handed goal during the match-up.
Mayer, who broke his own single-season conference scoring record this season, collected nine points (six goals, three assists). Fellow seniors Bawden (four goals, one assist) and Mechling (four goals, three assists) also starred on the playing court.
The three linemates sealed their legacy as the school’s top scoring triad by combining for 21 points in the game (14 goals, seven assists).
Two other Titans earned points: Brian Anderson scored on a half-court shot while Sean Layton picked up one assist.
EHS goaltender Kevin Hooks blocked a good amount of shots from the Trojans, who were led on the score sheet by Flores with two goals and one assist and DeAlba with a pair of goals.
“It was a fun game for everybody,” Eastlake coach Ron Cole said. “I enjoyed the opportunity to play everybody on my team and give them some playoff experience. I thank and applaud Castle Park for their sportsmanship.”
Eastlake, which improved to 19-2, advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the second consecutive year. Castle Park, which captured the South Bay League title with a 7-1 league record, finished an otherwise exemplary season with an 11-8 record.
Mayer set a a new conference record with 158 points last season and has now eclipsed that with 173 pionts this season, including 110 goals.
West Hills 7, Otay Ranch 5
Otay Ranch, the runner-up to Eastlake in the Mesa League standings, received the No. 8 seed in the playoffs while West Hills, which struggled through the season with a limited roster, received the No. 9 seed. The higher-seeded Mustangs boasted a 16-4 record while the Wolf Pack, which finished third in the Central League standings, were just 3-15.
Score this the first upset of the playoffs.
Missed opportunities and a depleted line-up combined to do in Otay Ranch in the second half of Tuesday’s double-header at the Castle Park High School roller rink.
There just seems to be something intangible that brings out the best in teams in the playoffs. Teams that sputter throughout the regular season somehow find the magic to turn it on when it matters most.
“We started off the season with 11 players, and had six players for this game,” an obviously elated Wolf Pack coach Steve Baldwin said. “We’re thrilled to be in the playoffs and thrilled to win this playoff game.”
The Otay-West Hills contest was filled with penalties on both sides and included one player ejection (West Hills’ Brock Nuckols). However, Otay Ranch played short-handed as well, with team co-leading scorer David Mendez out of the lineup due to academic ineligibility.
Mendez racked up 40 goals and 20 assists during regular season play. His absence proved costly for the Mustangs. Without Mendez in the line-up, Otay Ranch proved a bit one-dimensional in its offensive attack, though the Mustangs certainly made the game exciting by scoring two goals in the final three minutes with an extra attacker.
Otay Ranch started off strong, but could only put one goal past West Hills’ all-league goaltender Miguel San Martin before the Cade Frederick Show started.
Frederick, who has been playing ice hockey since he was 7, proved to be the dominant player on the court by scoring six of the seven West Hills goals.
Frederick scored just about every way possible in the game, including two short-handed goals and an empty net goal to seal the victory.
“I’m happy we won, it was fun,” the West Hills sophomore said. “It was exciting scoring the goals; it helped out the team.”
This is just Frederick’s second year playing varsity roller hockey, but he looked like a seasoned veteran out there, with his speed and stick-handling leading the Wolf Pack to the upset victory.
Nuckols left the game with 7:12 left in the second period. The Mustangs trailed 4-2 at this point in the contest and could have tied the game with a goal on each of two minor penalties assessed prior to the player ejection. Instead, Frederick scored a short-handed goal to put the Wolf Pack up 5-2.
Otay Ranch coach Adrian Rodriguez said that was the turning point in the game.
“We came out on fire and got the first goal but we didn’t take advantage of our power plays,” Rodriguez explained. “I told the team that if you don’t score on the power play that it will come back to hurt you later in the game.”
It did.
San Martin turned aside several good scoring chances but it was the defensive effort in front of him that equally buttressed the winning effort by the Wolf Pack, which played without any substitutes after Nuckols was ejected from the game for unsportsmanlike conduct with 7:12 left in the second period.
The Mustangs (16-5) managed to stay close on the scoreboard despite their many missed opportunities in the otherwise tension-filled game.
Otay Ranch scored the opening goal of the third period to make the score 5-3, but Frederick came back to up the West Hills lead to 6-3 before the Mustangs pulled their goaltender with 3:10 to play.
Otay Ranch scored a pair of goals to trim the West Hills lead to 6-5 with 42 seconds left, and continued to play with the extra attacker until Frederick eventually scored into the empty net with six seconds left to ice the game for the Wolf Pack (4-15).
“Every time we pulled the goalie, we played more aggressively,” Rodriguez noted. “I told the team how proud I was of them because they kept fighting back in the game.”
