3 teams claim Regional Titles in Anaheim

It was an exciting weekend at Anaheim Hockey Club on March 3rd and 4th, 2007.  3 teams claimed titles, some for the first time.  The stage was set, the action was intense, the upsets were uncanny.

 

The Division I Championship Game featured CSU San Bernardino and Chapman University.  Both teams had to upset the #1 teams in each pool to move on to the championship game.  Chapman won in the first few minutes of overtime against Cal Poly SLO by a score of 5-4, with a tremendous goal from Andrew Dillon pulling off "The Michigan" from behind the net.  CSU San Bernardino beat Division I favorite UC Irvine by a score of 7-3.  The championship game was a tight one; the score was 2-2 at one point until CSUSB took control and skated away with the 5-3 win and the WCRHL Division I Championship.  This was CSUSB's 2nd trip to the final game, and Chapman's 1st.  CSUSB last saw championship action in 2004, eventually losing to Cal Poly SLO by a score of 3-1.  Both teams played a tremendous game; in fact, they played each other in round robin play the day prior, the score of that game was 6-4 in Chapman's favor.  CSU San Bernardino will be attending Nationals as the sole Division I representative from the WCRHL.

 

Division II saw Long Beach State win their 1st WCRHL Division II Championship.  Long Beach State had not made it to the championship game, but had made it to the semifinals the past 2 seasons.  Their opponent would be UC San Diego, who had been to the championship game for the past 2 seasons, dropping those games to University of Nevada.  Long Beach State and UCSD faced off Saturday morning in round robin, and it was a Long Beach State 5-0 win.  This game was very similar, although the final score was 7-2 in Long Beach's favor.  Both teams will be attending the National Championships and have a great shot at the DII title.  University of San Diego, Cal Poly Pomona and University of Nevada will also be representing the WCRHL at Nationals.

 

The B Division saw Cal Poly San Luis Obispo B Gold face off against UC Santa Barbara Gold.  Both teams were 2-0 in round robin and were to face each other on Sunday morning.  The teams elected to play the championship game on Saturday night at 730pm, and it was an exciting game.  SLO B Gold had been on top of the standings all season long, but the teams had split their season series, both games within 2 goals.  This game saw UCSB B Gold get out to an early lead and they kept SLO B Gold on their heels all game long.  We had not seen this intensity from UCSB B Gold until the season was winding down.  The final score was 6-0 in favor of UCSB B Gold, led by a hat trick from Charles Gustafson-Trombley.  Cal Poly SLO B Gold won the B Division Championship in 2006, 2005, and 2004.  UCSB B had won their last B Division Championship in 2003 with a win over Cal Poly Pomona B.  UCSB B Gold will make their 1st trip to the NCRHA National Championship Tournament.

 

Division III team, Riverside Community College will be the lone DIII team representing the WCRHL at the NCRHA National Championship Tournament.

 

The WCRHL would like to wish all of it's teams the best of luck at Nationals!!!

 

Photos to come.