Roller hockey faced off as an official CIF-sanctioned sport in the Sweetwater Union High School District in November 2000. It has generally carried a low profile over the years but that could change soon after an all-star team representing the district won its division at the annual California State Cup tournament the weekend of March 18-19 in Irvine.
It’s a big deal for the sport locally.
“It was a real surprise for me not knowing the caliber we would be playing and seeing it for the first time,” explained Castle Park High School coach Jose Mendoza, who served as the all-star team’s manager. “It was nice to see the kids come out with something.”
All-Star weekend
Dubbed San Diego Metro-1 and San Diego Metro-2, the two district all-star squads began practicing following the conclusion of the Kiwanis Cup playoffs in the CIF-Metro Conference.
Players from seven district schools were included on the teams.
Giovanni Cimmino (Chula Vista), Hector Garcia (Chula Vista), Braden Mayer (Eastlake), Jake Powell (Eastlake), Sean Layton (Eastlake), Aaron Marientes (Otay Ranch), Sean Devaney (Otay Ranch), Will Hamilton (Eastlake), David Mendez (Otay Ranch), Trevor Fune (Hilltop), Eleazar Cruz (Castle Park) and Kristen Lambertson (Hilltop) represented the district on the first team.
Jacob Lopez (Hilltop), Kayleigh Andrew (Southwest), Armando Rivera (Sweetwater), Marco Salazar (Sweetwater), Allison Smith (Chula Vista), Martin Mari (Castle Park), Jared Fuentes (Castle Park), Adrian Kercher (Sweetwater), Phillip Brandon (Sweetwater) and Arial Briones (Castle Park) represented the district on the second team.
Adrian Rodriguez, the director of officiating for South County teams, served as head coach while George Godinez (Hilltop), Matt Diaz (Chula Vista), Caroline Talavera (Chula Vista) and Jerry Nestlerode (Southwest) served as additional coaches on both teams.
San Diego Metro-1 finished 4-2 to capture the tournament’s JV-1 championship while San Diego Metro-2 finished 1-3 in the JV-2 bracket.
Rodriguez said the teams put Chula Vista back on the statewide roller hockey map.
“Each player on both teams showed tremendous of improvement from the first day of practice,” Rodriguez said. “We trained hard every practice; each player came out learning something new. Because of both teams and how well they did, they got a chance to represent Chula Vista. But, most importantly, they put Chula Vista back on the map again in roller hockey.”
The State Cup tournament is open to all inline scholastic teams in California. This year’s event attracted teams from Anaheim Ducks Inline Scholastic League based in Orange County, the Central Coast High School Hockey League based in Santa Maria and the San Diego County-based CIF-Metro Conference.
Three teams representing San Diego actually competed: the two Sweetwater district teams and the Escondido Charter White Tigers from the conference’s North County League.
Orange County has traditionally been regarded as the hotbed for the sport in the state, and it remains so.
The two Sweetwater district all-star teams finished 0-4 against teams from the ADISL but held their own against competition from the Central Coast region with a 3-1 record in four head-to-head games.
“I’m glad our players got to experience hockey outside San Diego,” explained Rodriguez, who starred on the playing court with Otay Ranch High School before moving on to coach the Mustangs for several years. “The most interesting thing was that we took players from each school who never played together and made them into a team, and were surprised at how well they worked together.”
This could be the start of something larger in scope for roller hockey not only within the confines of the Sweetwater district but also in the San Diego region.
“We expect to do this every year and keep our training going,” Rodriguez noted. “If it wasn’t for coach Mendoza, we wouldn’t be doing this; he really put all this together.”
Rodriguez also gave credit to the other coaches on the staff for their commitment in coaching the players on the two teams.
Rolling along
Teams opened the tournament with round-robin play before being seeded for the playoffs. The varsity/JV-1 divisions played as one round-robin group before being divided into the varsity division (top two teams) and JV-1 division (bottom three teams) for the championship playoffs.
The Laguna Hills Hawks finished 4-0 in the round-robin format to earn the No. 1 seed, followed by the Marina Vikings (3-1 in round-robin) as the No. 2 seed. Those two teams paired in the varsity championship game.
San Diego Metro 1 finished 2-2 in round-robin to earn the No. 3 seed, followed by Escondido Charter (2-2 in round-robin) and San Luis Obispo A (0-4 in round-robin).
San Luis Obispo upset Escondido Charter, 7-5, in the first semifinal to earn a berth in the JV-1 championships game.
San Diego Metro 1 then edged Escondido Charter, 5-4, in a second semifinal to advance to meet SLO in the division final.
San Diego Metro 1 broke open a close game at the start with a run of four unanswered goals to win the JV-1 title by a 6-3 score.
Laguna Hills won the varsity division championship by defeating ADISL rival Marina by a score of 5-1.
Eastlake’s Hamilton served as first team captain while Chula Vista’s Cimmino served as assistant captain as well as the first team’s goaltender.
“Will Hamilton by far controlled the game out there; he set the pace for the team,” Rodriguez said. “Gio really did a great job for us. Had a lot of saves and was a backbone of our team.”