Devyn Taras led Otay Ranch with three goals and two assists while Ricky Portilla contributed a goal and assist and Hector Sanchez was credited with one goal.
It was a sad turnaround for Otay Ranch, which defeated West Hills, 9-6, in a non-league game on Feb. 10 as Mendez (three goals, four assists) and Taras (four goals, four goals) lit up the scoreboard against the Wolf Pack.
Somehow, this just wasn’t how the season was supposed to end for the Mustangs.
Frederick finished as West Hills’ leading scorer during the regular season with 39 goals and eight assists for 47 points. Next in line was Nuckols with six goals and four assists for 10 points.
Five of Frederick’s six goals in Tuesday’s playoff game were unassisted.
Nuckols scored one goal before he left the game while teammate Wes Konold was credited with one assist.
The Wolf Pack (3-6 in league play) finished third in the regular season Central League standings behind league champion Cathedral Catholic (7-0 in league play, 11-5 overall) and league runner-up St. Augustine (6-3 in league play, 8-12 overall). La Jolla Country Day (0-7 in league play, 3-16 overall) brought up the rear in the four-team division.
West Hills garnered two players on the all-league second team: Frederick and San Martin.
Cathedral Catholic’s Drew Jones was named the 2014-15 Central League Player of the Year.
“We didn’t have the travel team ice hockey players this season like we did in past seasons, so we were kind of dry in that department unlike a lot of the North County teams,” Baldwin assessed. “I think we’ll be stronger in that area next year.”
With Tuesday’s win, the Wolf Pack advanced to Wednesday’s quarterfinals against top-seeded Rancho Bernardo.
Falcons take flight in 15-0 shutout win over Hilltop
This year’s Kiwanis Cup championship playoffs faced off Monday with a pair of games at the Escondido Sports Center as seventh-seeded St. Augustine slipped past 10th-seeded La Jolla Country Day, 7-4, and sixth-seeded Scripps Ranch shut out 11th-seeded Hilltop (15-8) by a 15-0 score.
Scripps Ranch 15, Hilltop 0
Clean game, no penalties, good sportsmanship by both teams, and lots of scoring — by one team. It took a while for the sixth-seeded Falcons (11-10) to figure out the 11th-seeded Lancers’ solid box defense.
Scripps Ranch led 5-0 after the first period and 6-0 after the second period, then the game opened up and the puck started going into the net. The Falcons fired 47 shots at the Hilltop goaltender, who was credited with 32 saves.
Senior Shaun Simmons led the Falcons with three goals and three assists while sophomore Jesse Lycan contributed two goals and three assists. Stewart Pond had three goals and one assist while Taegan Warren added two goals and one assist.
The Lancers, the third-place team in the Mesa League standings, finished their season 15-8.
The win bumped Scripps Ranch to Wednesday’s quarterfinals and a return engagement against North County League foe Westview, seeded third in this year’s playoff field.
St. Augustine 7, La Jolla Country Day 4
Charlie Tomlin led the seventh-seeded Saints with three goals while Grayson Lyman led the 10th-seeded Torresy with two goals in a match-up of teams from the Central League.
Lyman scored a power play goal to trim the St. Augustine lead to 5-3, but the Saints regrouped to out-score LJCD 2-1 over the balance of the contest.
The victorious Saints drew a Holy Bowl of roller hockey rematch with Central League champion Cathedral Catholic in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.
Scripps Ranch drops the hammer on No. 3 Westview in quarterfinals
Scripps Ranch posted the biggest upset so far in this year’s tournament after dropping third-seeded Westview, 12-8, in Wednesday’s quarterfinal-round at the Escondido Sports Center. The sixth-seeded Falcons (11-10) received five goals from senior Shaun Simmons and four goals from freshman Matt Gauthier. Sophomore Jesse Lycan contributed a goal and four assists in the winning effort while goaltender Casey Wu was solid after overcoming a shaky first period.
Cinderella has punched her ticket to the ball for the second straight year.
Scripps Ranch took the opening lead on a Simmons goal, though the first ended with Westview in front 4-2 courtesy of a first-period hat trick by with Josh Morrison. The Wolverines (13-6) extended their lead to 5-2 on a Daniil Lukoyanov goal. The Falcons then got back in the game with two goals to trim the Westview lead to 5-4 until Scott Hord scored to put the Wolverines up 6-4.
SRHS ended the second on a roll by scoring three unanswered goals, including two on power play goals by Gauthier. The third period started with Westview switching goaltenders and both teams exchanged goals. The Falcons then extended their lead to 10-7. With less than two minutes to play, Gilad Barzilai cut the Scripps lead to 10-8. Westview pulled its goaltender and Gauthier and Simmons both had an empty net goal to end the game 12-8.
