Chico State plays strong in front of home crowd

The Chico State Roller Hockey Team played strong in their first home event since 2006.  The 2006 event was held in Redding, CA, still 1 hour away from campus.  This 2012 home event was held at the North Valley Hockey and Sports Complex in Hamilton City, CA, just 10 minutes from campus.  Open for less than a year, the facility has already held youth tournaments, iron man tournaments and boasts travel teams in several age groups, the Chico Firebirds.  The Firebirds fundraised with both a pancake breakfast and lunchtime barbecue.

 

Chico had 2 early games, and in their 8am game faced their toughest opponent, the undefeated CSU Fullerton Titans.  Chico held on tight for the first half of the game, before Fullerton pulled ahead for the 10-5 win.  Chico then defeated UC Irvine 5-2, outshooting the Anteaters 38-28.  Both goaltenders (Chico's Ewing and Irvine's Cayford) were awarded with Stars of the Game honors, along with Chico's Taylor Rand (4 assists).  5 different Chico State players contributed by scoring 1 goal a piece.

 

In the 2pm game, Chico State alumni had awoken, friends and fraternity brothers came out, and cheered the team on to a 7-1 win against the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs.  3 Chico State goals in the 2nd period solidified the 2-1 win they had after 1, ending the 2nd period with a score of 5-1.  Chico finished the game out with 2 more goals, finishing 7-1.  Chico's Patrick Hill led the team with 3 goals, and his linemate Rusty Ungaro finished with 1 goal and 3 assists.  19 from 23 was the call from the officials on each of Hill's goals. 

 

Chico State finished out the day with a 1-0 forfeit win against USC.  The Trojans goaltender sustained an injury earlier in the day and they were not able to field a team.  Remaining players from each team had a good skate, featuring 1st time goaltender Brian Backo.

 

CSU Fullerton continued their unbeaten streak with wins against Chico (10-5), UC Santa Cruz (7-5), UC Irvine (5-2) and USC (1-0).  UC San Diego also played strong, with wins against UC Davis (10-0), UC Santa Cruz (6-3), UC Irvine (4-1) and USC (1-0). 

 

All in all the event was a success for North Valley Hockey, it's volunteer staff, and the Chico State Roller Hockey Team.