WCRHL Division I - 1st Semester Recap - 3rd and 4th place teams

Cal Poly is currently tied for second place in the WCRHL with sophomore Ryan Newens leading the team with 20 points. Cal Poly has had a balanced attack throughout the 1^st semester with five out of seven players putting up 10 or more points. The only two losses Cal Poly has this year came in the opening tournament in San Jose. They lost a close game against UCSB in the final minutes after coming back from a 5-goal deficit. Following the loss, Cal Poly came out flat against Long Beach and it showed with Long Beach skating to an easy 8-2 victory. Long Beach always seems to have Cal Poly’s number, with a 12-1-1 head-to-head record.

 

It will be interesting to see if Cal Poly can take them down this year, as they will have a couple more chances. Cal Poly has struggled this year on special teams with only a 30.8% (4/13) success rate on their Power Play and only killing 60% (8/15) of their penalties. The Cal Poly squad has three new players this year and seemed to be hitting their stride in Huntington Beach with a 3-0-1 performance. With senior captain Brian Costello returning for the second semester, Cal Poly will be looking to move up in the standings to try to solidify a bid to nationals.

 

UNLV is currently sitting in fourth place in the WCRHL, but are only 1 point out of second place. UNLV came out firing on all cylinders in San Jose with an impressive 4-0-0 record, but they struggled in Huntington Beach and couldn’t pick up a win going 0-2-2. Senior Nick Robone and freshman sensation Andrew Tamura have been very productive for UNLV with 19 points apiece. Another big addition for UNLV has been goaltender Travis Barendt. He has tons of tournament experience, including net-minding for the Tour Rebels over the summer in Narch Junior Platinum and Pro. UNLV has the second-best special teams in the league, scoring on 51.7% (15/29) of their powerplay chances and killing 67.6% (25/37) of their penalties.

 

UNLV’s fast and aggressive style also has them leading the league in penalties, slowing down some of the momentum they had coming out of San Jose. If they can find a way to stay out of the box, they have potential to be a dangerous second semester team.

 

Both teams will be competing in the first event of the 2nd semester on January 21, 2012 at UC Santa Barbara's on-campus rink, along with Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara, Saddleback College and Santa Barbara City College.