Late in the third period with the score 8-7 in the Falcons’ favor, Gauthier scored an amazing insurance goal. London Peters made a long high pass that Gauthier had to catch with his hand, place on the surface, make a move and beat the goalie.
Stewart Pond and Wesley Rim each contributed one goal to the Falcons’ winning effort.
For Westview, Morrison and Lukoyanov each scored three goals while Barzilai and Hord had one goal each. Morrison also had 5 assists as finish as the Wolverines’ high-point man with eight points.
Wu proved to be the difference between the pipes for Scripps Ranch.
Clash of Titans results in statement win by No. 4 Poway
If Poway’s Eric Wright was out to make a statement that he was the best player in the league, he accomplished it in leading fourth-seeded Poway(10-7) to a lopsided victory over fifth-seeded Eastlake (19-3) and two-time CIF scoring champion Aaron Mayer. Wright had nine goals and six assists in the quarterfinal victory while Mayer had one goal and three assists. Poway out-shot Eastlake 56-27, with 18 going in.
Mayer ended the season with 177 points on 111 goals and 66 assists. He set a new conference record last season with 158 points.
Wright finished second in North County League regular season scoring with 101 points on 72 goals and 29 assists.
Sam Bawden scored three goals for Eastlake in the loss.
In other quarterfinals action on Wednesday:
Cathedral Catholic 9, St. Augustine 2
The seventh-seeded Saints took an early 2-0 lead before Central League Player of the Year Drew Jones of second-seeded Cathedral Catholic scored three straight — two from Charlie Pape — to finish the game with nine unanswered goals.
The Dons improved to 12-5 while the Saints ended their season 9-13.
Rancho Bernardo 13, West Hills 5
At the end of the second period, the top-seeded Broncos led 7-5, and then got serious by reeling off six straight goals to remain undefeated on the season at 18-0.
The Wolf Pack, which was buttressed by Brock Nuckols and Cade Frederick, finished the season 4-16 after going 1-1 in two playoff games.
Rancho Bernardo Broncos is bidding to become the first team to post a perfect season since Scripps Ranch last accomplished the feat during the 2003-04 campaign.
Power plays
Four teams remain in contention — top-seeded Rancho Bernardo, second-seeded Cathedral Catholic, fourth-seeded Poway and sixth-seeded Scripps Ranch. They will take the floor in semifinal action Monday at the Escondido Sports Center, also the site of Wednesday’s upcoming third-place and championship games.
CIF-Metro Conference
Final Regular Season Rankings
1. Rancho Bernardo (17-0)
2. Cathedral Catholic (11-5)
3. Westview (13-5)
4. Poway (9-7)
5. Eastlake (18-2)
6. Scripps Ranch (9-10)
7. St Augustine (8-12)
8. Otay Ranch (16-4)
9. West Hills (3-15)
10. La Jolla Country Day (3-16)
11. Hilltop (15-7)
12. Castle Park (11-7)
13. Bonita Vista (9-13)
14. Mar Vista (7-13-1)
15. Chula Vista (9-12-1)
16. Southwest (7-15)
17. Sweetwater (0-22)
CIF-Metro Conference
Kiwanis Cup Playoffs
First-round
Monday, Feb. 23
(6) Scripps Ranch vs. (11) Hilltop, 7:10 p.m. at Escondido Sports Center
(7) St. Augustine vs. (10) La Jolla Country Day, time 8:10 p.m.at Escondido Sports Center
Tuesday, Feb. 24
(5) Eastlake (18-2) vs. (12) Castle Park (11-7), 4:30 p.m. at Castle Park High School (rainout date: Tuesday)
(8) Otay Ranch vs. (9) West Hills, 6:30 p.m. at Castle Park High School (rainout date: Tuesday)
Results:
Scripps Ranch 15, Hilltop 0
St. Augustine 7, La Jolla Country Day 4
Eastlake 15, Castle Park 4
West Hills 7, Otay Ranch 5
Byes:
(1) Rancho Bernardo
(2) Cathedral Catholic
(3) Westview
(4) Poway
Note: remainder of playoff games will be played at the Escondido Sports Center
Quarterfinal Pairings
Wednesday, Feb. 25
(1) Rancho Bernardo vs. (9) West Hills, 6:10 p.m.
(2) Cathedral Catholic vs. (7) St. Augustine , 6:10 p.m.
(3) Westview vs. (6) Scripps Ranch, 7:10 p.m.
(4) Poway vs. (5) Eastlake, 7:10 p.m.
