The CIF-Metro Conference’s collection of Sweetwater district roller hockey teams saved the best for last.
No question about it.
There was drama in each of the three games in Tuesday’s triple-header to close our regular season play at the Castle Park High School outdoor rink.
As with every season, novice players finally started to get the hang of the game and became important contributors for their teams while team chemistry finally melded for returning players.
Coaches welcomed the late season spike in talent.
Consider this:
Hilltop’s Aariel Nichols completed the season as the district scoring leader with 52 goals and four assists for 56 points. It was a noteworthy achievement for the district’s top female player and something to be celebrated.
“It’s extraordinary because she just wants to go out and have fun,” Hilltop coach Paul Tesner said. “If she scores that many, she scores that many. She did a great job. She’s a special player. I’m proud of her.”
“Honestly, I’m here to have fun,” Nichols added. “It’s a team sport. We’re all in it for each other. I’m proud of everyone on the team.”
Nichols, who primarily played defense in the regular season-ending contest, finished the game with four goals and one assist while teammate Gianni Silva-Cestero chalked up four points on three goals and one assist. Aiden Marucut and Gael Jansen each had a goal and assist.
The first period ended scoreless before Marucut opened scoring in the second period. Nichols scored on a breakaway to double the early advantage while picking up her 49th goal of the season. She scored her 50th goal of the season on a backhand shot while skating across the goal mouth with one minute to play in the period. The Lancers closed out scoring in the period with a 4-0 lead as Jansen lifted the puck into the cage.
Hilltop scored five more goals in the third period, including three by Silva-Cestero and two by Nichols. Christopher Brady saw his shutout bid thwarted with one second to play as the Lancers (6-0 in league, 10-2 overall) posted a 9-1 Metro-South Bay League victory against Castle Park.
Southwest entered Tuesday’s rivalry Puck Game against Mar Vista winless on the season at 0-11. But the Raiders banded together and unquestionably played their best game of the season to shock the Metro-Pacific League leading Mariners by a score of 5-2.
The Raiders skated to a 2-0 lead on a power play goal by Abel Zavala to end the first period and a goal by team scoring leader Angelica Cantu, assisted by Prince Corpus, midway through the second period.
Mar Vista looked to start a comeback when team scoring leader Riley Owen scored a power play goal late in the period to halve the deficit to 2-1.
But Cantu made her team believe when she scored on a breakaway to start the third period to up the Southwest lead to 3-1. But the Mariners proved resilient when Shayla Moreland scored with 1:53 left in the period to narrow the score again to one goal at 3-2.
Things got exciting at that point. Mar Vista pulled its goaltender for an extra attacker with 1:13 remaining in the game. Cantu completed her hat trick with a shot into the empty net to double the Southwest lead to 4-2. The Mariners left their cage vacant and Corpus tacked on a second empty net goal with 35 seconds to play.
5-2 Raiders … The team’s first win of the season was just seconds away.
“That was our best game,” Southwest coach Christopher Alvarez Malo said. “They battled.”
The loss placed the Mariners in a tie with Sweetwater with each team possessing a 4-2 league record as co-champions. The Raiders finished league play 1-5, 1-11 overall.
Meanwhile, the Metro-Mesa League championship game was the highlight of the evening between the Eastlake Titans and Bonita Vista Barons. An Eastlake win would seal the deal while a Bonita Vista win would draw the teams even in terms of league records and a co-championship.
The matchup indeed proved epic with Bonita Vista rallying from an early 2-0 deficit on the strength of five unanswered goals by Jacob Hunter, who would eventually stake the Barons to a 7-4 lead with his double hat trick goal before fouling out very late in the game.
Emilio Navarrete got the action rolling with a short-handed goal for a 1-0 Titan lead. Eastlake scored a power play goal to go up 2-0 as Chris Rollbusch netted, assisted by Navarrete, while Hunter was serving a double minor.
Let loose from the penalty box, Hunter promptly wreaked havoc on the playing surface. Before the opening period was in the books, the Barons had a 4-2 lead. Hunter scored on a breakaway after jumping out of the penalty box to make the score 2-1. He leveled the score shortly afterward with another unassisted goal and tacked on two more breakaway tallies to get Bonita Vista fans around the rink roaring with delight.