Otay Ranch’s Devaney and Eastlake’s Mayer proved to be the first team’s scoring machines. Mayer led the team with 10 points on seven goals and three assists while Devaney topped the squad with eight goals.
Hilltop’s Lambertson, Otay Ranch’s Mendez and Eastlake’s Hamilton helped form a tenacious defensive unit.
“Kristen and Will impressed me the most on how tough defenders they could be and how every time the puck was on the boards, they came out with it,” Rodriguez said.
Devaney scored four goals and Powell added another in the semifinal win over Escondido Charter. Mayer racked up two goals and one assist while Hamilton tallied a goal and assist and in the division championship game against San Luis Obipso.
Mayer led San Diego Metro-1 with two goals and one assist in a 5-3 tournament opening win over San Luis Obipso (A) while Powell contributed a goal and assist.
Garcia had the team’s lone goal in a 9-1 loss to Laguna Hills in the next round-robin game. There was no scoring in an ensuing 5-0 loss to Marina.
Mayer collected three goals and one assist, Devaney scored twice and Fune recorded two assists in the team’s final round-robin game (6-4 win over Escondido Charter).
Mendoza said Laguna Hills was the best team the Metro team played at the tournament.
“You could tell some of the players on those teams (in Orange County) had played together for five or six years and at a high level,” he said. “It was really great for our team to play against them and see our players get better.”
The San Diego Metro-2 team completed round-robin play with a 1-2 record following a 3-2 win over San Luis Obispo (B) from the Central Coast region and losses to the Edison Chargers (8-0) from the ADISL and Central Coast Chiefs (7-0).
The Sweetwater district team drew second-seeded Edison in the playoffs and finished its tournament run with an 8-0 loss.
The top-seeded Chiefs completed their championship run with a 6-0 semifinal win over San Luis Obispo (B) and a 1-0 nail-biting victory against Edison in the final.
Sweetwater’s Brandon scored both goals in the win over SLO.
Brandon, Castle Park goaltender Briones and Southwest defender Andrew were standouts on the team, Rodriguez noted.
“Kayleigh showed mental toughness and played tough defense throughout the tournament,” Rodriguez assessed. “Phillip was a great player and showed speed and poise. Arial Briones was great between the pipes, showed tremendous improvement and was awesome. She had great saves.”
Rodriguez said the player he was most impressed with on the second team was Castle Park’s Mari.
“He controlled the puck, protected the puck and showed great speed,” Rodriguez said. “Overall he was the most improved player.”
Rodriguez said the experience of competing against top talent from throughout California in the State Cup should serve as a springboard for bigger things to come.
“All the players coming back next season will be a standout for their respective team,” Rodriguez assessed. “Everyone did a great job and had fun out there.”
Tournament director and ADISL league coordinator John Paerels called this year’s State Cup event “a great weekend of hockey.”
“It was especially nice to see one team win a title from each of the three leagues represented,” he said. “The championship teams were genuinely excited to win.”
It was the first time that Laguna Hills, which finished 5-0 in the tournament, competed in the State Cup.
“What a great experience for the players and families,” Laguna Hills coach Tim Kosmos explained. “To play teams from San Diego to San Luis Obispo, all of which we had never seen before, really required each player to focus on the hockey basics and to play our game.
“That wasn’t easy for some of the younger players and, seeing this, I could not be happier on how the team leaders stepped up and, in no time, they began to play like the team they are.
“We look forward to participating in the event again next year and playing other teams from throughout the state.”
Kyle Kosmos led Laguna Hills with a goal and two assists in the Varsity Division championship game. Nolan Liston paced the Hawks in the event with seven goals and 13 points while goaltender Amy Hogan recorded a 0.80 goals-against average.
Andrew Stapleton led Marina (3-2 in the tournament) with three goals and seven points while goaltender Vincent Dunton compiled a 2.60 GAA.
Caleb Scott, who scored the game-winner for the Chiefs in the JV-2 final, paced his team with six goals and nine points in the tournament. The Central Coast team finished 5-0 in the tournament.
Escondido Charter’s Cade Frederick led all scorers in the tournament with 14 goals. The White Tigers finished 1-5.
Sweetwater District Coed
Roller Hockey All-League Teams
Mesa League
First Team
Braden Mayer (Eastlake)
Sean Devaney (Otay Ranch)
Danny Godinez (Hilltop)
David Mendez (Otay Ranch)
Aryn Gregory (Eastlake)
Second Team
Matthew Custodio (Bonita Vista)
Aaron Marientes (Otay Ranch)
Paul Chavez (Otay Ranch)
Victor Guzman (Hilltop)
Kristen Lambertson (Hilltop)
Athlete of the Year
Sean Devaney (Otay Ranch)
Team Champion
Eastlake High School
South Bay League
First Team
Hector Garcia (Chula Vista)
Eleazar Cruz (Castle Park)
Martin Mari (Castle Park)
Phillip Brandon (Sweetwater)
Giovanni Cimmino (Chula Vista)
Second Team
Angel Bonilla (Southwest)
Adolfo Medina (Castle Park)
Allison Smith (Chula Vista)
Mark Segura (Sweetwater)
Mariana Coronel (Southwest)
Athlete of the Year
Hector Garcia (Chula Vista)
Team Champion
Castle Park High School