Results:
Rancho Bernardo 13, West Hills 5
Cathedral Catholic 9, St. Augustine 2
Scripps Ranch 12, Westview 8
Poway 18, Eastlake 6
Semifinal Pairing
Monday, March 2
Escondido Sports Center
(1) Rancho Bernardo (18-0) vs. (4) Poway (10-7), 6:10 p.m.
(2) Cathedral Catholic (12-5) vs. (6) Scripps Ranch (11-10), 7 p.m.
Results:
Rancho Bernardo 9, Poway 4
Cathedral Catholic 6, Scripps Ranch 5
Kiwanis Cup Finals
Wednesday, May 4
Escondido Sports Center
Third place game, 6:30 p.m. – (4) Poway vs. (6) Scripps Ranch
Championship game, 7 p.m. – (1) Rancho Bernardo vs. (2) Cathedral Catholic
Results:
Rancho Bernardo 3, Cathedral Catholic 1
Scripps Ranch 7, Poway 6
Note: Rancho Bernardo concludes undefeated season at 20-0
CIF-Metro Conference Scoring Leaders
Final Regular Season
Aaron Mayer (Eastlake) 104 goals, 60 assists – 164 points
Spencer Ridout (Rancho Bernardo) 81 goals, 49 assists – 130 points
Sam Bawden (Eastlake) 75 goals, 36 assists – 111 points
Eric Wright (Poway) 72 goals, 29 assists – 101 points
Michael Mechling (Eastlake) 55 goals, 33 assists – 88 points
Jesse Lycan (Scripps Ranch) 44 goals, 28 assists – 72 points
Ryan Wilson (Rancho Bernardo) 43 goals, 27 assists – 70 points
Alex Pelletier (Rancho Bernardo) 42 goals, 24 assists – 66 points
Drew Jones (Cathedral Catholic) 33 goals, 31 assists – 64 points
David Mendez (Otay Ranch) 40 goals, 20 assists – 60 points
Devyn Taras (Otay Ranch) 31 goals, 29 assists – 60 points
Shaun Simmons (Scripps Ranch) 28 goals, 27 assists – 55 points
Nick Heid (St. Augustine) 33 goals, 21 assists – 54 points
Josh Morrison (Westview) 37 goals, 15 assists – 52 points
Yves Wagner (Westview) 27 goals, 24 assists – 51 points
Bailey Ridout (Rancho Bernardo) 27 goals, 23 assists – 50 points
Sam Angeles (Cathedral Catholic) 32 goals, 16 assists – 48 points
Matt Gauthier (Scripps Ranch) 27 goals, 21 assists – 48 points
Cade Frederick (West Hills) 39 goals, 8 assists – 47 points
Charlie Liebman (Poway) 25 goals, 22 assists – 47 points
Andrew Tesner (Hilltop) 25 goals, 18 assists – 43 points
Gilad Barzilai (Westview) 19 goals, 23 assists – 42 points
Grayson Lyman (La Jolla Country Day) 30 goals, 11 assists – 41 points
Danny Godinez (Hilltop) 24 goals, 16 assists – 40 points
Scott Hord (Westview) 23 goals, 16 assists – 39 points
Hector Garcia (Chula Vista) 32 goals, 6 assists – 38 points
Eloy Rodriguez (Mar Vista) 30 goals, 4 assists – 34 points
Charlie Tomlin (St. Augustine) 20 goals, 13 assists – 33 points
David Garcia (Chula Vista) 20 goals, 13 assists – 33 points
Ricardo Portilla (Otay Ranch) 18 goals, 14 assists – 32 points
Dallas Okson (Westview) 20 goals, 11 assists – 31 points
John Leone (Cathedral Catholic) 12 goals, 17 assists – 29 points
Daniil Lukoyanov (Westview) 11 goals, 18 assists – 29 points
Sean Layton (Eastlake) 14 goals, 13 assists – 27 points
Marvin Cirignano (Castle Park) 24 goals, 2 assists – 26 points
Joshua Lopez (Southwest) 21 goals, 5 assists – 26 points
William Hamilton (Eastlake) 16 goals, 9 assists – 25 points
Bradley Larson (Rancho Bernardo) 5 goals, 18 assists – 23 points
Wesley Rim (Scripps Ranch) 19 goals, 3 assists – 22 points
Will Devaney (Cathedral Catholic) 14 goals, 8 assists – 22 points
Brendan O’Rourke (Rancho Bernardo) 11 goals, 11 assists – 22 points
Jacob Ayala (Castle Park) 13 goals, 8 assists – 21 points
Brian Anderson (Eastlake) 13 goals, 8 assists – 21 points
Miguel Flores (Castle Park) 15 goals, 5 assists – 20 points
Ian Harkness (St. Augustine) 13 goals, 7 assists – 20 points
Liam Garry (Poway) 7 goals, 13 assists – 20 points