Hunter scored another unassisted goal to get the second period off to a blazing start. The Barons tacked on a sixth unanswered goal on a nice tap-in at the far post by Aryk Winters, assisted by Andrew Madrigal.
6-2 Bonita Vista.
But the Titans weren’t finished. Far from it, in fact. Adam Ibarra and Sidney Jonason scored back-to-back goals, both assisted by Navarrete, to suddenly reduce the Baron lead to 6-4. Hunter tallied his sixth goal of the game just prior to the end of the period to give his team a three-goals lead. That would eventually prove to be the game-winner, but not before there would be a lot of nerve-racking moments.
The Titans re-energized their game with a pair of third-period goals and had a chance to tie the game with a late power play opportunity after Hunter fouled out of the fast-paced, gritty contest. However, the Barons managed to kill off the final 1:34 of regulation with a stalwart collective defensive effort.
Eastlake managed to throw the puck three times at the BVHS net but were somehow denied either by a tip or block. Swat. Swat. Swat.
Finally, the final buzzer sounded … and relief … and championship hugs.
Hunter finished runner-up to Nichols in the district scoring race with 52 points.
Navarrete finished the game with two goals and three assists as Eastlke’s high-point man to take over the team scoring lead by two points over Rollbusch.
“These guys are warriors,” EHS coach Chris Rollbusch said.
Both Bonita Vista and Eastlake finished regular season play with identical 4-2 league records and 10-2 overall records.
Hilltop also finished the season 10-2 overall, 6-0 as Metro-South Bay League champions.
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Sweetwater District Team Records
Bonita Vista Barons 10-2
Eastlake Titans 10-2
Hilltop Lancers 10-2
Otay Ranch Mustangs 6-6
Mar Vista Mariners 6-6
Sweetwater Red Devils 5-6-1
San Ysidro Cougars 3-9
Castle Park Trojans 2-9-1
Southwest Raiders 1-11
Metro-Mesa League standings: Bonita Vista 4-2, Eastlake 4-2, Otay Ranch 1-5 (Bonita Vista, Eastlake co-champions)
Metro-South Bay League standings; Hilltop 6-0, San Yisdro 2-4, Castle Park 1-5
Metro-Pacific League standings: Mar Vista 4-2, Sweetwater 4-2, Southwest 1-5 (Mar Vista, Sweetwater co-champions)
***
Top Points Leaders
Final Regular Season
Aariel Nichols (Hilltop) 52 goals, 4 assists – 56 points
Jacob Hunter (Bonita Vista) 38 goals, 14 assists – 52 points
Andrew Madrigal (Bonita Vista) 26 goals, 15 assists – 41 points
Emilio Navarrete (Eastlake) 24 goals, 14 assists – 38 points
Chris Rollbusch (Eastlake) 20 goals, 16 assists – 36 points
Gianni Silva-Cestero (Hilltop) 25 goals, 6 assists – 31 points
Sid Jonason (Eastlake) 14 goals, 7 assists – 21 points
Nick Bernal (Otay Ranch) 15 goals, 4 assists – 19 points
Riley McElroy (Eastlake) 10 goals, 9 assists – 19 points
Riley Owen (Mar Vista) 12 goals, 6 assists – 18 points
Dayna Coates (Otay Ranch) 5 goals, 11 assists – 16 points
Diego Falomir (Otay Ranch) 8 goals, 6 assists – 14 points
Achilles Tan (Sweetwater) 10 goals, 3 assists – 13 points
Emery Lavendar (Mar Vista): 8 goals, 5 assists – 13 points
Clara Armenta (Castle Park) 9 goals, 3 assists – 12 points
Sam Chavez (Eastlake) 5 goals, 6 assists – 11 points
Alyzette Sierra (San Ysidro) 7 goals, 2 assists – 9 points
Angelica Cantu (Southwest) 7 goals, 2 assists – 9 points
Mason Paulo (Otay Ranch) 6 goals, 3 assists – 9 points
Adam Ibarra (Eastlake) 4 goals, 5 assists – 9 points
Israel Jurado (Bonita Vista) 6 goals, 2 assists – 8 points
Vanessa Camacho (San Ysidro) 4 goals, 4 assists – 8 points
Avery Jerman (Eastlake) 4 goals, 4 assists – 8 points
AHL REPORT
Maturing Gulls suddenly winging it up the Pacific Division standings
By Phillip Brents
After collecting 14 of a possible 18 points in their last nine outings, it appears the San Diego Gulls have finally taken flight at the midpoint of their 2023-24 American Hockey League season.
