February 3, 2011

Division I Rundown

By Chase Norman

The Division I event two weekends ago held in Santa Barbara, CA was anything but ordinary. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo was able to get their hands on sole possession of first place in the division, but that doesn’t even begin to tell the story of this crazy event.

All six of the Division I teams, joined by West Valley College and Santa Barbara City College (both from the Junior College Division), provided the WCRHL with the most exciting hockey of the season so far.

Cal Poly SLO showed they deserve to have the top spot by posting a 3-0-1 record with an amazing plus-21 goal differential for the weekend. The only team that was able to match the intense offensive attack of the Mustangs was UNLV, who played Cal Poly SLO to a 6-6 tie.

Arizona State brought the overall Division I points lead into the tournament, but were unable to maintain it after having an inconsistent showing. The team had two games that ended in mercies (first a 12-2 loss to Long Beach State followed by a 15-5 victory over San Jose State) and ended up going 2-2 for the weekend. Long Beach State played San Jose State earlier in the day, so given the two teams scores against Arizona State the result would be obvious, right? Not even close. San Jose State shut out Long Beach State by a score of 4-0 behind the stellar play of goaltender Gurlajit Sangha. Long Beach State finished the weekend with a 3-1 record which was good enough to leave them third in the standings, only three points out of first.

The home crowd favorite UC Santa Barbara had a solid weekend compiling a 3-2 record with a huge 10-2 victory over local rival Santa Barbara City College. San Jose State finished the weekend with a 2-3 record, followed closely by the 1-1-2 record earned by UNLV.

The two junior colleges at the event had a rough weekend, combining for a record of 1-6. The only victory for the two came when the teams faced off. West Valley College came out on top with a huge 5-4 victory earning two crucial points in the Junior College Division and bettering their chance at a bid to the National Championship Tournament.

WCRHL Division I teams will meet again this coming weekend in Queen Creek, AZ and their final event will be on February 19-20 in Corona, CA, where Stony Brook University (ECRHA) will be participating against 3 of WCRHL’s Division I teams.

Be sure to check out WCRHL.com for all this weekend’s scores, as well as follow us on Facebook. See you in the desert!