Metro Conference crowns three roller hockey league champions

The race to the Metro Conference’s roller hockey playoffs is speeding up to a grand conclusion, weather permitting.

The conference’s 10 teams have whittled the regular season down to 10 games — five each on Monday, Feb. 3 and Feb. 5. Eight of the 10 teams qualify for the playoffs, which are scheduled Feb. 10, 12-13 at the Castle Park High School outdoor rink.

Several teams have already presented strong cases for inclusion in postseason play while all three league championships have been cinched. The final two days of regular season play will be to fine-tune the seeding, which already appears in place, more or less.

Few would dispute the Eastlake Titans being the No. 1 seed with an undefeated 15-0 record. The Titans wrapped up this year’s Mesa League title with hard-fought 8-1 and 9-2 victories over rivals Bonita Vista and Otay Ranch on Thursday, Jan. 30. The Barons and Mustangs are the only teams to score on Eastlake this season.

Bonita Vista’s Jacob Hunter has scored four goals against the Titans (three in the teams’ first meeting) along with Otay’s Nick Bernal and Diego Falomir.

Hunter could only score once in the teams’ second matchup while junior Chris Rollbusch keyed a varied Titan scoring barrage with two goals and two assists. Sophomore Sidney Jonason collected a hat trick while freshman Desi Garcia chipped in with one goal and two assists. Sam Chavez had one goal as did Riley McElroy. Adam Ibarra contributed one assist.

Solana Kitamura was solid between the pipes to record the goaltender victory, her 13^th of the season to go with 10 shutouts. Eastlake has 12 shutouts in 15 games overall this season.

It was a history-making night all around on Thursday as Rollbusch chalked up 11 points (eight goals, three assists) to pass the century mark in district scoring with 102 points. He drove the puck over the glove of the Otay Ranch goaltender into the far side of the netting to bulge twine.

Rollbusch had evidently kept track of his points on the night as he reserved a special celebration while high-fiving teammates along the EHS bench.

Eastlake alumnus Aaron Mayer holds the single-season conference scoring record at 177 points, set during the 2014-15 season.

Thursday’s highlight game against the Barons was tight early on. Jonason scored in the opening 30 seconds to stake the Titans to a 1-0 lead. The score remained 1-0 as Eastlake successfully killed three consecutive Bonita Vista power play opportunities. The game turned when Rollbusch scored a power play goal, assisted by Garcia, to double the lead to 2-0.

The score was 4-0 after the first period as Rollbusch tacked on an other goal from a feed by Garcia and Jonason scored on a breakaway.

Sam Chavez opened the second period with a goal to hike the EHS lead to 5-1. Hunter finally broke the ice for the Barons to make the score 5-1. But Bonita Vista missed on another power play opportunity and the bottom fell out from there. McElroy scored on a power play (6-1 Titans), Jonason completed his hat trick (7-1 Eastlake) and Garcia got into the scoring act (8-1 final).

“It was a very-hard fought game,” Rollbusch acknowledged in the rematch against Bonita Vista. “I think our team has worked hard all season – winning the league banner has shown that.

“What I’ve done (in the scoring column – 68 goals, 34 assists) is due to my teammates. Defense and offense go into winning games. Goals are goals, assists are assists.”

More to come
The Mar Vista Mariners (South Bay League) and Southwest Raiders (Pacific League) have also earned championships in their respective circuits.

Mar Vista, which shared last year’s Pacific League title with Sweetwater, improved to4-0 in league play with a 2-0 win over Sweetwater on Wednesday, Jan. 29.

Southwest wrapped up its league title the previous week. The Raiders have made the biggest turnaround from last season when they only registered one regular season win (in the last game, at that).

Southwest defeated Mar Vista, 3-0, on Thursday to claim the teams’ Puck Game rivalry trophy. In the process, the Raiders hiked their season record to 10-5.

The Titans’ aren’t the only team with a magical season to date.

“We don’t have any standout players, they play as a unit,” Southwest coach Christopher Alvarez-Malo said. “They’ve grown so much from last year, and even from the beginning of this season.”

Bonita Viata (13-3) would seem to be the choice as the No. 2 seed and Hilltop (12-3) as the No. 3 seed. Southwest certainly has presented its case for the No. 4 seed.

Beyond that, the field is very competitive on any given night. Mar Vista (7-7) and Otay Ranch (6-6) should be bidding for the No 5 spot with Otay Ranch having already defeated Mar Vista for the right to move up.

Castle Park (4-10-1) and Sweetwater (3-10-1) appear to be the final two playoff qualifiers. They recently deadlocked 3-3 in overtime in a non-league game.

Hunter ranks second in district scoring with 65 points (49 goals, 16 assists) while Hilltop’s Aariel Nichols set her own scoring record with 58 points (52 goals, six assists). She tallied 52 goals and four assists for 56 points last season.

Helping buttress the Barons this season is freshman Aaron Odvina, who has collected 42 points on 21 goals and 21 assists to sit just behind Jonason (43 points) in the individual scoring race.

“I think our season has been great,” first-year BVHS coach Michael Albright said. “Our kids have learned so much from the first day, pre-Christmas, to where we are now. We’re looking good, ending the season on a good note.

“Jacob has been helping out the younger players, setting them up. He can help score when he feels the need.”

Southwest defeated Castle Park, 4-1, on Monday, Jan. 27, to secure the rights to this year’s Pacific League championship. Brian Obrajero, Prince Corpus and Abel Zavala each scored single goals.

Returner Angelica Cantu recorded a hat trick in the Puck Game trophy victory while Marco Roque and Francisco Hernandez shared the shutout. Cantu leads the team in scoring with 15 goals and three assists. Corpus has risen up the ranks with 11 goals and five assists.

Mar Vista is led in scoring by Fernando Corona with 21 goals and 30 points. He had both goals in the league title-clinching win over Sweetwater.

“The players have worked hard in practice and that has led to our success this season,” MV coach Luis Najera said.

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