And none too soon if the NHL Anaheim Ducks’ top development affiliate has any designs on being part of this year’s Calder Cup playoff field.
After languishing in last place in the 10-team Pacific Division through the Christmas holidays, the Gulls have suddenly turned around the direction of their flight path to capture points in 14 of their last 20 games (11-6-3).
The Gulls have recorded points five consecutive home games (4-0-1) and in each of their last four games overall (3-0-1) to put some distance between themselves and the now last place San Jose Barracuda.
“Learning how to win is a process,” Gulls head coach Matt McIlvane said. “You have to learn how to work, you have to learn how to compete and then you have a chance to be able to learn how to win.
“Our team competence is growing by the day. It really helps that we know who we are. We know what drives our success. We also know what it looks like when we’re off. The guys, they’re earning the right to feel confident going into these close games and we’ve come away with several of them recently and hopefully we can continue that.”
“It’s a focus for our group, because we know it makes us successful. When we are physical, when we’re aggressive, when we’re hard to play against, it’s a harder brand of hockey to play against and that’s what we’re trying to instill in our group.”
The maturation process appears to be paying off at the right time.
“I think it comes with experience,” San Diego goaltender Calle Clang said. “We had a tough period there in October, November, too. Now, we find a way to win hockey games and I think our thing right now is to be consistent and try to do those performances each and every night here, and same for me, too. First couple months have been tough. I’ve been struggling a little bit, but right now I feel awesome and hope to continue this streak here.”
The turnaround started Jan. 10 with a 4-2 at Coachella Valley, last year’s Calder Cup finalist and current Pacific Division leader.
Veteran Andrew Agozzino paced the Gulls with one goal and two assists while Jaxsen Wiebe and Colton White each added goals. Gleen Gawdin, another veteran, sealed the win with an empty net goal.
The Gulls claimed three out of a possible four points in a two-game home ice series against the Iowa Wild (Jan. 12-13), then proceeded to capture four out of a possible six points in a three-game series against the Abbotsford Canucks (Jan. 20-21, 23), two games of which were played in Canada.
The Gulls picked up two points in a 3-2 shootout win and another point in dropping a 2-1 overtime contest to the Wild.
Nikita Nesterenko and Chase De Leo each scored regulation goals for the hosts while Brayden Tracy netted the shootout winner in the opening game. Tomas Suchanek stopped 32 of 34 shots in regulation en route to recording his first AHL shootout victory.
Glenn Gawdin scored a short-handed goal in the return matchup for his 10th goal of the season.
It was off to British Columbia for two games, which the San Diegans split with a 4-3 win to face off the weekend and a 5-2 loss to close the weekend. The teams flew back to San Diego for a rare Tuesday game on Jan. 23. The Gulls claimed that, 2-1, in another shootout.
Rookie Olen Zellweger netted two goals, fellow rookie Ben King each scored once to go along with a power play tally by Gawdin to face off the three-game in four-night series against the Canucks.
Drew Helleson and Gawdin (red hot with a five-game point streak) each scored in the loss in Abbotsford.
Pavol Regenda scored his 11th goal of the season for the Gulls’ lone goal in the Jan. 23 contest against the Canucks while Clang stopped 24 of 25 shots to earn his fifth win of the season. Ben King and Nesterenko scored in the shootout.
The surge continued with a two-game sweep in Iowa by scores of 6-3 and 7-4.
Pavol Regenda scored goals 29 seconds apart in the first period and added an assist to give him three goals and four points in his last two games to key the Gulls in the first game. The contest ended with the Gulls scoring two empty net goals (Nesterenko and Nathan Gaucher). Suchanek recorded his fourth straight victory between the pipes by stopping 24 of 27 shots.
The Gulls set a franchise record in the second contest as two players – Sasha Pastujov and Nesterenko – each recorded a hat trick in the same game to mark the 10th and 11th hat tricks in Gulls history.
Nesterenko was recognized by the league on Monday as the AHL player of the week after posting seven points (four goals, three assists) and a +6 rating in three games during the week.
The Gulls picked up their latest point in a 4-3 overtime loss in Milwaukee on Tuesday to close out a schedule that featured five road games in a six-game stretch. The Gulls picked up points in five of those six road games.
De Leo earned his 94th assist as a Gull to move into sole possession of second place on the Gulls’ all-time assist leaderboard, passing Corey Tropp (93). He now is one assist shy of tying Sam Carrick (95) for the most in Gulls AHL history.
Pastujov scored his fourth goal in two games, establishing his first professional goal streak (four goals, one assist).
Protect the nest
The Gulls began their midseason flight in last place in the 10-team Pacific Division standings. They enter this weekend’s set of home games – Friday, Feb. 2, against the Tucson Roadrunners and Saturday, Feb. 3, against the Colorado Eagles – having climbed to within seven points of a playoff berth with 37 standings points (four points ahead of the last-place San Jose Barracuda).
The Gulls, doormats for the first two months of the season, are suddenly among the hottest teams in the 32-team league.
The Gulls have winged it to within just two wins from reaching the 0.500 mark on the season. The top seven teams in the division qualify for the Calder Cup playoffs. Of the 10 teams in the division, eight are 0.500 or better.
Standings are calculated on wins, losses, overtime losses and shootout losses. Wins are worth two points while overtime and shootout losses are both worth one point in the standings.
The Gulls (15-17-7) possess the ninth best winning percentage in the division at 0.474 and stand seven points behind the Henderson Silver Knights – the seventh-place team by points in the division but eighth by winning percentage. However, the Gulls have played five fewer games than the Silver Knights (19-19-2-4, 0.500 winning percentage).
Once games even out between the 10 teams, the Gulls could seriously be in the playoff conversation. That wasn’t the case until just recently following a rough start that featured a 13-game winless streak through late November.
“We’re just sticking to the game plan,” Nesterenko said. “We know that the coaches put a good game plan out there. If we play aggressive, take time away from the other team, the wins are going to come. We’re not going to keep losing if we play the way we’ve been playing. Just got to keep rolling here.”
The AHL All-Star Classic is Sunday, Feb. 4, and Monday, Feb. 5, in San Jose. Traditionally, teams start their playoff push following the conclusion of the league’s midseason classic. The Gulls (6-2-2 in their last 10 games, 3-0-1 current streak) now appear to be one of those teams with designs on moving up the division standings.
Zellweger will represent the Gulls in the upcoming All-Star Classic. He’s coming off a personal high after a four-game call-up to the Ducks. The 20-year-old Calgary native recorded one assist with a +2 rating in four games with Anaheim, including his first career point in his NHL debut Jan. 23 against the Buffalo Sabres to become the fifth Ducks defenseman to record a point in their NHL debut.
The 5-10, 189-pound defenseman He returns to San Diego with 25 points (eight goals, 17 assists) in 34 AHL games this season, ranking second among all AHL rookie blueliners in goals and points per game, third in points and assists. He co-leads all AHL defensemen with three power-play goals and is tied for third among San Diego leaders in points and fourth in assists.
The second-round pick (34th overall) in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft paces Gulls blueliners in goals and is second in scoring.
Fans can tune in to watch the AHL All-Star Classic this weekend. The All-Star Skills Competition between the Western Conference and Eastern Conference is slated for Sunday at 5 p.m. Pacific Time. The All-Star Challenge (three-on-three mini-games between the league’s four geographic divisions) follows Monday at 6 p.m. Pacific Time at Tech CU Arena, home of the Barracuda.
In the meantime, Pechanga Arena San Diego is looking like home sweet home for the Gulls.
The San Diego team can look forward to five homes games in February and a whopping nine home games in March to fuel their playoff aspirations.
It continues to be an uphill climb, but he Ducks’ young prospects might just get a taste of post-season play after all.
The season has suddenly gotten very interesting.
All-Star notepad
Two former Gulls will be feted at this year’s AHL All-Star Classic. Rocco Grimaldi, who led the Gulls with 56 points in 54 games during the 2022-23 season, will represent the Chicago Wolves on the Central Division roster, while former head coach Roy Sommer will be inducted into the AHL Hall of Fame prior to Monday’s All-Star Challenge.
Sommer, an Oakland native, is best remembered as the long-standing coach of the San Jose Sharks’ AHL affiliate. He also coached the Gulls last season before finally retiring as a professional coach.
